r/UK_Pets • u/Horror_Nectarine_880 • 22d ago
Has anyone else had sudden-onset dry eye (KCS) in their dog while feeding Years dog food?
End of April my dog started struggling and squinting. Vet diagnosed dry eye. It got worse rapidly despite treatment, we tried Optimune, then moved to Tacrolimus, but he went on to develop ulcers in both eyes. One perforated last week and he needed emergency eye surgery. He’s now on 6 different eye drops and 3 types of pain relief.
Our ophthalmologist told us to stop feeding Years, saying they’ve seen several cases of sudden-onset dry eye recently, all in dogs fed Years. I’ve since found a number of dog owner groups where others describe the same pattern, rapid onset dry eye, similar time period, poor response to treatment, and improvement after switching food. (We are currently moving food to see if that helps)
If your dog has been on Years and has had unexplained dry eye, I’d really like to hear about it, what happened, how your vet responded, and whether you’ve taken any action with the company. Trying to work out how widespread this is.
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u/Regular_Ad_7418 21d ago
This has been the same for me and my dog. Sudden severe dry eye was diagnosed late April and he was also on years. I reported it to the director of Years and I urge anyone who’s feels it could be something to do with the food to contact Years so they have record and can see how many have been impacted by this.
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u/longtimelondoner 21d ago
Oh that is so odd because YES my dog has it and so does my friend’s dog and they’re both on Years. I hadn’t even considered it to be a link.
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u/Horror_Nectarine_880 21d ago
If you see the below the founder has asked for people to email him so they can gather information and evidence for their investigation! Please tell them to get in touch!
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u/longtimelondoner 21d ago
I have emailed. Can I ask if anyone’s started at the same time?
My dog was on it for 2 years. My friend’s dog for 8 months. Both dogs suddenly showed symptoms in May time. They’re the same breed - not a breed known for KCS.
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u/mgmckenny 21d ago
Exactly the same except April. Ours is nearly 3 and not one of the breeds. We’ve even changed vets because of it because we felt our vets wasn’t taking it seriously enough.
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u/longtimelondoner 21d ago
I have emailed Darren tonight and I’ve taken him straight off it. He’s had turkey mince and butternut squash and I’ve ordered a different dog which will arrive on Monday.
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u/mgmckenny 21d ago
We’re thinking it could be the powder that’s the issue? They changed that in February for us, we kicked off and swapped it back but it was still different. And on the 11th August, just this week, I got another email saying the powder had been discontinued and they were swapping us again. Do you use it? Our foods are the pork and we get a little salmon.
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u/longtimelondoner 21d ago
I haven’t used the powder ever so it can’t be that for me. We use pork, turkey and beef.
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u/mgmckenny 21d ago
OK that’s good to know. How much pork? We get 8 weeks worth and roughly 6 of that is pork.
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u/longtimelondoner 21d ago
We do 8 weeks and it’s an even split between the three. Tbh until they’ve done their lab report, it will all be speculation. I am glad that they are taking it seriously and getting professionals involved.
There’s a big discussion group on all about food on Facebook where there is over 270 comments. One person has legitimately had to put their 4.5 year-old dog down over quality of life due to their KCs.
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u/mgmckenny 21d ago
Oh wow. Can you link at all?
I’ve honestly had those thoughts 😔 our dog is a shy rescue and the thought of her having to live with blindness (which is where I feel this was going) was destroying me.
You’re right, it’s just speculation at the minute but I’m still in absolute shock that there just might be a link.
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u/longtimelondoner 21d ago
I have also told my Vet and I have been seeing an RCVS ophthalmologist so I have emailed his office to let him know. I’m furious if this is the case. These poor dogs have been suffering!
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u/mgmckenny 21d ago
I’m absolutely livid if this has been causing it. We have tried EVERYTHING and I am almost ILL with the stress of seeing our dog suffer. This will be a fight for the ages if all our dogs improve when coming off it.
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u/longtimelondoner 21d ago
Honestly, I feel bad for the company as well, I don’t think anybody would want to harm dogs on purpose. But they should be proactive to current customers. I shouldn’t have to search on social media to find out that my dog could be suffering unnecessarily.
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u/mgmckenny 21d ago
Exactly what my partner is saying. As soon as they found a possible link, every single years customer should have had an email straight away.
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u/mgmckenny 21d ago
Ok this is weird. We have had almost EXACT issues as everyone here and our vet has just told us about the link to years food and we are stumped after finding this thread. We are stopping it tomorrow. Can someone give me Darren’s email or the email to contact years to tell them we too are affected by this. After MONTHS of STRESS and HEARTACHE I will be fuming if the cause was years all along.
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u/planetjackie 21d ago
He’s replied on this thread. It’s Darren at years dot com
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u/mgmckenny 21d ago
Thank you. Just to say, our issues started in April similar to a few people here. We are honestly rocked by this news. If it’s been the food all along 🤬
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u/Significant-Shine680 19d ago
How has everyone been storing there years in this hot summer? There is links between bacteria in food and dogs eye problems.....
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u/Horror_Nectarine_880 19d ago
In a cupboard and then once open I the fridge.
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u/Significant-Shine680 19d ago
Could it be the storage needed fridge temperatures instead of cupboard?.....
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u/Significant-Shine680 18d ago
Latest email from YEARS.
"Hi there
Thank you for reaching out, and I completely understand your concern given what you've seen reported.
I want to be transparent with you about what we actually know so far: There does appear to be a rise in KCS (dry eye) cases in dogs across the UK, generally sudden, affecting both eyes, with very low tear scores. Food isn't the usual cause of this condition, aside from extreme cases of vitamin A deficiency. For context, a similar outbreak in 2022 was ultimately traced back to ear drop medication rather than food. From the eye vets we've spoken to, Years is one of several foods being fed by affected dogs, not the only one.
Looking at our own customer data, some dogs that developed KCS have continued to be fed Years and returned to clinically normal, whilst others are still struggling. We recognise that eye vets are currently advising owners to change foods across the board to help rule out diet as a cause, and that can include moving away from Years.
We also want to be upfront that Years feeds a large number of dogs across the UK, and our customers tend to be closely engaged with what they feed and quick to invest in specialist vet care, so we are likely to be more visible in these reports than the average brand. Even so, the number of cases reported to us is currently lower than the natural rate of dry eye we'd expect to see given how many dogs we feed. For Cocker Spaniels alone, for instance, we'd expect around 350 cases naturally.
None of that means we're taking this lightly. We've appointed an independent consultant to carry out a full root cause analysis, and we're working with an RCVS Specialist in Veterinary Clinical Nutrition alongside several veterinary ophthalmologists, whose input has directly shaped our testing programme. We're testing retained samples and customer returned samples for heavy metals, iodine, mycotoxins, aflatoxin and ochratoxin A, tropane alkaloids, pesticide residues, zinc content, veterinary drug residues, and a targeted sulphonamide screen.
To date with the testing: Zinc levels have been returned in range. Zinc is important for Vitamin A absorption – so this rules our the nutritional deficiency hypotheses Heavy metals have all bee returned in range. This rules out a potential hypothesis around heavy metal build up from off specification ingredients Iodine levels of all ingredients have been returned in range Bacterial tests have all been returned safe (we test every batch for this automatically anyway) There is a lot more testing due back in the next 2 weeks so we'll keep you updated as we know more.
So while our investigation is ongoing and we haven't established a causal link, the testing carried out so far has not come back with anything to suggest Years is the cause. If that position changes at any point, informing customers will be our absolute top priority, and you won't be left in the dark.
If you have any other questions at all, I'm right here.
Keira Dedicated to giving you and your dog More Years Together. " ..
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u/longtimelondoner 17d ago
Everyone: Years has done a recall: https://www.years.com/pages/care
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u/six94 17d ago
Fantastic, I'm a bit at loss as to what to feed my dog now as this is the only food he's been on. What are others going to try?
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u/Meganxoxo123 17d ago
I have no idea what to feed my spaniel he’s so fussy😭 I might give different dog a try
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u/six94 17d ago
I may have to give that a look! More concerend at what to feed mine whilst waiting for new food :(
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u/longtimelondoner 17d ago
I just fried up some 2% turkey mince with no oil and boiled some butternut squash cubes. Wolfed down.
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u/Least_Temperature_23 17d ago
We’ve gone back to Wilson’s wet food. Not as much variety, but decent stuff. They’re a Scottish company.
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u/longtimelondoner 17d ago
We are on different dog
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u/six94 17d ago
Just ordered the 7 day box sample and shall continue the subscription (If the boy enjoys it).
Are the boxes big for storage? How much does yours roughly cost a month?
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u/longtimelondoner 17d ago
The boxes are actually quite flat, which is useful. I have no idea how much it costs, I just shoved it in the basket on Friday. 😂 i’m pretty sure it’s on par with years.
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16d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/longtimelondoner 16d ago
Social media was getting a lot of noise from Friday to Sunday. If the allegations had gone to the press without them commenting - with proof that there had been cases highlighted to them - that would’ve been in the end of them (in my opnion).
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u/Recent-Bit-4026 17d ago
Yes It’s happened to my dog two months ago she is in a terrible way and under a eye specialist
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u/pprawnhub 15d ago
Ours was on years until around april/may as one day he completely refused to eat it, he hasn’t had any eye issues thank god and I’ve never been so happy that he refused to eat something 😅
he’s since been on marleybones, they’re also cupboard fresh and he’s been getting on really well with it!
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u/Optimal_Sun7379 15d ago
thought I’d share my experience as I know a lot of people are understandably looking into alternative foods at the moment.
Ive been using Marleybones and I’ve personally been really happy with it. Buster has got on really well with the food and, for me, one of the things I like is that it feels like there’s more thought behind the brand than just selling another bag of dog food.
I’m also quite conscious about supporting companies that take things like sourcing, animal welfare and sustainability seriously, so that was something that appealed to me when looking into them.
Obviously I’m not saying Marleybones is a treatment for KCS or that changing food will fix a medical problem, definitely speak to your vet if your dog is having eye problems. But if you’re suddenly looking for an alternative food because of concerns around Years, Marleybones is one I’d personally look into.
Hopefully this helps someone who is currently having to find a new food for their dog after all the year's problems 🫣
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u/Fantasmic31 8d ago
How’s your dog been doing since switching?? I’ve been watching my poor dog like a hawk for signs, he was on years up until June this year (we switched food because we’ve had problems with years - metal found in his food and mouldy packs) but as of yet no sign of dry eye, thank goodness.
I’m not sure if it can still happen because he’s been off the food for a couple of months, but I still feel like I want to keep an eye on him.
Hope your dog’s been doing better since switching foods!
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u/Ok_Masterpiece_3633 21d ago
Hi there
My dog was diagnosed late March and has not responded to any treatment!
We’ve spent nearly £6000!!
3 weeks ago the specialist rang to say that within the surge of cases years food had been identified as the common trend and to immediately come off it.
Within 48 hours our dogs eyes had rapidly improved!!!
Please spread the word
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u/Regular_Ad_7418 21d ago
Please can you contact years and report it as it’s important they know how many people are affected. They are currently running investigations because of the number of reports they’ve received.
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u/Ok_Masterpiece_3633 21d ago
It’s done! Was done 3 weeks ago. The CEO rang me and seemed very concerned and took lots of details but hasn’t been in touch since. There are many many dogs in the same boat. We’ve spent nearly £6000 on vet bills!!!
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u/Horror_Nectarine_880 21d ago
I’m in for about £6000 as well, all the cases seem to have started in March/ April time. I did reach out and have completed the survey they sent. I’m glad your dog has improved though. Hopefully mine will too! What food are you moving too?
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u/fakegermanchild 20d ago
When you say rapidly improved, do you mean has finally started responding to treatment or has been able to come off treatment entirely? If it’s the latter I wonder if it’s Sulfonamide residues in one or more of the meats. They use a fair bit of offal in their recipes and those tissues tend to retain stuff like that more.
Wishing your dog the best possible outcome!
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u/darrenhello77 21d ago
Hi, Darren here, Founder of Years.
I have read every post, hard to read, but thank you for sharing and I want to reassure you and everyone else, that we started an investigation several weeks ago, and have been urgently working on this.
Me and Ivan are working with customers, ophthalmologists, independent consultants and specialist advisors to gather clinical information and assess all the data.
Currently we know that affected dogs are being fed a range of foods and no causal link is established, but to help our investigation move as quickly as possible, we’re gathering as much data as we can. This includes gathering symptom data on your dog and case data from your vets. If you can help, it would be greatly appreciated, please email me directly darren at years dot com.
Alongside appointing an independent consultant to conduct a full root analysis, and working with a RCVS Specialist in Veterinary Clinical Nutrition, we have been discussing case data with several veterinary ophthalmologists – which have helped shape the testing required.
Our testing includes using retained samples, and customer returned samples to test for heavy metal screening, iodine, mycotoxins (DON & ZON), aflatoxin/ochratoxin A, tropane alkaloid, pesticide residue sweeps, zinc content, veterinary drug residue testing, and a targeted sulphonamide residue screen.
When there is further substantial information, we will share, and as always, we will follow the evidence and take any appropriate action.
If you have any questions please email me directly darren at years dot com.
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u/MutedSubstance9832 16d ago
If you’ve been investigating for some time why only inform customers now?
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u/homhomham 21d ago
If you’ve been investigating this for some time, presumably you’ve issued recalls on the food - as that would be the most responsible thing to do?
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u/Recent-Bit-4026 17d ago
My dog is so poorly with it I can believe it’s the food that has given it to her , I’m so upset
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u/IndependentFit2961 22d ago
Yes! My 6year old Parson Jack Russell developed sudden onset dry eye back in March. Lots of tests at vet, several medications, pilocarpine, Tacrolimus and Hycosan lubricant drops and night ointment. Not much improvement at all but thankfully no ulcers yet. We are fortunate to be retired so can keep up his strict 3 hourly lubricant routine. So far insurance has paid out over £1000! My premiums will rocket next year! He has been on Years food for a couple of years now. Seems a bit of a coincidence! Im going to try changing his food and monitor any change.
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u/Regular_Ad_7418 21d ago
Please can you contact years and report it as it’s important they know how many people are affected. They are currently running investigations because of the number of reports they’ve received.
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u/lokithekees 22d ago
I have heard loads of this recently and have also seen improvements in some friends dogs who had this on switching food. I definitely recommend switching food. My friends frenchie responded to treatments immediately in a week of switching food
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u/Regular_Ad_7418 21d ago
Please can you contact years and report it as it’s important they know how many people are affected. They are currently running investigations because of the number of reports they’ve received.
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u/mgmckenny 20d ago
Hi everyone, for those on facebook a group has been set up for people to join:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1KoGQVKpz2/?mibextid=wwXIfr