Shooting Answers
VETERINARY
A common disorder
Although he appears otherwise quite well, my golden retriever’s left eyelid appears to be drooping. Any thoughts?
Neil says: It is most likely that he is suffering from Horner’s syndrome (oculosympathetic paresis), a fairly common, unilateral neurological disorder of the eye, which occurs as a result of damage to a nerve. You see paralysis of the third eyelid (in the inside lower corner of the eye), which can make it look like the pupil is out of position. Additionally, there is ptosis (drooping of the eyelids), miosis (constriction of the pupil) and enophthalmos (recession of the eyeball into the socket). Unilateral wastage of the facial muscles may become obvious over time.
Possible causes include: middle ear infections producing head shaking and loss of balance, recent jugular blood sampling, bite wounds to the neck and facial trauma. The condition is more common in golden retrievers. Rarely (and generally in older dogs), there could be thoracic, mediastinal or spinal tumour.
The conjunctiva often looks red and poor lid movement can result in gunk accumulating overnight. Apart from managing the eye, there is no treatment; some dogs recover spontaneously. It should not affect his
