In this enlightening episode of “Speaking of Pets,” Dr. Jeromin and Janet dive deep into the world of pet eye health with the esteemed Dr. Jennifer Sheahan, DVM DACVO. Join us as we tackle pressing viewer questions about recognizing eye problems in our furry friends and the surprising ways their ailments can mirror human conditions. Dr. Sheahan shares her expertise on symptoms like lethargy, tearing, and bulging eyes, explaining how they relate to conditions such as glaucoma and dry eye. Discover the breeds that are more prone to eye issues, and learn why regular veterinary check-ups are essential for early detection and treatment. The discussion also highlights the fascinating connection between eye health and systemic diseases, such as kidney disease and diabetes. Dr. Sheahan emphasizes the importance of understanding the underlying causes of eye problems rather than just treating the symptoms. We also touch on the impact of modern technology on our pets, including the effects of screen time and the intriguing phenomenon of “cat TV.” Dr. Sheahan provides helpful tips on administering eye medications and discusses the significance of proper eye care for our beloved companions.
VeclinicDr. Jennifer Sheahan, DACVO | Veterinary Ophthalmologist
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All footage is owned by SLA Video Productions.
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Listen to the podcast here
Seeing Clearly: Understanding Pet Eye Health – Jennifer Sheahan, DVM, DACVO
Welcome to the show. I’m Dr. Alice Novotny Jeromin, a board-certified veterinary dermatologist.
I’m Janet Novotny King. I’m the doctor’s sister. I am not medically trained in anything. I’m just a pet owner, lover, and rescuer. We’re here to provide science-based information to you so you can be the best pet owner that you can be. Al, who do we have on the show?
We’ve had so many audience questions about eye problems in pets. I went to Dr. Jen Sheahan. Jen is a veterinary ophthalmologist and graduated from the Oklahoma State College of Veterinary Medicine. She then went on to do a year of rotating internship at The Ohio State University in Internal Medicine and Small Animal Surgery, then on to do her three-year residency in Comparative Ophthalmology at Animal Eye Care.
Despite doing all of that, her main interests are ophthalmologic pharmacology, retinal diseases, and dry eye. Interestingly, the majority of our questions deal with all three of those areas. We’re so happy to welcome Dr. Jen. She’s taking time from her very busy schedule to join us. Welcome, Dr. Sheahan, to the show. Dr. Sheahan, it’s so great to have you with us. We have so many audience eye questions that we’re looking forward to this. Welcome.
Thank you for having me.
Janet, why don’t you start w/ questions for Dr. Sheahan?
How To Know If Your Pet Has An Eye Problem
Being Joe Pet Owner. How do I know if my dog or cat has an eye problem? We’re always looking into those dreamy eyes.
You would think that the number one thing they do is sit there and whine, but those are not necessarily some of the signs that they often exhibit. Sometimes, they’re more lethargic. Glaucoma is seen in people. We can extrapolate what people feel because glaucoma is quite common in dogs. When people have glaucoma, people complain of migraine headaches. We need to be sympathetic to that because when we diagnose glaucoma, oftentimes, they’re like, “Your dog doesn’t seem in pain, or my dog’s not whining.” That’s not necessarily the right question.
Sometimes, they’re like, “We thought Fifi was sleeping more because she was this old,” but it’s because it’s migraine headache. The more you move, the more painful it is. They interview people and say, “How are you feeling with the pressures of 40?” Normal pressures are less than 25. They will say, “I’m in the emergency hospital vomiting from a migraine headache. It’s so painful.” You want to give pain medications and address that because sometimes, you can get around a little better with pain medications, so lethargy and sleeping more.
I had a client who said that their dog went to their lap and put their little head on their lap. They don’t sit there whining and complaining. Their eye might be more bulgy compared to the other one, if you want to always look at symmetry. They can’t necessarily always tell you. It’s like a little baby. You have to use your eyes and then be like, “One eye looks a little bigger than the other.” The other sign is that it’s tearing more. If I poked you in the eye, one eye is going to tear more. It’s like, “Why are you crying more?”
Do they cry? No. Due to emotion, they don’t, but what’s happening is called epiphora. When you have stimulation from pain, a corneal ulcer, an abrasion, or an ingrown hair, they tear more from that side. You’re like, “It’s more wet on that side.” The other term that you might see on your medical records is called Blepharospasm. Blepharospasm means fluttering of the eyelid. Blepharospasm, tearing, bulging, redness, and a change in color, such as cloudiness or redness, are all signs. There are times when both eyes go bad, but there are some times when one eye goes bad and then the other.
If it’s primary glaucoma, usually, one eye goes, and the second one goes in seven months. It is inherited glaucoma. It is an inherited issue. If you have a bad knee, it’s going to go in the other knee. Traditionally, it’s one eye, and then based on papers, the second eye goes in seven months without prophylactic treatment. With prophylactic treatment for primary glaucoma, it offsets it to 32 months from when the first eye goes. You want to look at the one that is more bulging, which is the layman’s term.
Isn’t this what Anne’s dog had?
How Pets Get Diagnosed With Glaucoma
Janet’s friend adopted a Black Lab that had one eye enucleated, which we’re not sure why. The other one started, like you’re saying, Dr. Jen, bulging. Every day is worse. It was a tumor behind that good eye. It was very aggressive. Going back to glaucoma, are there certain breeds that are more predisposed to having glaucoma?
There are. For example, in your dermatology world, you’re like, “VKH in dermatology.” It’s usually the winter breed. It’s Akitas or Siberian Huskies. In ophthalmology land, we call them poster children. Back to your question, we have Chows, Beagles, Basset Hounds, Cocker Spaniels, Shih Tzu, and Boston Terriers. It’s an issue with an inherited genetic defect. The medical term is called Goniodysgenesis.
When you are born, you have parts in your eyes. One part of the eye makes the fluid. We always explain it like a faucet and drain analogy. Your faucet’s always on. That part of your body is called the ciliary body that makes fluid in the eye, and then you have a drain. The issue with inherited glaucoma is that your drain is a little small slits or small little shapes. Sometimes, there are no holes at all that join the fluid in your eye. Whereas a normal dog’s drain is giant slats just like the side of your street.
The faucet’s always on, and then you have a drain. The drain is at the base of your iris. In the color part of your eye, you have all 360 degrees around. There are these draining angles. Dogs that have genetic glaucoma or primary glaucoma have small pit flow holes. Usually, at mid-age, dogs can’t keep up with the faucet always on. Their eye starts to swell. You’re like, “Something’s weird. My dog’s eye is expanding.” You can’t see from that side. You’re having a glaucoma attack.
I can’t imagine the pain. They don’t complain. We as humans would complain, but as you said, they might come and put their little affected area of the head on your lap. It’s so sad.
I’ve also seen, though. If dogs have itchy eyes, they’ll rub against the side of the couch. You can see them dragging it.
That’s usually my department.
That’s something that a pet owner is like, “Something’s wrong.”
Picking Up Internal Medicine Diseases By Looking At The Retina
That can also be an ear problem, too. Dr. Jen, when I was doing my residency, it was at a dermatology and ophthalmology clinic. That’s a great marriage, those two specialties. What always fascinated me was when you all were looking at the retina behind the eye. You could pick up internal medicine diseases. Would you talk about that a little bit?
It’s true when they say the eye is the window to the body. We see so many cases all the time. We just saw one. A Golden Retriever came in. They came for this non-healing ulcer. Your cornea is one of the fastest-healing tissues in your body. When you bite your cheek, your cheek’s not still hurting two weeks later. It’s like nothing happened. That tissue is very forgiving. The cornea is the same. If you have a superficial, uncomplicated ulcer, that corneal ulcer should heal within 72 hours.
We have this Golden. It came in. It had this non-healing ulcer for a whole month. When you go to an eye doctor, we don’t just look at the thing that’s the complaint. We go front to back and look at both eyes because you might as well look at both. You pick up on things that are not what the client came in for. This ten-year-old dog, a Golden Retriever, we saw, his uveal is okay. We also saw in the back of his eyes that he had a hemorrhage in his retinas. Not only in his bad right eye, but in his good, non-compliant left eye. The left eye had more blood. There were no visual complaints.
We don’t know. It looked like a fresh bleed. Fresh bleeds are bright red. Old bleeds, just like people, they’re darker in color. When you have these things that we see in the back of the eye, in this case, we investigate further. We’re like, “Does it make sense? Does it not? Do you have any other health issues?” This dog had kidney disease. When you have kidney disease, the kidney tells the body, “I’m shutting down. I am degenerating. Please turn up the pressure systemically to perfuse me better, to let me do my job.”
It’s a vicious cycle. You get high blood pressure to help the kidneys, but then, as a result of compensatory changes in your body, you can get bystander damage. You can get strokes in your brain. You can get high blood pressure because you’re turning the faucet up. You have very fine blood vessels in the back of your eye and your retina that help you see. Those pop. We’re like, “It’s probably related to your early kidney disease. Has anyone ever checked your blood pressure?” You would think, “I go to my human doctor. The first thing they do is check your blood pressure,” but that’s uncommon.
They go to the dermatologist. How often does your nurse check it up? You don’t unless you have a complaint. They’re like, “They did it under anesthesia. They did it with the teeth cleaning,” but they’re already under anesthesia. That’s artificially low. It’s a pure standard, “Go in before you’re stressed out. Take a blood pressure.” We took the blood pressure of this dog. It was 260. It’s normal. For people, it should be 130 to 140. If you’re trying to scratch somebody’s eyeballs out, bite somebody, and be scared, we give you points for that. We think up to 170 could be a stressor. The Golden Retriever is just lying there.
I’ve never met a mean Golden Retriever. “You have systemic hypertension. It’s causing bleeds in your eye, probably through hypertension or from the kidney disease.” At that point in time, we refer them to an internist to do a chest X-ray and abdominal ultrasound. You’re like, “Why are they looking there?” You want to evaluate the architecture of the kidney. I referred one to an internist because we are married to internal medicine and dermatology. It branches.
We’re like, “This dog has a systemic issue higher upstream. It’s affecting the smaller organs. My eyes are getting affected, and my dog’s going blind. Can you probably try to help me fix the upper thing upstream?” That can help me keep my vision so my dog’s eyes don’t fill with blood. They look at the abdominal ultrasound. They’re like, “No problem.” They go, and when you go to see an internal medicine doctor, they then do an ultrasound of the belly.
In a patient I did, the internist was like, “Did you know your patient only had one kidney?” I’ve never heard that before. One kidney was working twice as hard, but as age goes down, you can’t keep up. It’s not because they donated it to Thailand. It just never fully formed. It had this one kidney and the other one, but you don’t know unless you look. How often does your dog go for a workup for internal medicine until things happen? It is like in people. We assume all of our kidneys are fine and look normal.
Hypertension causes bleeding, and then there are other things that we see. We see diabetes affect the eye. They cause diabetic cataracts. You can get lipemic aqueous, where if you eat a big fatty meal, a huge hamburger, we want to celebrate. We gave my dog a ginormous Five Guys hamburger. I turned white the very next day. The eyes go blind. It’s a type of inflammation. You want to be careful. What you do to your body can show up in your eyeballs and other organs. It’s like in people.
What you do to your body can show up in your eyeballs and other organs. Share on XIt’s funny because when I go to my yearly ophthalmology appointment, I always say, “How do those retinal vessels look?” I’m so worried that it’s going to be like the old cream of tomato soup, which means high lipids. Jen, I have to tell you. I work locally with our Golden Retriever rescue group. We have had a couple of Goldens with one kidney.
I don’t know if it’s a breeding thing around here, because they do a lot of Amish rescue, breeding, and puppy mill dogs here. One of my employees adopted one with one kidney. The mother of that dog had one kidney. It might be even a regional thing. Who knows? You know what would be a good tip? If you have to put eye drops in your pet’s eyes, make it a treat occasion.
It is like Blue Buffalo’s Health Bars. Libby loves their pumpkin and cinnamon.
Why You Should Not Use Visine In Your Pet’s Eyes
First of all, I know your undergrad was Biology and Criminology. Janet, I didn’t tell you this. I was watching a crime show. You can kill someone by giving them Visine orally. Tell me why you shouldn’t use Visine in a pet’s eyes.
Maybe give it to your human partner on a regular basis.
Visine causes vasoconstriction and covers up the sign, honestly. It doesn’t treat the cause.
People reach for that. They go over the counter and be like, “My dog’s eye is blinking.” They pick up Visine, and I’m like, “Don’t do that.”
It covers up the signs. It causes vasoconstriction, so it’s not as red. You have to listen to your body. Why are you red in the first place? You’re like, “I’m having this abdominal pain. I’m just going to keep taking aspirin.” Do you have appendicitis? If it’s not going away, you want to listen to your body. That is fine for people who are like, “I have to work the next day, and I need to look presentable.” When it’s red, and it’s something serious, they turn red. Your body has these red flashing signs for some reason. Do you have pink eye? Are you going to transfer it to your partner? Is that why your eyes are red and you don’t want to be contagious and shed everywhere?
This happens in GP as well. I was talking to a general practice vet. They’re like, “This dog has red eyes. I gave it BNPH, which is an antibacterial hydrocortisone.” I was like, “Okay.” They’re like, “It keeps coming back. That’s not normal.” BNPH is one of the strongest steroids possible. I was like, “Have you ruled out the causes? Instead of treating the symptoms, which is a steroid. Everything makes things better. That is a steroid. It’s like, “Why are you having these flare-ups? Why does the red keep coming back? Are you allergic? Is there something more sinister going on? Do you have high blood pressure?” We talked about the color red. I said, “Break it down.”
There are three main eye tests when you go see the eye doctor. It’s called a Schirmer tear test to check for your tear value. Normal is at least 15 to 60 seconds, but 15 minutes is the bare minimum. It’s like you’re barely driving your car. It’s in the red. This one is called tonometry. It’s like when you go see the eye doctor. They puff your eye. In this one, they use a little probe when it pings off your eye, or a little gadget where they put pressure on your eye. It tests for glaucoma. Less than 25 is normal. The third one is a fluorescein eye test.
These are very benign, simple, no big time to test, where they put a green dye in your eye and then check for ulcerations, tear breakup time, abrasions, and that sort of thing. I was like, “Have you done all the tests?” They were like, “It looks like there is liquid in the eye by looking.” I was like, “That doesn’t mean anything. Your car is driving, so you must have enough gas. You measure it. Are you going to wait until you’re putt, putt, putt?” I don’t because my car was still moving. It turned out the dog had 8 out of 10 on tears. Normal’s at least 15 to 60 seconds. This dog had dry eye and secondary keratitis, which is corneal redness.
They’re putting steroids on it to make the redness go away. Your tears continue to drop. One of the holy sins is that if you get an ulcer, you cannot be on a steroid, because steroids keep healing. It tells the body, “Back up. Don’t be red. Go away. Mask the signs.” It is good in some sense, in certain situations. When you have dry eye, if you think logically, your cornea is so dry. It makes little cracks, just like my skin makes little cracks. There are bacteria that are like, “There’s a breach in the hole. We should go and jump in and start eating.”
You can get a hole in your eye within 24 to 48 hours, because when you are so dry, or your flora is not normal, just like dermatology, you’re thrown off by a massive growth of yeast. You get more nasty infections because it’s the pH or whatever that the situation is not normal. It’s more acidic, more yeasty. There is more heat. When you’re more dry, and your tears have natural antibiotics in them, growth factors, natural things, or kumbaya on the eye, you get corneal abrasions. The bacteria can eat a hole in the eye.
You’re on a steroid that was masking your signs when your body was telling you, “I’m red because I’m bone dry.” It’s important not to take things that will mask the signs, and if it doesn’t get better, we’ll go see a doctor. I get it if you’re in Alaska and you have nobody within super far. Don’t be constantly doing it because it could be making it worse. Your body could tell you something like in people.
The Right Way To Treat Dry Eyes
I remember I would get skin cases in, and the skin was not a problem. I’d see their eyes. I’d say, “When did you last go to your veterinarian? Did they let you leave the office with your eyes looking like that?” Talk a little bit about dry eye, which you just did, but isn’t dry eye usually treated forever?
Yes. The cause of dry eye just like in people is a low-grade autoimmune condition. It is also due to age. As we age, we have less collagen. We have less bone. We make fewer tears potentially. The number one cause is autoimmune. The treatment’s very similar. In people, they treat with Restasis, which is cyclosporine. It is a T-helper cell suppressor. That shouldn’t freak you out because it’s localized. I’m on Restasis myself. I have dry eye. I’m like, “Why do I have dry eye?” My doctor’s like, “You’re older, number one.”
They always use that three-letter word. You’re old, and you’re aging.
It’s like, “That’s fine.” I was like, “I was twenty, and I didn’t have dry eye. Now, I feel like it’s sandy. It’s itchy.” In dogs, we give what’s called Optimmune, which is commercially available. It’s this cream. I like to use a medication called cyclosporine or tacrolimus. Those are aqueous-based, so it’s a little easier. I don’t know if you’ve ever put cream or ointment in your eye. It blurs your vision. With dry eye, it makes it more gritty and more hazy. I don’t like using ointment if I have a choice because it blurs your vision even more. We’re trying to maximize vision.
It’s also easier to give eye drops for ease. It lasts longer and is less greasy. I prefer the drop form. It’s autoimmune. It takes 2 to 3 weeks for this medication to reach a plateau. Oftentimes, if you don’t have a real ulcer, then we want to not just check your tears in two days. You’re not going to see a response. It takes time for this medication to reach a plateau. In our patients, we don’t recheck them for 4 to 6 weeks. They go away, come back in 4 to 6 weeks. Don’t be discouraged. That’s like, “I’ve been using this med for a week, and I don’t see improvement.” It is because it’s still chugga-chugga-chugga until it reaches maximal effect.
In GPs, they’re like, “It went from 8 to 10. A week later, I checked it.” I was like, “Why are you checking it? It still hasn’t reached maximal effect. That’s not how the medication works. The only reason we see them sooner is if they have a corneal ulcer that we have to be checking at the same time.” If it should be maximal effect at 2 to 3 weeks, let’s give you an extra time so that in 4 to 6 weeks, there’s no question. I’d be like, “Maybe the medication hasn’t had enough time to work.” That’s usually when we recheck you for dry eye. On my medication labels, my nurses always laugh because then there’s no confusion. There’s no user error. There’s no communication error. I always say, “One drop in both eyes twice a day forever.”
That’s smart. As a pet owner, I appreciate that.
I didn’t know I was supposed to continue it.
Forever, don’t forget to renew before you run out.
There’s no question.
Jen, you said something very interesting to me. Janet, you’ll be interested in this. I hope I get it right. When I was listening to your webinar with Dr. Lee, you mentioned that when you give one drop, don’t give 2, 3, 4, because of the capacity for the eye to absorb a certain volume.
What do you mean by 2, 3, 4?
She’ll explain it.
There are two factors. Most of these medications are the same medications that they use in commercial human pharmacies and human eye doctor clinics. They’re pretty smart. The pharmaceutical companies got it figured out. There are two factors. You want to make sure it’s proper administration. It’s not like, “I’m not using it correctly. My dog’s not responding.” The first rule or thing to follow when you give eye meds is that your eye only folds 32 microliters. Each drop that comes out of the bottle is 36 microliters per drop.
They have it figured out. They’re not dumb like in a pharmaceutical company. They compensate for overage. It doesn’t make sense to do, “I put three drops in per dosing,” because it’s going to go onto your face. It doesn’t make sense when it says, “Two drops three times a day or two drops per sitting.” No, because you’re wasting your meds. It’s silly when it’s like, “You got this on Friday, but it’s Tuesday, and it’s empty.” Why is that? That was the first thing.
It’s important to wait at least five minutes in between eye drops because your eye only sucks in one drop every five minutes. It’s a slow-absorbing sponge to get across the cornea or absorb. If you don’t follow that rule, then if you have multiple medications, you’re like, “I’m a busy person. I’m going to go 9:01 drop and 9:02 drop number two.” Tropicamide is drop number two. Drop number one was at 9:01. Oflox is an antibiotic. At 9:03, I give Tobramycin antibiotic drops. It’s like, “I’m done.” They said give these drops in the morning. If you don’t give them correctly, because of the rules we’ve talked about, what happens to the other drops, drop number two and drop number three?
Quite frankly, drop number one is getting diluted. You’re getting half the amount because it hadn’t had time to absorb, if you think logically. The second one is falling onto your face. You’re like, “It’s not getting better. I spent all this money on meds.” It’s important to wait. You can wait longer, but you can’t wait less time. If you want to wait 9:00, 10:00, or 11:00, “I work from home, this and that,” then fine. Wait longer, but please don’t wait less time because you’re wasting your meds. It’s not working as well.
That is such important advice. I was a pharmacist before I was a vet, and I didn’t know that. I’m counseling people on how to give their meds. That’s fascinating.
I do have a tip though, for ointments, because ointments are hard to get into your eye. I take a Q-tip. Is this bad? The pediatrician taught me this. You put a little bit of the ointment on there. When you pull the lid down, it goes right in.
What do you think about that, Dr. Jen?
We typically say try to use the tube itself,” because depending on the condition, you don’t want extra things going in the eye. It’s like a balancing act. You can ask your husband to sit there and be like, “I’m going to use this Q-tip, pull your eye open, and do the thing.” Your dog’s not going to be like that.
My Golden might bite me.
Where’s your third hand coming from? Unless you have a person. “I’ll get a Q-tip. I’m going to hold your eye open.” The dog’s like, “Yes, please, Mom.”
“Let me put my paw there.”
It’s a lot. If they have an ulcer that you’re treating, if you pressure with the Q-tip and suddenly move, then it can act like a foreign object and pop your eye. We’ve had that before.
I won’t do the Q-tip. I’ll only do it on humans.
If they’re good, you can. Typically, we just say, “Lift up.” It’s called the fibrous tunic, the white of your eyes. It’s like, “It won’t come out. It’s not coming down.” You do the amount. It’s like a spatula, on the upper lid, releases, blink, and it creates a shade.
You can’t see. It’s terrible.
Do Animals See Color?
Al, I was thinking, and Dr. Jen, you might agree. To make that medicine delivery a little more pleasant for your pet, it’s probably a good idea to give them a treat. I know our Libby loves the Blue Buffalo Health Bars. They’re pumpkin and cinnamon. They smell super good. I have the eternal pet eye question.
Janet, then we got to wind it up because she’s got to go see patients.
Do cats and dogs see color? I got to ask.
They do see color. It’s in muted tones. Depending on what kind of animal it is. Birds have a more vibrant color hue. Certain bears have a certain color hue. If you’re a fibrous animal like a farm animal, then it’s more muted because they just need grass and brown. They don’t need to identify an apple or a shiny banana. It’s very important. It’s interesting. There are parts of the eye to accommodate for that. Whether you’re an herbivore or a carnivore, you have an extra reflective. You’re like, “I see this yellow eye shine.”
We don’t have that because, evolutionarily, with that conversation, we are primates. We’re not carnivores. We don’t have this extra structure called the tapetum. Whereas like dogs and cats do. When you look at them, they have this pretty rainbow eye shine. It’s an extra reflective layer that ping pongs in the eye to maximize light absorption in dimmer light settings when they’re hunting. A horse or a cow doesn’t have this because they’re not hunting in the middle of the night needing to reflect extra light. They’re just chewing their cud.
Dr. Jen’s Biggest Pet Peeve
My cats must see chipmunks and mice as hot pink. One more human question. This doggy TV thing is a thing. Is that okay for your eyes? Is that healthy? I know as humans, we blink less when we watch screens and TV.
Yes, if it keeps your pet entertained. I don’t think they’ve studied it enough to where they do in kids, where they’re addicted. You pull it away and they go crazy or throw a tantrum. Your dog is not going to whine. You’re like, “I have an only dog. I don’t want him to be lonely for 4 or 5 hours.” He’ll go and drink and eat his food. It’s like, “I’m learning. That’s fascinating.” I think that there’s no harm, but as we do with little kids, you still want to exercise them, interact with them, and stuff, not just sit in front of the TV. I think there’s harm when it’s like, “When I’m at work, I don’t want you to be lonely.” It’s like, “I put the TV on for my dog.” That’s cool that your dog watches TV. It’s like the cat across the TV, I find it fascinating. It’s cool, but make sure that they’re not a couch potato.
They are with the clicker and a cup holder.
Cat TV is fascinating. They have the can opener noise for people who still use can openers. Birds are flying into their nest. Cats are crazed with it. It’s almost like an addiction. I had it on the iPad, where it was fish. Atticus got points.
That’s smart enrichment.
We’ve got to let Dr. Jen get to work.
We have one more question, Jen. What is your pet or human peeve?
It’s important to do your research. I welcome questions, but have an open mind. We sometimes have physicians. They’re like, “In people and stuff like that.” I was like, “That’s a very fascinating mutual fact and stuff.” “Dr. Google said this.” I was like, “It’s my job to inform you from my training and all of this. If Dr. Google says that, you don’t need me.” Have an open mind. The internet is accurate.
Some of the things are like, “That is true.” Have a respectful conversation on all platforms, whether we’re at the restaurant or ordering food. It’s always a little scary and intimidating when you get Karens or whatever that come in. Automatically, it’s like, “I know what’s going on. I need this.” It’s like, “That’s scary. Dr. Google said this.” “I’ve bred dogs for 50 years. I know better.”
It is a big turn-off. That’s the thing. It’s like, “Why are you here?” “It’s what my bubble says.” Be respectful. We’re humans, too. We want to have an enjoyable interaction and help your dog. We all have the same goal. When you talk to somebody at McDonald’s or anything, just everything we do in life, if you were in those shoes, you want to be like, “Please and thank you.” We’re just trying to help your dog. This is my advice. I’m trying to give you my piece of thought. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Google. Dr. Phil said this.”
I love that. I’m laughing because you and I are the same. I say, “Here’s my advice,” and some people fight with you. I’m thinking, “Why did you come all this way for my training and everything to tell you the proper thing to do and you’re going to fight with me on it? I’m just trying to help your pet.”
Thank you.
Discussion Wrap-up And Closing Words
I could listen to you all day.
This has been eye-opening.
I love the drop thing, how long it lasts, and only using one. I’m still hung up on that. It’s wonderful information.
I learned a lot.
Dr. Jen, thank you so much. This has been such a pleasure. Janet, you have to admit you’ve learned a lot.
You guys are great. It’s been a pleasure. Thanks for doing what you guys do. If you guys need advice, help, we’re here for you. If you have any veterinarians who need advice, they could look us up, the Veterinary Eye Clinic. We’re happy to consult even though we’re in California. We’re here for pet parents. It’s a beautiful profession that we’re in because animals don’t have a voice. Any specialty or GP you’re in, we have to represent them.
This is what they’re trying to say. Their paw hurts. Is there something stuck in there? They’re always innocent. That’s why I went into veterinary medicine versus human medicine. If I did go into human medicine, probably pediatrics, because they’re always innocent. You’re their voice. It’s great what we do. Animals are pure-hearted and wonderful. I love what we do. It’s the circle of life. It’s great.
The one thing I love about our profession is that we’re here to help. We help each other. I never met Dr. Sheahan before. She agreed to come on the show. It’s such a giving profession. I love us for that.
Thank you.
Janet, let’s wrap it up. This is Dr. Alice Novotny Jeromin from Cleveland, Ohio.
This is Janet Novotny King from Cleveland, Ohio, saying thanks for tuning in. Don’t forget to share with your friends and give your pets an extra treat for us. Thanks for tuning in.
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About Dr. Jen Sheahan
Dr. Sheahan was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma. She graduated with honors from the University of California, Irvine, with a major in Biology and Criminology in 2003. Dr. Sheahan discovered her interest in comparative ophthalmology after college when she worked as an ophthalmology nurse for four years. She attended Veterinary School at Oklahoma State University, graduating in 2011. Following Veterinary School, she completed a one-year rotating small animal medicine and surgery internship at Ohio State University followed by a three-year residency in comparative ophthalmology at Animal Eye Care.
She has a particular interest in ophthalmic pharmacology as well as dry eye disorders and retinal diseases.
In her free time, she enjoys photography, running, traveling, and spending time with family.