This picture might be a bit blurry as the dog wasn’t prepared to stand perfectly still but I hope you can see what is going on here – a nasty puffy lid swelling probably signalling blepharitis. This case is from my friends Jen Harrison and Joanna Morall at Acorn House Veterinary Clinic in Bedford. What is happening and how should they investigate and treat it?
My immediate thought took me back to Jane Sansom’s JSAP paper in 2000 (Sansom J et al Pyogranulomatous blepharitis in dog dogs. J Small Anim Pract. 2000;41:80-3). They considered that a Pyrocathus thorn-induced irritation might be the aetiology in the two Dalmatians they reported. Here’s a similar lesion I saw in a labrador puppy with juvenile cellulitis.
But this Doberman has the condition only in one eye but has a similar lesion on its leg as well as you can see here.
What do you think I should advise? Bacteriology and cytology for a start I guess. But maybe we need a dermatologist! Or maybe antibiotics and steroids – the last resort of the diagnostically destitute?!
skin scrapings? demodex maybe?