Eye stain/drainage

[kristi simmons]

I have a 12 week old doodle, and just one of her eyes is draining and staining her cute little face...I did some research and tried distilled water with no change.  Was wondering if anyone else had any suggestions on what I could do to help.  I am going to the vet Friday and was going to ask if maybe she had a blocked tear duck.  Thought maybe someone might have had a similar experience.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Hopefully it is irritation and meds will clear it right up.  This can be a genetic problem from the poodle side.

[kristi simmons]

well shoot...so if it's genetic will it get worse?  Would anything help it?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I didn't mean to imply that it had to be a horrible thing - just an inherited trait.  Ned gets crusty eye boogers but no staining or runny eyes.  Whenever we cut the fur around his face, he gets fewer boogers for a while.  My Springer Spaniel gets mushy eye boogers, but not runny or staining.  Clancy rarely gets any eye crust and never staining.

[Bryce P]

Use angel eyes you just add it too her food. I have never used it but all the people that use it love it.

[Carol Brand]

Eyes run for a variety of reasons:  allergies, teething, misplaced/mis-shapped tear ducts, or clogged tear ducts.  I have noticed that Poodles who have runny eyes tend to produce Poodles (poodle mixes?) with runny eyes.  The staining comes from red yeast that grows in the wet areas.

 

If the tearing is due to teething, then the Doodle will likely outgrow it.  Usually, though, teething runny eyes comes on a bit later like when the adult molars are coming in.

 

You can see if the tearing is due to a blocked duct by dropping a colored solution into the tear duct and seeing if it runs out the nose.  This is usually done by an Ophthamologist not a regular vet.  The test can be expensive.  Blockages can be cleared via surgery.  Sometimes they clear on their own.

 

If the tearing is due to misplaced or mis-shaped tear ducts (on Poodles you often see these on dogs with very round eyes) then you are looking at a lifelong issue.

 

Products like Angle Eyes et al use an active ingredient called Tylan.  This is a low level antibiotic that suppresses the growth of red yeast.  You can achieve the same or better results by buying Tylan on the Internet and feeding it directly.  Note, long term administration of antibiotics is not without its issues.  

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Yes Myla as a puppy had her left eye draining all the time, my vet said it would probably just go away on it's own, just keep wiping it clean and make sure no hairs are able to curl into her eyes. I bought some tear stain wipes and still have to use them on her, she ALWAYS has a lot of eye boogers, big ones, but it isn't always drainy? So she does have darker hair there but it's not too bad, she lets me use the wipes and when the fur dries it looks better, I also trim the hairs from the corner of her eyes down so the hair doesn't add to it. I would never have surgery done for this since it isn't harming her just bothersome. We never tried Angel Eyes because my DH didn't want to use that. Good luck, hope it gets better!