[Maximo]

Nancy1999 has a great link to an article concerning the many causes of tear stains. Every time I see it, I mean to bookmark it. If she doesn't post here, leave a message on her personal page to ask for it.

When you wash Oscar's face, use a dry towel or cotton ball to dab the corners of the eyes and dry as much as possible. Moisture promotes yeast growth and those yucky brown stains.

On the advice of several people here, I also started using SPA facial scrub (full disclosure: I will be selling this product). It doesn't eliminate the stains, but it helps combat them. The facial scrub cleans really well and rinses easily, and it is very gentle on the eyes (very important for my Max), although you want to avoid getting it in the eyes just like any shampoo.

A lot of people are having luck eliminating tearing and stains using Gerber baby water for drinking water. You can buy the Gerber in the bottled water section of Walmart.

My biggest challenge with Teddy and his tear stains is keeping hair out of his eyes. He snuggles into his blankie when he naps and pushes his mustache into his eyes. This causes tearing and the constant wetness causes the stains.

Food can be another source of the problem. The food I feed has beet juice in it, which is thought to maybe contribute to stains. My boys do so well on the food that I'm not willing to change for tear stains on one of my guys, especially when there is no guarantee that it will help.