Eye Ca Ca

[Gail & Bogey]

My 6 month old golden doodle has this eye ca ca that I can't get rid of. First why does it happen and second how do I get rid of it?

[Linda And Loo]

I have never heard of an eye ca ca. What is it?

[Doug, Micki, Dawson & Mya]

Our 10 month Mya used to have it..... Eye ca ca, eye poopie, eye dirt, sleepy dirt, what ever you want to call it. It just went away..... could have been caused by wild hair tickling her eyeball. just like we might get an eyelash in the eye. Don't have a solution for you, other than grooming around the eye area.....

[Stefan]

If it's a green discharge coming from the eye, then it's likely an infection. These are very common and spread like wildfire to other dogs. My pup has had no less than 3 eye infections in the last 3 months. He keeps spreading it back and forth with his playmates. Take the pup to the vet to get checked out and you may get an Rx for some eye drops. 

[Diane, Baker & Oskar]

Both of our dogs have had dark, hard, balls of gunk collect on the fur at the corner of their eyes.  If this is what you mean, don't do anything.  It comes & goes...I just pick it off :P

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Quincy had it all the time at first.  Now at over a year, it is less.  We had eye drops from the vet which we used-but it did not seem to stip it.  it has just petered out.  

Anything green or with an odor, or redness in the eye itself if not good and should be looked at by our vet, though. 

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Oscar came home (at 8 weeks old) with runny eyes. It was a dark red that left stains. In the beginning I used an eye stain wash (not to be used in the eyes) from the pet supply store that helped to keep the staining under control (but did nothing to stop it), then progressed to herbal eye wash drops that took a couple weeks of cycling through different preparations (I did several cycles of it) which did seem to help a bit to control the running. Eventually, I changed his food from a poultry based one to a single protein (lamb formula). Since then Oscar hasn't had runny eyes. He still gets hard, dark balls of gunk in the corners of his eyes (which I wet and then wipe off), but the runniness is gone.

Puppies can sometimes have clogged tear ducts that may (or may not) respond to flushing out by a vet. I think it has to do with underdevelopment of the ducts which time will eventually cure for many. If its just hard, dark matter in the corners of the eyes, that is completely normal.  In Oscar's case, he definitely had clogged tear ducts (his eyes were flushed and the vet told me he had difficulty getting through all the matter to flush them), but they clogged right back up immediately after. He may have had a food sensitivity to poultry (or he may have just matured out of it). Its hard to tell, but we don't give anything with poultry in it any longer, and his eyes are doing great.

As someone else mentioned an eye infection will present as a green, stickiness, and that is something you need to see the vet about immediately. The infected eye often looks glassy and not right.

[Gail & Bogey]

Thanks for all the replies. Guess I should have been more clear. It's the dark hard balls of yuck that collect in the corners and his eyes and discoloration of the hair around his eyes. I do try to pull it off but he really doesn't like me to do it and stains around his eyes. His eyes themselves look pretty good but do seem to be red around the outside. I figured it was a common doodle problem so someone would know how to stop it or clean it up. I have heard diet could contribute to it.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

The easiest (and best) way to remove it is to wet it first with a dampened cotton ball, wait a couple minutes and then just wipe it off. It can be painful and irritating to the dog to try to pick it off if its stuck to the hair and skin. There's eye stain solutions that can help with staining, but I've found the most effective way to deal with it is to cut the stained hair off (it needs to be long enough to cut, though). If its excessive it may be he's sensitive to something in the food you're currently feeding.

[KLN]

I'm glad you posted this because I have the exact same issue with Finn and was about to take him to the vet but it sounds like it's just an ongoing something that we will have to deal with. 

[Bob Johnston]

It's a poodle trait. Use a warm wash cloth to soften it and it will come off or be able to pick off. Daily cleaning helps keep them off.

[GregPDX]

I actually "wash" my dog's face every day (gently) with a wet washcloth right after she's eaten her reconstituted dehydrated (Honest Kitchen-Love) lunch...it can make a sloppy mess around her mouth and chin.   During that face wash, I always work for several seconds on that "gunk" that has collected near her eyes...it hasn't stopped the problem, but it does help to keep her eyes somewhat "clear" on a day to day basis.  

[Julie and Maggie]

My solution to this sounds gross but it works. When Maggie gets those balls of black "eye ca ca" I just gently pick it off and then let her lick my fingers. Yes I am teaching her to eat her own boogers. Gross I know. BUT... she must really like it because she will sit very well behaved and let me fuss around her eyes with no complaint or resistance at all. I think that is a plus. 

But if you want to avoid them, have the groomer trim around her eye area a little more. That seems to lessen the gathering of eye goo.