Eye Injury/Infection

From what you're describing it sounds like there is a lesion on the eye -- that can happen if a bit of soot or ash or any irritant gets in the eye.

I wish you could get Riley to the vet before Friday.  That's a LONG time for a very very sore eye. 

Can you get hold of some human artificial tears?  The liquid ones are fine -- just try to flush the eye and rinse out whatever that is. 

Even the ointment ones would be good.  I'd apply several times tomorrow if you can possibly get some (most grocery stores sell it).  You need to keep that eye lubricated if possible and try to keep her out of it. 

Some grocery stores carry Similisan eye drops.  DO NOT use regular human 'red eye' eyedrops -- they will irritate further and DON'T use any sort of antihistamine eye drops (it will dry the eye further).

A lesion on the inside of the lid can then literally scratch the eye itself.  Either way this is going to be SUPER painful. 

Don't let anyone annoy him tomorrow -- this is FAR more painful than you can imagine and it would make even the most saintly dog short-tempered.  So let him give most of the holiday festivities a miss if possible.

You may see the third eyelid swell -- I can see in the picture that it's already swollen -- and the third eyelid can come up and try to 'protect' the eye and literally it almost looks like the eye is rolled back in their head (it looks scarey). 

In honesty -- if it were my dog I'd be heading for the emergency vet.  This is painful beyond belief and it can actually damage the eye (which can cause an even more expensive problem).  I know that's not good news but eye stuff is tricky and if you can possibly go to the e-vet I would do that.

It could be anything -- even a foxtail or something embedded in there.

PS -- yes dogs can get pink eye/conjunctivities.  It's not quite as contagious from dogs to humans but YES it can spread.  But from what you describe inside the lid it's an injury -- not just conjunctivitis

Thanks Callie. :) Unfortunately I just got a chance to check this now so I didn't see your suggestions before but I'll remember them just in case. He went to the vet but there was no definite answer as to what is wrong with his eye. They ran 3 tests - an eye stain, tear test (for dry eye I think?), and a "tonometry". There is no ulcer thankfully, nor is it glaucoma. They think he may have just scratched it or gotten something in it. He is on 75mg Rimadyl/day, and we have to apply a Neopolydex ointment to his eye 3x a day. He goes for a follow up check on Tuesday.

Thanks again for the advice! I had read that you could get certain things from the store to help, but I was leery of messing with his eye. The vet also told us we could use artificial tears.

Glad for the update -- eye stuff can be tricky depending on how comfortable you feel with it.