Weepy eye problem

[LeA]

I mostly lurk here but have posted a few times and I wanted to get some opinions. I have an 8 mos. old pap with weepy eyes. I got him at 3 mos. and his eyes were fine...just the normal puppy stuff from time to time. Back in October he had a minor case of conjunctivitus (spelling?) and was on ointment to clear it up. It did clear up but he's been very weepy since, causing alot of staining. I've been to my vet and he said the eyes were a bit irritated so he was on more antibiotic drops for 10 days, and he told me that it looked like he might have allergies. He also suggested a daily eye wash.

Anyone else have any other suggestions? I know it's not due to dryness or household heat cause we're in Florida and the heat isn't on very often. I know there are several things I can do to get rid of the stains, and I'll have to before next week's shows, but I would like to alleviate the cause the of the stains. He does tear up a great deal.

After about 5 more days of antibiotics I'm going to try the eye wash and hope for the best...but thought I'd check to see if anyone had any other ideas. He is not photosensitive, they don't seem to bother him, he's not pawing or scratching or rubbing...they just weep...

Thanks!

[JMM]

He could have blocked tear ducts or a number of conditions where eyelashes could constantly irritate his eyes. Being such a small breed, you might have the best luck visiting a veterinary ophthalmologist for a close exam and flushing the tear ducts.

Collyrium is a nice, soothing eye flush. You can flush the eyes with it and then put some on a cotton ball to clean the facial hair. It is available near the contact lens solutions at the grocery store.

[Traci]

You can also use simple opthalmic saline....your vet probably also carries artificial tears that can help soothe irritated eyes.

You might want to thoroughly investigate the allergy potential....whether this be environmental or food allergy, it's worth a shot to investigate possibilities...did your vet discuss looking closer into the diet? Does this problem seem to only infect the eyes and not the skin? (if eyes only, I would suspect environmental pollens, smoke, excess dust, etc)

[Leanne and Cole]

As I understand it LeA, if it isn't bothering the dog... he's not pawing at the eyes, trying to scratch them, etc. then it's not cause for panic.

I have a toy poodle and I have to clean his eyes twice a day. He's black in colour so we don't have the staining issue persay, but he has had conjunctivitis. I know he has it when he paws incessantly at the area and the eyes are red.

In our case, it would appear to be worse in the summer and the vet has told us it's mostly because of allergies -- kind of like a puppy hay fever.

But in my humble opinion, it's probably nothing to worry over.

I did read somewhere once about what to do for tear staining. If I can find that I'll write back.

Take care,

~Leanne and Cole

[Linda]

We have 2 bichons that had the tear staining. We took them to a few different vets and were told that there wasn't anything medically wrong with them, it is very common. We tried saline solutions, tear staining washes, and many other products. We had no luck at all. We then started trying many different dog foods, we would try one new kind it seemed every 4 months or so, without any luck. We then tried Dick Van Pattens dog food, Natural Balance. It completely cleared up! They have been on it for abut 1 1/2 - 2 yrs. now and they are doing great. It took a while for the stained fur to grow out and get cut off but they are snow white now! If you could see the difference! Our vet and groomer asked us what we did and the vet said he was going to suggest it to other people that have dogs with this problem.

I don't know if this will help or not but it might be worth a try! Good luck!

[davet]

havn't read all the posts above but kinda suggest that your vet look on the inner surface of the nictatans (third eye lid) for granulation...many timnes that is the source of the infection

[Le'A]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! I will be taking to my vet next week to do a bit more investigating and perhaps make an appt. with the specialist. For the last week he was fighting a bit of a tummy bug and stopped eating, but bloodwork was normal and there wasn't any vomiting or loose stool - Thank Goodness!!! He's now back to eating and will hopefully gain some weight. Needless to say he's not being shown this weekend. He has a body a saluki would be proud of!

If I had to trace his weepiness back to a specific event, I would say I noticed it after he spent a car ride home with his crate positioned in front a plug in air freshener for the whole trip. I wasn't with him and it was just an oversight on the part of my friend. When she noticed it she felt horrible.... His first case of conjunctivitus was diagnosed the day after his car trip (he was squinty and weepy), and although the squintiness and irritation are gone, the weepiness remained. I am going to ask my vet/specialist to see if this might have caused a problem/clogged ducts.

Thanks again for all the responses!

Laura

[LeA]

Sorry that last post came with me listed as guest...I've been having trouble with logging on and passwords. Also, there are a couple of typos so I am sorry for those as well!