Tear stain....what to do?

[vingengo]

Hello!

Do you guys do anything with the tear stain on your Yorkies? My wife uses her nails to peel or pinch chunks of black "thingy" along where the tear stains are. Is this ok? Should we leave it alone? I guess my wife just wants to clean her up. Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks!

[chewysmom]

I use a fine-tooth comb to get gookies out of near Chewy's eyes. One quick motion and done!

[Jeniferlee]

I am curious about that too.... I have been using the small comb (flea comb?)
to comb the gross stuff out every other day or so. If it is hard I use a washcloth to soften it up. This is what the breeder told me to do- I hope it is right....
Thanks

[SoCalyorkiLvr]

man's moustache comb works too.

[Luvmypupster]

are you talking about the gookie stuff or stained hair? I have some tips that maltese owners use to battle the problem if you have "stained" hair.

[lyricandme]

Also, you might try trimming the hair around her eyes. We haven't had any trouble with eye "boogers" since Rocky was groomed.

[JCarlson2004]

My Maltese has NO colored tear staining at all. It's amazing. He doesn't even have a light pink look under his eyes - it's totally white. So I don't know much about removing color staining. But my Yorkie, Katie, does tear once in a while and get black gloop by her eyes. I usually wash it w/ a damp wash cloth or comb it out w/ a small metal flea comb. I only comb it out if it's soft enough to comb w/out hurting her. My vet told me not to pick it out w/ my nails because I could give her an infection.

[yorkipower]

Originally Posted by vingengo

Hello!

Do you guys do anything with the tear stain on your Yorkies? My wife uses her nails to peel or pinch chunks of black "thingy" along where the tear stains are. Is this ok? Should we leave it alone? I guess my wife just wants to clean her up. Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks!

First check to see that there's no medical condition that causing the tearing. Ideally have your dog looked at my a canine opthamoligist. It's a good idea to have this done since Yokies can get PRA.
Some Yorkies have very small tear ducts and their eyes don’t drain well. Yeast and bacterial infections (low grade) can also cause staining. A lot of Yorkies, however, just have this in their pedigree for one reason or another. To keep Penny’s eyes dry (and her’s too are constantly tearing) here’s what I do.

Rinse the eye out with a saline solution. Opticlear is a product available from most dog vet cataloges (Jefferspet, Omaha Vaccine, Pet Edge, Petsmart). Then, I apply panalube or lacrilube to her eye to protect it from damage (if you have sterilized mineral oil in an eye dropper that will do too). Then I apply “Eye Envy” liberally to the hair below her eye and brush in with a toothbrush. I allow the product to sit in the hair for several minutes. Then when I give her bath, I bath her with Durrestead EF (eye and face shampoo) and gently scrub with my thumbs the tear stain area. You can also use corn startch or eye envy powder in between treatments to keep the area dry.

[sgraff]

What do you know about stains and maltese?
Thanks,

[Stitches29]

Originally Posted by vingengo

Hello!

Do you guys do anything with the tear stain on your Yorkies? My wife uses her nails to peel or pinch chunks of black "thingy" along where the tear stains are. Is this ok? Should we leave it alone? I guess my wife just wants to clean her up. Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks!

There is a tiny, tiny area of hair that grows spriggly right at the tear duct corner of the eye. If you keep that clipped away, with round end scissors, you will not have tear stained hair, or eye boogers. It's the hair that is poking them in the eye, that causes the runny eyes.

[babi1542]

Interesting information! Of course, they don't like when you touch them around the face!

[Luvmypupster]

Originally Posted by sgraff

What do you know about stains and maltese?
Thanks,

There are the lucky few like Jcarlson that have maltese that are free of any tear stains. There are several tricks and tips that maltese people use, I have tried a few of them but not all. Some people swear by giving distilled water as their daily drinking water, some people add vinegar to the water, avoiding any food with red dye, giving a daily (1/2 tab 2xday) dose of Tums to prevent stains (changes the PH level and helps keep yeast and bacteria production under control), giving low dose of Tylan which is an antibiotic (the trick here is finding a vet that's willing to give you the prescription), over the counter eye drops such as Colloidal Silver (some show people swear by colloidal silver) or Collyrium, Omega 3 supplements, and treating with a mixture called MOM. MOM is a homemade recipe Using equal amounts of Milk of Magnesia, corn starch and hydrogen peroxide to make a paste. Brush paste on the stained area ( i use a small flat artist brush), and work well into the stain. Allow paste to dry overnight. Wash out in the morning and condition. Repeat for several days until stains have disappeared. I have bought many over the counter eye stain products such as eye envy and have not had any luck with them on maltese hair. I use MOM and Tums and have found it work best for me. Tearstains in maltese is extremely common.

[miezzi]

Luig's eyes are always bad. So I use a warm washcloth on him in the morning and then use a comb to brush it out!! He is always nice and clean, then we leave and when we come home thats when he has bad eyes. I always feel soo bad that I think he really cries when we leave him alone. And I think that is what causes his yucky eye goobers!

[Stitches29]

Originally Posted by babi1542

Interesting information! Of course, they don't like when you touch them around the face!

That's interesting too, because Maggie doesn't mind me clipping the hair and she is only 4 months old. When I first started clipping the hair, I would wait until she was in a deep sleep. She never knew what happened. Now that she is use to brushing and grooming, she still doesn't care.

[yorkiegal719]

I cut a washcloth into little pieces that I use as their eye washcloths, it's easier to work with little pieces of cloth. I just wash them with warm water and then I use an old toothbrush to brush around the eyes and moustach area, it's much more gentle on their face than a comb...