# Normal Tearing?



## PammiPoodle (Jul 16, 2011)

How much, if at all, does your dog tear? I'd love to know what's common/normal for everyone! Did anyone notice a difference between puppyhood and adulthood? Does your pup have a short or long-haired face, and do you think that affects the tearing?

Lumi tears a lot, I think. She doesn't have tear stains or what I'd consider excessive boogies. But, she almost constantly has wet tear lines. They dry up when she sleeps so when she wakes up her face is white and bright (if only I looked my best first thing in the morning!), and in a few minutes she has these wet lines that stay there until she takes a nap again. I somehow feel like it's a "puppy thing" and will change when she gets older. My mom always tells me how when I was a kid my nose was always running! Haha

I've included a dry-eye and wet-eye picture. What do you all think?


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

I would say it is normal puppy tearing. I think until she gets her permanent teeth she will tear more. That is what the vet told me when I asked her about Swizzle. Swizzle's tearing is much better now that he has his permanent teeth. I do have an issue with tear staining though. I have tried denatured water, good raw food and washing around his eyes with saline and when his fur grows out I can see some brown staining. I saw your tip about white vinegar and water (being careful not to let it wick into the eyes) and will try that. I have also heard 1/2 of a tums per day which I am going to try. If those don't work I am considering Angel Eyes Natural - that does not have antibiotics. His tearing and staining is not that bad but his face is so cute I hate to have anything marring it. I am glad you don't have a staining issue with Lumi. I have notice Swizzle's eyes do tear more if hair gets in them - I am sure that would be the same for any dog. I would not worry too much I think just growing up will take care of the wet eye issue. You probably will notice the tearing getting worse when she starts losing teeth.


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## Courtney_20_00 (Sep 18, 2011)

My spoo is almost 8 months old and has constant tear lines. She has a shaves face and she gets goobies also, Ive had her checked out numerous times as I am a Vet tech and she goes to work with me. And they can't find anything wrong with her, we have done the tear testing and everything. She just produces alot of tears. And if I let her face grow any at all its gets real bad.


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

I always wondered about tearing in other people's poodles. I read that standards don't get excessive tear stains like toys and minis do. My standard doesn't have brown stains down his face or anything but he gets a lot of eye boogies. It crusts in the inner corners of his eyes and I have to pick it off every morning. I've noticed the crusts have decreased since I've introduced raw food into his diet. In his case, his diet has a lot to do with how his eyes behave. Couple of months ago he had GREEN smelly discharge coming out of his eyes! It was mucous-like. I put antibiotic eyedrops in his eyes thinking it was an infection. It only lasted a week. One of his eyes is doing the same thing again, but just a little bit of green discharge, and it's happening right now during his transition onto raw food. Looking back, the weeklong "eye infection" happened when I was switching his kibble. I think this is body's way of "detoxing."


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

When I was last in Paris, I saw this gorgeous white poodle -- I started speaking wtih the owner and she said she always used eye makeup remover on her little girl's eyes and it took any tear stains off, or kept them to a minimum. From a practical standpoint, I never thought about it, but since we used it on our eyes and it takes off makeup, it's probably a bit more effective than saline and still non-stinging. My sister uses on her bichon and said it works.


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## katbrat (May 8, 2011)

Lexi is a white spoo and we did have some tear staining when she was young and we were switching over her food while we were in transition, but it was just while we were switching, not before or after. The last groomer we used did not get the corners of her eyes trimmed very well and I noticed the stray hair would cause her eyes to tear up and then she would get eye crusties. Every once in a while I will notice a bit of an eye crustie but I am able to just wipe it off. So far we don't have any stains and she will be eight months old on the first.


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## MamaTiff (Sep 23, 2011)

Darby's left eye would tear all the time. It never stained, but there was always a wet streak there. But now that you posted this, it has slowly stopped and I can't remember the last time I saw it tear. So maybe it is a puppy thing? She just turned 9 months.


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## Rowan (May 27, 2011)

Both Alex and Merlin have very little tearing (usually just a crusty nub at the corner of the eye when I wipe them down in the evening). Pippin's eyes will run in the summer when there's a lot of pollen, but stop during the winter. It looks like a clear liquid "tear trail," and I wipe his face with a warm washcloth. So I think it's normal. If she had an infection, it would smell (I know a poodle who has this issue and yuck)!


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## PammiPoodle (Jul 16, 2011)

Thanks for all the helpful comments! : ) It's so nice to hear that some of you saw a decrease as your dog grew up, or got through teething. As a groomer, it's really important to me that she has a stain free face, which she does, to reassure my clients that I know what I'm doing. : P *But* with the runny eyes, they always look like pink lines anyway! Crossing my fingers that grown-up Lumi won't be so teary. : )


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## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

Beau has never had a tear staining problem, thank heaven! He does get sometime have mucus in the corners, and an eye booger every once in while. Nothing that can't be wiped away -- if he holds still!


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## lilypoo (Jul 25, 2011)

Lily has an eye booger and staining problem, as you can see in my sigpic. A change to grain-free kibble has reduced them significantly...I used to have to clean her eye 2x daily to keep her clean and now I only have to weekly. But...she got the rest of her adult teeth in by the time I had her transitioned over...so I don't know if it was just the food, a combo of the food and teeth or not having anything to do with the teeth!  Either way I figured the grain-free diet can't hurt.


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## kysteelerja (Oct 2, 2011)

Bella is 5 1/2 months old she is a black spoo.....she has periodic tearing and occasional eye boogers but what concerns me is that the tears smell.....no green or yellow color and not thick but when i rub her face and feel wetnes..it does have a smell...is this normal? it's not too bad but enough that i don't want to rub her face when she is tearing....


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## PammiPoodle (Jul 16, 2011)

Kysteelerja, I don't think the odor is normal. I've been reading a lot about staining (and there's a lot of conflicting info!), but a lot of people think the red color is from the growth of red yeast. And yeast can be smelly. So, that may be why Bella's tears smell. I'd have it looked into by a vet, or try cleaning around her eyes more often and see if there's a change. 

Also, moisture makes things smell worse. If she's just due for a bath and her face is a little stinky, whenever she tears it's going to smell more strongly! Just another possible cause to consider! : )


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

When Swizzle sneezed and I brought him to the vet (I know very embarrasing) I asked him about Swizzle's tearing. Swizzle's face does not get all that wet but he does have that red staining. The vet suggested I try fresh parsley. (This is not my fav. vet but her partner). I am going to try this next. I will let you know how it goes.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Tylan powder DOES work!


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## PammiPoodle (Jul 16, 2011)

CharismaticMillie, do you use the Tylan powder daily or just do a course of it when you see tears appear? I've heard of people using it both ways. It's an antibiotic, right?

CT Girl, your first line made me laugh! I'm assuming the vinegar-water didn't help much? Not the yogurt either? Lumi wasn't a fan of yogurt so I gave it up to see if the vinegar alone was working. It seemed to be, but only sort of. She did develop tear stains, but they would come and go, and somehow seemed to be getting worse. Like they were developing a tolerance to the vinegar, believe it or not! I kept upping the vinegar in the solution to keep them at bay, until in my zeal I started to irritate Lumi's skin with it! : ( As soon as I noticed the skin looking pink in front of her eyes, I said "Better stains than pain!" and decided to quit trying to treat them topically. I'm going to focus more on her diet and lifestyle and take the more holistic approach. Once they stop forming, for good, then I can either shave the old hair off, or bleach it once. Trying to treat the stains while they're still forming is like shoveling into the tide! : P It really seems to me that it's something that can fix itself when you pinpoint just what the doggy needs for better overall health.

Please let me know how the parsley works out! I may have accidentally found a solution for Lumi's stains here with a new addition to her diet, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up until I can see a few more days of white, stain-free growth. : )


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## Ms Stella (Aug 16, 2010)

I have thought about tearing and staining a lot in the last couple of months! Here is what I think..

If its both eyes...it could be from an allergy to food or something in your environment. Then watch to see if it happens after being outside, after a bath, or it could be food as many people have noticed an improvement with eliminating certain foods.

If its one eye it could be...something in the eye, or an irritation, or a bad tooth, blocked tear duct or an ear infection. This can be hard to figure out. Hair can cause irritation easily in some dogs. 

To get rid of the red staining I have tried:

Tylan powder in the form of angel eyes--used it for 3 weeks daily..helped a little, maybe 75%, but not totally..and it doesnt affect the tearing only the color.

Shaving the face often...this works great for the color, but you have to shave ith a 40 about every 5 days.

Peroide...Ive used it straight out of the bottle full strenght (dont get it in the eye) twice a day...It seems to lighten it up by about another 50% or so.

To stop the tearing...

I havent tried benadryl, but I assume it would dry up secretions a little...since Ive been using the tylan I dont want to give her two drugs at once!

I have been trying to be diligent about keeping the hair out of her eyes..

Vet has looked at her and cannot find any reason for the tearing..we had her tear duct flushed with her last dental, no obvious eye lash problem.

Best of luck to you!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

CharismaticMillie said:


> Tylan powder DOES work!


Well, I used it briefly (for about 5 days) several months ago and it completely got rid of all stains. Then my handler took him and she didn't want him on it so young. But, supposedly they put him on Tylan his last week or so of showing right before he came home. I've had him on it again for about 3 days and stains are gone 100% again!

I'm not sure I am super comfortable giving antibiotics daily, but, gosh, it works so well...

I might see if giving just a few times a week does the job.


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## catsaqqara (May 20, 2011)

Jaden could have seasonal allergies or bad reactions to different foods Ive tried because they coincided with summer. Now its winter and I have him on foods I know he is good on and he has no more staining.I tried vinegar and it helped a little and I used probiotics a couple times and I really think they help staining clear after the cause is eliminated. 

For tearing and eye boogers I cut the eye lashes short and shave the eye lids, comb the hair down and cut it so it cant reach his eyes. Jaden used to tear all the time and now he only does when an eye lash curls in his eye and after I shave his face. Maybe some one can give me some info on this but his issue was that he grows hair in the corner of his eye on the thing which I cant find a name for, the human caruncula. I found them when I tried to wipe a hair out of his eye and after I couldn't get it that way I tried with tweezers. The hair rubs on his nictitating membrane only and causes eye boogers and tearing. 

I was not sure if this warrants a visit to the vet, I figured I'd get a weird look and a "that's impossible" like I have gotten before for another issue Bambi has periodically that I also could not find anything about on the net. So I pluck those hairs when I notice him tearing, he doesn't flinch and it eliminates the constant tearing until next time(3-4 months). I don't like the idea of having surgery(if it would be an option) on him for it because of the location and that it can be managed, but, anyone heard of this?


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## kysteelerja (Oct 2, 2011)

vet checked her.....no tearduct issues had a nice green nose about 5 minutes after administered in her eyes. usually tears one side or the other....at least once daily. she's black so no stains.....she just got groomed so maybe it will become less frequent.....i don't think it's infection but it could be allergy or irritation. and i just may be super sensitive to the smell my husband says he doesn't think it smells bad to him... was just curious....my first spoo when i was a kid was silver and didn't remember Beau having the tearing issue...


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

I did not see my usual vet I saw her partner. When we discussed the staining issue I asked about Tylan. He told me he thought it was unethical to give an antibiotic for what is an essentially a cosmetic problem. It made me feel bad because I was going to ask for it. I think my regular vet will be more approachable but this is making me 2nd guess asking for it. I have not been been religious about trying other methods such as the vinegar and yogurt - with my father's illness I just let some things slide so I will try them again along with the parsley. I asked him about giving Swizzle half a tablet of Tums and he didn't think it was a good idea. I am out of ideas if those don't work. I already tried the distilled water and noticed no difference.


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## PammiPoodle (Jul 16, 2011)

Ms Stella, it's a tricky problem, huh? You can get rid of the staining, but not the tears, and you can get rid of the tears, but not the staining! In that case, you wouldn't really know that until the dog gets irritated by something and tears more than usual, then you'd see the stains!

CharismaticMillie, yea, it's aweome that it works so well! I'd also not like the idea of giving an antibiotic every day. Sure, Lumi would *look* great, but what super-strong strains of bacteria are developing in her body with an immunity to Tylosin? It's scary! And what effect could it have on digestion with all the beneficial bacteria in there? I've heard of people giving probiotics to counter antibiotics. You have to do it, I think, a few hours apart, so you're not killing all the good ones you just put in, but otherwise it can help repelenish the good guys. : )

Catsaqqara, that's interesting! Maybe vets will start doing electrolisis during spay/neuters instead of flushing tear ducts! : P I totally know what you mean about the "That's impossible" reaction! I get that from vets, too. : P

Kysteelerja, if it's a minor smell on a clean dogs who's cleared of infections, it seems very possible that it's a little yeast growth. Since she's black you probably can't see what may be a little red or brown tint. Lucky you! : P Us "pastel" Poodle owners have to find ways to hide it! Haha

CT Girl, don't feel bad! I'm guessing you either didn't know it was an antibitic, or you don't see how it could be harmful. Of course you wouldn't do anything to Swizzle that you knew would be bad for him! : ) I, personally, wouldn't keep my pet on an antibiotic indefinitely for a comsetic issue (or just about any other kind..), but if a course of Tylosin clears up tear stains and then can be stopped, I'm afraid I couldn't resist, either! Obviously, the antibiotic is doing *something* benificial for that to happen. I'd then be interested in figuring out how to have that effect without the use of an antibiotic. But wouldn't that just be a perfect world? ; ) I've looked into the Tums idea, as well, and I feel the same way about it. I wouldn't do it indefinitely. But, trying different approaches and discovering which work and which don't, can help us all figure out this puzzle. What's the common factor in all the successful remedies? Body ph, better oxidation, more or less of a certain mineral in the bodily fluids? I'm glad I have a white pup and can learn more about this myself, but I'll be SOOO grateful to finally find something that works and be able to better show off her pretty little face!


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## kysteelerja (Oct 2, 2011)

I am by no means an expert...having only had a poodle in my childhood...which is why i have one now. Bella is 6 months old...and is growing out her christmas groom....i have noticed a great reduction in her tearing and eye goop as her hair has grown out...we check her eyes often...and wipe them but there has been less crusties and some slimeys but tearing down her face has decreased dramatically. And though i know she is due for another groom, i admt that i am putting it off....i like her curls and we do bathe and brush her and there are no mats but i am not looking forward to the next clip as i fear it will irritate her eyes and thus cause excessive tearing...but i will be making a call to the groomer soon...


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