My boy has MASSIVE eye goopy boogers

[Noodle]

Hey everyone.

I took my doodle in when he had his first case of eye discharge (at the time it was a bit greenish/yellowish I guess) and got treatment for him right away. The moment we stopped the drops, it came back but not green - a little yellow, clear, human like eye boogers. Put him back on the drops, they went away, took him off, they came back. It's been a war and I'm over it. All the vets (and I tried several vets) want to do is put medicine in his body and I think he's had about enough without the problem ever going away. This morning he had so much goop around his eyes my anxiety is back.

Is this something that just happens? The internet research is not working for me on this one so I'm turning to my pals for help and advice.

Thanks

[Ginny Nightingale]

Well, this is my totally unprofessional opinion and others may think I am nuts, but I have a doodle with goopy eyes and goopy ears too--I noticed a correlation of the amount of goop with the food she was eating and I switched her to a whitefish based food. (Her diet changes when she has pups and that change would also clear up her eyes and ears.)

After a few weeks her eyes are quite a bit less runny and her ears are 100% better--I think there are others on DK who feel that the runniness of eyes can be food allergies--perhaps search in the discussions or check with the food group. A change in diet could do it. 

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

Try rinsing his eyes with tepid camomile tea and wiping the eye boogers away.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Daisy had eye boogers when she was young, every morning I would use a warm wet wash cloth and clean them. The Vet said her eyes were fine just overactive tear ducts and it should go away in a couple of months....he was right.

All that being said, they were white and not greenish at all, her eyes seemed fine.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Did any of the vets do cultures of the gunk? If they did and the cultures are clear I would make sure the hair is trimmed around his eyes, wipes them with warm water a few times a day and put the drops in a drawer. Please keep us posted on how his eyes are. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

My doodles get some discharge in the corners of their eyes ,which I remove once or twice a day. But it is not green and certainly not massive. I do not believe it's likely your dogs eye discharge is due to food if there are no other symptoms. I wouldn't worry about a thin, clear discharge but a greenish or really thick discharge could be bacterial conjunctivitis and should be examined by a vet and treated if necessary.

[Julie and Charlie]

Charlie just has a little bit of discharge that I would compare to a humans- it's clear to slightly opaque, and because his nose is frequently on the ground, turns black when it dries because of the dirt that collects near his face. I try to clean it out once a day, later in the day is when it's the driest and easiest to get out. I just pick it with my fingers. Now, if I leave it go for a few days (like if he was boarded), it gets to be a pretty large, hard thing that pretty tough to remove.

Now, if it ever turned green or yellowish, or he suddenly started getting a lot of it, to the vet we would go.

[F, Calla & Luca]

If it goes too long it can cause sores even.

[Suzanne & Jack]

Jack has a tendency to get eye boogers which I have discovered end up as gray spots on the walls.  I think he flings them when he shakes his head.  His are normally a clearish gray in the inside corner.  I wipe them away when I see them, but I don't worry about them.  I think its more of an irritation than an infection.

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

my 6 month old has had so much less eye goop since we had his face groomed and they trimmed the hair around his eyes.  in human terms, yellow or green generally means infection, I would guess its the same for canines.  pull down the lid and look at the conjunctiva (the area surrounding the eye)  -if you see redness there you should check it out with a vet.

When I was a kid, my mother called it visits from the "sand man" when I had eye "goobers".  Hope that's all it is in your case!

[Lynda Kamrath]

One of my doodles has eye boogers just about every day.  They are opaque in color and come out of the corner of his eye in a string.  Never yellow or green in color.  He has had them all of his life and each morning I just clean his eyes with a wet cloth.  He doesn't mind at all and it is just part of our morning routine.

[Noodle]

Hi everyone! I really appreciate all of your amazing advice. I started wiping him around the eyes twice, even three times a day, at first with chamomile and now just with warm water. I can say the goop has gone down extremely. Today I didn't even have to wipe at all. It seems to come and go depending on where we go for walks or how fun and dirty he gets :) I'm grateful that you guys took the time to share your remedies with me, you have saved us from so much concern. I don't understand why one of the several vets we saw couldn't just give us similar advice, but instead poke and prod him and take test after test. It's irritating and disappointing and frankly scary. I really appreciate you guys, thanks again! xoxo

[F, Calla & Luca]

I clean my doodles daily, just with my fingers. There is always some goop, sometimes more, sometimes less.