[Tabular-Iceberg]

Medical and ethical standards are in complete free fall in European pharmacies. I was told by my vet to rinse my dog’s eyes in sterile isotonic saline solution. When I went to the pharmacy to ask for it they didn’t know what it was. They suggested using chlorhexidine wound disinfectant instead.

My poor dog would have probably been blind or worse if I had taken the advice. But they don’t care, they just want to move products, whatever the cost.

[AlbertCory]

I sympathize, and good for you for not doing it!

If I can suggest something to look into (i.e. not recommend!):

I use NeilMed sinus rinse which is just saline and bicarbonate (so pH balanced). Use distilled water to mix it. You can buy it at most drugstores.

This is not sterile unless you sterilize everything, but at least there are no funky chemicals.

[Tabular-Iceberg]

Thanks. I’m sure regular table salt and googling the concentration would have done the trick, but there’s something to be said for those 30 ml plastic vials you break off a ribbon that you know have the right stuff and is sterile and stays that way until you use it. I don’t want to take risks with things I don’t have enough knowledge to make them calculated risks. But it worries me when some of the people we defer to wouldn’t even pass high school chemistry.

After having checked five pharmacies with nobody having heard of it the vet took pity on me and gave me a handful out of their supply closet.

[AlbertCory]

Yeah. My vet gave me Prednisone for MY dog's itching, and I refused to give it to him. Major side effects on that drug.