Red crusty gunk buildup around eyes - what to do? My little yorkie mix has a mostly white coat, and he gets the sleepy tears that come out of his eyes and turn the hair around his eyes red and crusty. It's impossible to remove the crusties - sometimes I just have to clip his hair there. Any tips for preventing the discoloration and crustiness? |
I would have your vet take a look to make sure his eyes are okay. Staining is often caused by excessive tearing from the eyes. The wetness of the area becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and yeast. This can lead to infection of the tear ducts. Teething in a young pup can cause excessive tearing. Hair in the eye and other irritants can also cause it. Use wet cotton balls to clean the area well and then follow with dry cotton balls or a washcloth to dry the area. Use the wet cotton balls to loosen gunk too. A small flea comb with closely spaced teeth helps separate the hair and remove gunk. You can use products like SPA facial wash in the bath to help clean and reduce the staining. I also like Happytails eye pads. Sometimes a change in food helps. Some foods may cause more eye tearing or have ingredients that cause more staining. Not all foods work the same in all dogs. Minerals in water can also increase staining. Sometimes a switch to filtered water helps. Be careful with any home remedies you may find on the internet. Many I would not risk putting near my dogs' eyes. Also, you might just be covering up a problem rather than fixing it. |
Thank you so much! It must be the teething - he is teething like CRAZY and that must be making all the tears. I do try to wipe it with damp and dry cotton balls and cloths daily. It also seems to go away the more he is outside playing and running around - I guess because he's not teething then! |
When Joey was teething, Gerber's baby water helped him, this is a type of distilled water, that's safe for drinking, not all distilled water is safe, so if you look for Gerber's baby water meant to be mixed with formula, it's safe. It's also different than regular water bottled water, because all the minerals are removed. When Joey was a pup the minerals in the water bothered him, if my husband gave Joey regular water, I could tell the next day. Anyway, it's only a dollar a gallon and a cheap way to stop the tearing. The only other time Joey had tearing was when we did a food switch, and then he had horrible brown goop coming out of his eyes. That cleared up when we went back to his regular food. |
Wow I might have to look into that and try it! He just drinks regular filtered water from the fridge now. I know his food doesn't need to change, but I never thought about the water. I will have to try it and see. Thanks! I've also tried the Burt's Bees tear stain remover - I haven't seen any results yet because it says you have to use it for a few weeks before you can see a difference. BUT, it says it only really deals with the staining problem, not the crusty problem or tearing to begin with. |
Clipping the eye hair short could also be an issue. Bogey had a staining problem too when I kept his eye hair trimmed because as it grew it would poke into his eyes. It was a pain growing it out but now that I keep the hair on his muzzle long the weight pulls it down. He not longer has tearing issues. There might be slight eye boogers but those are easily combed away. This was the only things that helped for him. Good luck :) |
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I thought of the water because you mentioned teething and I know it helped Joey, but he was tearing even during the day. Some dogs are going to have little crusty remnants all their lives; their eyes tear up during the night due to not enough blinking and they wake up with little eye buggers. The best thing is to take a warm cotton ball to soften the crust and then wipe it away after it is moist. This site has more information. My Dog Has Crusty Eyes |
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