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Eyes

2K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  Jackie from Concrete, WA 
#1 ·
Any suggestions on how to keep their eyes clean? My Lewis has eyes that drain a lot and then have hard crusty stuff under his eyes. I clean them almost every day with warm water and other eye stain treatments, and it doesn’t seem to really help. :frown2:
Thanks
 
#10 ·
Hello again...
Thanks for the good information!

I took Lewis to the vet to make sure he didn’t have an eye infection because the drainage often smells. He doesn’t and the vet said to keep using warm water to clean them. Lewis is such a trooper, he just sits on my lap while I clean his eyes-(he knows he gets a special treat after)😏 I have the eye comb but I don’t want to use it everyday because under his eyes are slightly red...
I think I will look into his diet.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Patti use to have daily eye drainage but I've noticed in the last several months she has very little drainage. Not sure why. I've changed her diet and I'm exclusively feeding her Honest Kitchen, FDA approved, human food and have noticed a change in eye drainage.

OTOH ... the eye drainage could be linked to Spring time allergies. We have a lot of Cedar trees and when they start Smoking it's the rare person that's doesn't have a Cedar allergy.

Will have to wait and see if her eye drainage worsens when Spring arrives.
 
#12 ·
Patti use to have daily eye drainage but I've noticed in the last several months she has very little drainage. Not sure why. I've changed her diet and I'm exclusively feeding her Honest Kitchen, FDA approved, human food and have noticed a change in eye drainage.

OTOH ... the eye drainage could be linked to Spring time allergies. We have a lot of Cedar trees and when they start Smoking it's the rare person that's doesn't have a Cedar allergy.

Will have to wait and see if her eye drainage worsens when Spring arrives.
When I changed my dogs' diet this eliminated Mia's tear stains and my yorkies stinky ears.
 
#13 ·
I am just in the process of trying to solve this problem with my Chewy. He has been on ACANA chicken food since the beginning. Last July my vet diagnosed him with a sudden heart murmur of a 4 (potential DCM). Funny thing was, he just had his annual check up 3 months prior and a murmur was not found at that time. He was 1 yr and 4 months old. Vet suggested I put him on Science Hills Prescription Heart dog food asap. Crappy food overall. Made mostly of corn meal but it did the trick and 6 months later his murmur was down to a 1 grading when we was excited.
His eye tear stains also seemed to be reduced. Still there but way better. Did I mention the Prescription Hills had some Chicken in it also. I decided to go back to a grain friendly chicken food (cause that is all he knows) in Dec and now his eyes are getting bad again...I am now thinking maybe it is the chicken. As soon as he is finished this bag of food, I am going to change his main protein from chicken to lamb and see if that makes a difference.
Just wanted to mention this when I hear people talking about determining the cause of the staining and not just trying to "fix" it with other remedies. I am glad to hear others thinking the same as me in the way of changing something in their diet to see if that makes a difference. I also tried a blueberry food which is an antioxidant which is supposed to help also but it made his stools supper soft and I didn't see any change in this eyes. Anyway, thought I would share my experience. I will repost in a few months after a fair trial if it has made a difference. Thanks for this post. It was something I wanted to discuss also.
 
#14 ·
Sorry to hear about Chewy's heart murmur. I wish you the best in finding the right food for him. It can be very difficult with all the choices these days and differing opinions. My Mia's mom had struvite crystals at an early age so I was determined to do my best to prevent Mia from getting them. Therefore, I knew I wanted to avoid kibble and that led to me feeding raw. But it was still quite a journey to get to the right food for her.
 
#15 ·
There are a few brands of little eye wipe pads that are basically just sterile saline. They don’t really treat eye stains but I do find them convenient to be able to wipe my dog’s eyes and throw them away vs. using a cloth that needs to be washed. Every brand I’ve purchased are a little dry so I wet them with warm water. I don’t keep cotton pads/cosmetic pads on hand but I may try that, like Jackie mentioned, when I run out of what I have. It seems to be more economical. Personally I think the key is making sure the area dries after cleaning. Even if mild staining remains or is growing out, it looks and feels better when it’s dry.
 
#16 ·
I don't keep cotton pads/cosmetic pads on hand but I may try that, like Jackie mentioned, when I run out of what I have.
The pads work well for me. I just dampen about half the pad with warm water and wipe the goobers with the damp half. Some cosmetic pads come moistened for makeup removal, so be sure you don't accidently get that kind.
 
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