Pannus is when a film or dark coloring grows across the surface of the eye, the cornea. This condition happens in dogs, especially German Shepherds, but really any breed. Typical treatment uses several different types of eye ointments; the ointments can be quite expensive. And, many dogs get tired of having medication put in their eyes and can get a touch grumpy about the treatment. Conventional medicine tells us once dogs develop pannus, it is quite difficult to treat and in most cases, it becomes progressively worse, maybe even taking over the whole surface of the eye and causing blindness.
In the last couple of years, I’ve had 2 special patients develop pannus, but we were successful in treating the condition. For both dogs, we followed conventional treatments with anti-inflammatory eye ointments, but we also looked at anti-inflammatory diets. For the first patient, we simply changed his diet to a grain free kibble and added his parents’ meat and vegetables from dinner. His pannus completely resolved after a few months and medication was discontinued. For the second patient, we finally discovered his trigger – rice! Even though he had been on a grain free diet, some supplements contain rice bran – even that tiny amount of rice was a trigger. By taking any remote source of rice out of his diet, we reversed the pannus in one eye and slowed it in the other.
It’s always exciting to see what specific treatment works for each specific patient – these two cases were similar but just different enough that each one received individual care to treat the problem.
Hi I am interested to know how you determined what food was the culprit – we have a 7yr old GSD male with pannus that does seem to be very aggressive – we are not having much luck with steroids and are looking at other treatments to help aid in treating the condition. We have been told liver is a good food to try (he is already raw fed). We have tried alternative therapies at the very start but they also did nothing (other than cost is £££’s) we are into year 2 now and struggling to keep it in control. He is young and strong and full of life and very healthy in every other way. Any advice thoughts or specialists would be appreciated. Thank you Sarah
It was culmination of trial and error and luck that helped us figure out rice was the culprit in this boy’s issue. He was on a grain free, homemade diet. And a couple of times he had some rice with his family. Everytime his eyelids swelled up. We noticed at the same time he started to develop pannus. Once his diet became strictly grain free his eyes began to improve. We also worked pretty hard to treat him for leaky gut. Now the evidence of pannus is virtually nonexistent. Anyone can be allergic to anything. And German shepherds are certainly very sensitive dogs. This together dog cannot tolerate his food uncut, he needs a little assistance. Every dog is different. Our boy needed a combination of Western and alternative treatments.
I have a five year old GS that has pannus. We are currently putting an ointment in her eyes but the redness doesn’t seem to go away. I would like to have an allergy test done on her. What’s the best way to go about doing this?
Martha
Please don’t bother with allergy testing they are extremely unreliable.
Your best thing to do is an elimnation diet. If my dog showed any symptoms of any autoimmune disease like Pannus, I would stop all current diet and switch to a completely NEW protein source that they are not used to eating and therefore could not have developed an allergy to. I would keep them on this new protein source along with some veg like spinach and broccoli and berries and keep them on this and ‘nothing else but this’ for at least 6 weeks. If you see improvement (you probably will) then you know that the condition is triggered by something(s) in the diet and later, slowly certain things can be added back in to the diet whilst you monitor for adverse reactions. (Lots of help online about elimation diets as well as books on Amazon etc).
Also you should be treating for leaky gut, since this would be the reason the condition started in the first place.
Remember that whilst on an elimination diet it is ‘vital’ not to give even a tiny amount of something other than what is permitted on the elimination diet because even the slightest ingestion of a problematic food WILL cause the same aggressive immune response that creates the Pannus symptoms (just like a trace amount of peanut can kill a human who is allergic.)
Good day. My 5 year old rescue dog was diagnosed with pannus two years ago. We have been treating her with Optimmune .2 ointment ever since but her eyes continue to deteriorate and now have large white film areas and are tearing. I’ve read your advice on eliminating grain with interest and would like advice on diet in the hope that this may help. She eats mainly chicken, veg and brown five with a small amount of kibble. Please – any help will be greatly appreciated!
We live in South Africa at 981m elevation and high rate of sunlight. We are trying to accustom her to Doggles but she tries to remove them!
Dr Ian Billinghurst is in your region – he has great feeding advice.
Try Rex Specs. My German Shepherd could remove Doggles and all other dog sunglasses that attach with elastic bands (many of which do NOT test as full UV protection!) Because he found he couldn’t paw the Rex Specs off, he has become used to them when he has to go out in high UV times. I especially like it that they also have the choice of completely clear lenses that also test at 100% UV protection.
Our 4 year old GSD has developed Pannus fairly rapidly. We have switched him over to a high quality grain free diet and have been researching raw diets. I am wondering if there are OTC eye drops and supplements that we can try before returning to our regular vet as he is not vet friendly and they insists on sedation. It’s a major stress point for him and it takes his gut days to recover.
I would love a few tips on what to feed my sprolly as he has pannus.. steroids dont seem to be working. Thank you.
My male GSD developed a spot on one eye after I started feeding him dog food that contained grains. I can’t tell you for sure that was the cause but I changed to a highly rated grain free dog food and added a small amount of canned pumpkin and buttermilk. I also gave him lutein, beta carotene, vitamin C and fish oil.. At one point it looked like this change was reversing the trend but the progression soon continued slowly until he’s almost blind. He can see well enough to navigate stairs though I don’t know how, as his corneas appear to be covered except at the top. He has goopy discharge coming from his eyes. I can’t treat him with eye drops because he won’t allow it and I could get bit trying to hold his head still. Vets don’t have a cure because pharmaceutical companies don’t seem to be able to find a cause, only treating the symptom with steroids for the life of the dog.
Years ago we took in a stray male GSD who was past mid life. He had pannus at that time and I went through similar treatment with him. For whatever reason his eyes went almost back to normal and stayed that way for the rest of his life. I’m puzzled as to why this younger dog hasn’t responded the same way. The positive side of the story is that his loss of sight doesn’t seem to have affected his disposition at all. He seems happy and still loves to go for long walks and playing fetch with a ball that he locates by sound and smell. German Shepherds are remarkable animals but they can have drawbacks too.
My GSD is 8 years old and has had pannus for 4 years. At the beginning, she would refuse to wear anything on her head. I took her to a really good animal communicator. She said that dogs understand choices. So when we were going to go someplace, I would tell my dog – you have a choice, you can either leave your glasses off and stay home alone or you can wear your glasses and come with us and my other GSD. I had no trouble getting her to wear them after that.
I highly recommend seeing an canine ophthalmologist. At one point, my GSD started to get a film over one eye. I made an appointment. The specialist gave her a shot in her eye and in 2 weeks, the film was gone. My dog is doing extremely well.
Hello, my 2 year old female GSD got diagnosed with pannus. It has progressed in one of her eyes and have started in the other. I have been advised to use Ming Mu Di Huang before anything else. Do you think that’s a good idea?