[Debby]

I just wanted to let some of you know that have tear staining problems with your precious dogs that I have found something that worked for me after 4 months of 3x a day cleaning 7 days a week! I finally realized I was fighting a losing battle and took Chelsea Nicole to the Vet & he put her on an antibiotic to be taken 2x daily & an eye antibiotic to be applied once a day! He said she was the worst he had seen & did not know how much he could help because of this being a lot of the Maltese nature. He will be so pleased & surprised when I take her in for her check-up just one week later, her tear staing is at least 90% better in just one week! So, if you have this problem my personal suggestion is to take them to the Vet the first thing instead of spending money on everything else! It was the best $75.oo I have spent in a long time!

 

[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

Brinkley's was not bad enough for my vet to be concerned. He said it was a "small-white-dog" problem. I told him how much it bugged me, just the little bit he had...
well...he kids with me alot <_< ...good old country boy that he is....told me...if it bothered me that bad, I should've gotten a yorkie...
I know he could tell by my face that I was NOT amused...

He told me he was just kidding, and that keeping it clean and dry was the best solution he knew of. I guess if mine had been terrible I would have probed deeper for a solution. Glad it worked for you.

 

[adorableaccentsdogbows]

Which antibiotic did he put her on?

 

[dr.jaimie]

parker had a bad problem with his...he had some hairs growing in the insides of the corners of his eyes that were acting like a wick and were causing most of the tear production. so while i was working at my vet over the summer we put him under a very light anestestic and cauterized them. this procedure needed to be done twice to get most of them. now he has minimal tearing and i wipe his eyes every night to every other night and now he has no stains. i'm glad you found a solution to your problem. i am curious what antibiotic are you using?

 

[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

Originally posted by LadyMontava@Sep 16 2004, 10:42 AM
parker had a bad problem with his...he had some hairs growing in the insides of the corners of his eyes that were acting like a wick and were causing most of the tear production.  so while i was working at my vet over the summer we put him under a very light anestestic and cauterized them.  this procedure needed to be done twice to get most of them.  now he has minimal tearing and i wipe his eyes every night to every other night and now he has no stains.  i'm glad  you found a solution to your problem.  i am curious what antibiotic are you using?
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Brinkley has those hairs in the inside of his eyes. I think I posted about that in the "cherry eye" forum. They are small, but come out of the inside corner of his eyes. They STAY brown. Sometimes when they get long enough and he is really still, I can trim them some...but they are still there.
How did the cauterizing work? Could they do that while he was being nuetered?
Did it hurt afterwards? Like i have said before, Brinkley's stains are not terrible, and my vet thinks it is more of a "cosmetic" problem and does not get too worked up about it.
I may ask him about it if it is the same as Parker's.

 

[dr.jaimie]

yeah they could prob do it while he is being neutered....the hairs didnt grow back. he wasnt in any pain afterwards...i was supprised. it was an easy process...all it took was a needle and lighter. by all means do not attempt this yourself. one move and you can loose an eye. parker startedto wake up and almost got it in the eye and the vet said no more. but he wasnt knocked totally out which would have been safer, like your pup will be. i dont know if my vet would have tried it on anyones dog but since i worked there for 5 years and was in vetschool, he did it. i'm the one that noticed the hairs, and i told him my theory and he gave it a shot. when he put on some magnifying glasses to perform the procedure he said it looked like a forest. after it was over we put in some eye ointment and for a few days i applied the ointment three times a day. pretty simple procedure. doesnt hurt to ask your vet about it though. i wish i would have noticed this before parker was neutered cause then we could have made sure we got all the hairs. the vet called it ectopic cillia. ectopic meaning in a place where they wern't supposed to be and cilia meaning hair. but this term usually doesnt refer to the corner of the eye..i think the proper term would be medial trichiasis.

 

[2happymalts]

Our little girl had a problem with bad staining and we had her in the vet and they looked at her and did a tear test, and put her on Gentamyacin opthalmic eye drops twice daily for 10 days and she has almost zero tearing problem now it is amazing. I guess she was producing too much of the watery tears and not enough of the lubricating ones(I didn't know they had two types until then) and it caused her to eyes to be irritated and the drops were amazingly helpful. She has a beutifully clean face now and this has been over 8 months ago.

 

[Lilly521]

I took Sunny to the vet today for the first time and the vet mentioned his tear staining, i dont think it very bad and if i wipe his eyes once or twice a day with that crystal eye stuff i can hardly tell its there but the vet kinda made a big deal about it, he said it in no way effects his health but he was really pressing a cosmetic surgical procedure to like make his tear ducts bigger or smaller or something like that i dont know if its because i took him to a vet in a really fancy part of town ( the people there could afford to get their cosmetic surgery...i cant) or what did ya'lls vets talk about that?

 

[dr.jaimie]

thats my second step with parker but i havent learned about the procedure yet in school, but when i will do i plan to ask the professor about it. my vet didn't do the procedure and said thats something i had to go to a specialist for. i will wait til im a vet and i can afford it.

 

[mylittlebella]

I went to Petco this weekend and I saw a lady with a beautiful Maltese. He was so white and had no tearstains...nothing.

I stopped and asked her what she did because Bella is pretty bad now. She said not to waste your money on anything to just buy Hydrogen Peroxide and put it on every day. I started doing it on Saturday and I already see a significant difference.

I don't have the money for cosmetic surgery either but if I did, I don't think I would want to put her through a surgery just for cosmetic reasons. It would be for me and not for her wellbeing. I wouldn't do it.

 

[saltymalty]

What type of hydrogen peroxide did you use? Just regular strenght in the "brown" bottle from the drug store, or was it the kind used in hair coloring?

 

[mylittlebella]

Use regular hydrogen peroxide in the brown bottle from the drug stores. The other one is too strong. Be careful around the eye. Bella has a few hairs very close to her eyes that I didn't put anything on. I'm going to wait to take her to the groomers and they can cut that hair out. I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to cutting the hairs around the eyes. I did it a little yesterday while she was sleeping but she still wakes up.

 

[snuggles07]

Originally posted by mylittlebella@Sep 20 2004, 11:54 AM
Use regular hydrogen peroxide in the brown bottle from the drug stores.  The other one is too strong.  Be careful around the eye.  Bella has a few hairs very close to her eyes that I didn't put anything on.  I'm going to wait to take her to the groomers and they can cut that hair out.  I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to cutting the hairs around the eyes.  I did it a little yesterday while she was sleeping but she still wakes up.
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[Ladysmom]

I know many of you here have puppies so don't be too worried about tear staining yet. A lot of it is due to teething and they do outgrow it.

Never use the peroxide used for bleach near the eyes. The peroxide you want to get is the cheap stuff in the brown bottle. Rather that putting it on straight, mix it with an equal part Milk Of Magnesia, then add some cornstarch to make a paste. Paint it on and leave it in for several hours. It does a great job bleaching the stains.

I also read somewhere recently that putting a little bit of Desitin ointment under the eyes will keep the tears from staining the hair.

My Lady never had a problem with tearing until lately because she's developed allergies. I find if I just take a wet cotton ball and put a drop of Absolutely Natural shampoo on it and clean the area every day, it makes a big difference. That's my favorite shampoo for faces.

And a lot of it is a "little white dog thing" as the vet said. Supposedly genetics have a lot to do with it (another reason to buy from a good breeder!), so depending on what his or her parents look like, you may have to live with some degree of tear staining.

 

[Quincymom]

I use the eye-envy on Quincy and it does a pretty good job. Much better than the other stuff I tried (I used it all) I found with the hydrogen peroxide, even the 3% strength, it started to break the hairs off his face and moustache after awhile. The eye envy is much more gentle, and if some accidently gets in the eye it isn't painful like peroxide is. I only use the EE powder on his face on dress up days (bows).
I also like boric acid powder (be really careful with it), it does a good job if the face stays really wet from tearing, it inhibits yeast growth and a pinch in each ear does the same thing,doesn't help with staining, though.
Quincymom

 

[saltymalty]

Originally posted by Quincymom@Oct 23 2004, 07:05 AM
I use the eye-envy on Quincy and it does a pretty good job. Much better than the other stuff I tried (I used it all) I found with the hydrogen peroxide, even the 3% strength, it started to break the hairs off his face and moustache after awhile. The eye envy is much more gentle, and if some accidently gets in the eye it isn't painful like peroxide is. I only use the  EE powder on his face on dress up days (bows).
I also like boric acid powder (be really careful with it), it does a good job if the face  stays really wet from tearing, it inhibits yeast growth and a pinch in each ear does the same thing,doesn't help with staining, though.
Quincymom
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Isn't boric acid used in eye-washes? I was reading a book that said to use a 20 HP solution with Milk of Magnesia and corn startch. I thought that might be too harsh for their skin as well as hair. I'm glad to hear success with the "brown bottle".

 

[vita]

For anyone who cares there are 2 formulas for that eye envy stuff...one with an antibiotic in it and one not. Obviously, the one that contains the antibiotic is more effective. So, if you wouldn't ask your vet for antibiotics (like tylan) to put inside your dog then think about putting antibiotics in your dog to be absorbed through the skin and yes...you can get it ( the liquid containing the antibiotic)in the eye , as the label says.

This was all the rage afew years ago as a treatment for tear stains. I bought some, used it for a week...perhaps there was some improvement...and then another Malt owner cued me in to what I just told you.
I threw the rest out.

 

[Quincymom]

Originally posted by vita@Oct 23 2004, 04:29 PM
For anyone who cares there are 2 formulas for that eye envy stuff...one with an antibiotic in it and one not.
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Thanks Vita, I didn't know that the EE contained antibiotics.

I am going to have to reconsider using it--I have been using it about 3X a week now for about 3 months.
You never know, sure wish they would be required to label animal products.
Quincymom

 

[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

I don't know if it is working-or if it is coincidence...but this week I have been using the peroxide on his stains at night-and a tiny dab of Desitin in the mornings to help keep it dry-his tearing/staining has been very minimal if any so far this week!!! We will see!!!