Orijen Removed Tear Stains. O_O
 

I know Brussels Sprout isn't a Yorkie, he has absolutely zero Yorkie in him at all. However, I wanted to share this picture and I WISH I had other pictures of him before switching to Orijen. I do have pictures, but no scanner. lol

Anyway, this is a picture of Brussels after 2 weeks on Orijen. His tear stains cleared up??? I had no idea the food would do that, but it has to be the food.
He's never had tap water, we've always used bottled water for him. He's not on any 'new' supplements, and nothing else has changed other than the food.

Is anyone else here using Orijen and had this effect? Brussels eyes were constantly tear stained at the base and above his eyes. Nothing's wrong with his tear ducts, either, just a very 'stainy' eye area that had to be wiped down every day. Now I wipe it once a week because there's nothing there. :eek:

What's the dealio?:questione I'm happy, don't get me wrong, just didn't know a dog food could do that.

There is still some extremely light-colored staining above his eyes (sort of seen in the picture), but if I can find a "before" shot and have it scanned at Kinko's or something, I will. The difference is extraordinary.

Wow, that's impressive. I looked at the pic blown up to about 400%... his eyes look a bit dry (could just be the photo too!) I use Natural Tears on my crew.

Maybe he had mild allergies to the other food? IDK.

I'm not sure exactly. His eyes aren't dry though, I mean he still tears up on a daily basis just like he did before, but for whatever reason it's not staining his fur anymore. It's the strangest thing.

...he's eating, pottying, playing, sleeping just like normal, nothing about his behavior has changed. I've been keeping an eye on his doodees and they're well formed and don't smell...his urine flow is normal, etc.

Should I take him to the vet to make sure it's not something negative? I tend to be a vet freak and take them there for the stupidest reasons. They always giggle, but are glad to see us. They even started charging us ten bucks for a vet visit instead of the normal 15-20. When I asked why, they said "call it a family discount" LOL I'm a pet-a-chondriac and we have at least one of our pets in there once every 2 weeks. :rolleyes:

Unless something abnormal begins to occur in his daily routine, I'm tending to lean toward this being a positive thing. It's just so STRANGE that after almost 12 years of tear stains, he eats a different food for 2 weeks and all of a sudden his eye area is gorgeous? Very strange....

I will take your advice I think though, as I've never given him eyedrops or tear drops or what have you. I'll research it a bit and see if maybe Brussels and Bella would benefit. :)

Allergies are a possibility I suppose. I mean, his stools are more well formed than they've ever been. However, he never displayed (or tested positive for) any allergic reactions or symptoms.

Odd, odd odd.

You know, there's probably nothing going on, but whenever any of mine have noticable changes anywhere, I usually bring it to my vet's attention. As he's an older dog, with a bit of a bug eyed appearance, I'd suggest having your vet take a peek at him... especially since your vet is so familiar with him....

Is the new food lower in protein than the old food?

LOLing at the bug-eyed appearance. His mommy is a purebred Brussels Griffon, that's where he gets the bug-eyes:D He's had them since birth, it's normal for the breed. I wuv them!

As far as protein is concerned, Orijen is high in the healthy proteins. He's on puppy food, not dog food. The vet actually is the one who urged us to have him on a high protein puppy food (but he gets his liver enzymes tested once every 3 months). He's done absolutely wonderfully on puppy food for his entire life, and his enzymes always come back normal. We've been really blessed with him, with only 1 serious sickness about 7 years ago. It was brief.

These are the ingredients for Orijen puppy:

Fresh boneless chicken*, chicken meal, fresh boneless salmon*, turkey meal, herring meal, russet potato, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), sweet potato, peas, fresh boneless turkey*, fresh whole eggs*, fresh chicken liver*, fresh boneless lake whitefish*, fresh boneless walleye*, sun-cured alfalfa, pea fiber, fresh boneless herring*, organic kelp, pumpkin, chicory root, carrots, spinach, turnip greens, apples, cranberries, blueberries, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, vitamin A, vitamin D3, vitamin E, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium yeast, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Enterococcus faecium.
* DELIVERED FRESH, preservative-free and never frozen.


It's 4am here, and the vet opens at 7. We'll probably just take him in at 8. Phone calls are hard for them, because without seeing the actual pet itself, it's almost impossible to give a valid reason for any changes.


Hopefully they'll just say "yup it's the food, this is why, etc" and we'll be on our way back home. :]

I neglected to mention something that (might be) important?

Previously, his 'tears' were slimey, and he'd get 'eye boogers' in the corners of his eyes, hence why I was wiping them every day. This is also the reason I wanted his tear ducts examined. Not one, but two different vets told me that his tear ducts were fine. I also read that it could be an eye infection, but they said it wasn't. It's just 'been there' his whole life.

The Orijen doesn't have any grains in it, and his other food did. Maybe that's it, I have no idea.

Now, his 'tears' are just clear looking like human tears. They're not slimey at all, and there haven't been any eyeboogers at all since he started this food.

I'll mention that to the vet later this morning, too.

For now I need some sleep. Bella will be up and at 'em in 2 hours and I should be ready for her energetics. lol

What is Natural Tears??? Bella's tears and stains are so bad and I have tried everything. I wipe them twice a day....give bottled water. When I took her to the groomer The trimmed all that hair away. Within an hour the stains and tears were back. I brought it to my vets attention and he didn't help at all :(

Check out this thread:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...-eye-gunk.html


Natural Tears is a human product. Never use Visine (just saying). I get which ever has the least ingredients and preservatives in it so as to avoid reactions. Or I use Sterile Saline Solution, to clean in and around the eyes.

So I just put the Natural Tears in her eyes?? and then use it to clean around them?

Thank you for the link!!! :)

I was hoping you wouldn't take offense at my description, lol, as he is very cute. But it's a fact that dogs with those type eyes tend to develop eye problems moreso than dogs with normal-set eyes. I may have used the wrong word, lol.

They say with feeding, put junk in, get junk out!

Red staining is usually bacterial in nature.

Hi,

We're just getting ready to head out the door. Since Bella has an appointment in a few days we're taking her with us (maybe he can have both of them at once). They don't 'require' appointments, they take walk-ins too, but we prefer appointments because they get us in faster, lol.

I'm almost 100% positive that this eye thing is no big deal, but I would like to know what about Orijen caused it to all just clear up like that. Today we'll hopefully get that answer.

Bella had playtime with Daddy this morning. He works long hours and is only home in the evening, so despite my urge to say 'no she's my puppy' roflll...I let him.:p

I'll update when we get back!

Hi,

Well, we're back already, and as I suspected it's nothing, lol. He chuckled at me again, but said the same thing he always says, that there is NO ROOM for error with tiny dogs, and he wants us to bring them in whenever we have the slightest doubt. :)

He did say that he doesn't think it is Orijen in and of itself, but rather the stopping of the Nutro. Our Brussels is looking healthy as ever, and the vet was quite impressed at the change in his facial fur

Since Orijen is high in protein he does want to do the liver enzyme testing 2 weeks from today. It will be a month earlier than the regularly scheduled appointment but he wants to make sure it doesn't have any ill effects. He also said that he wants us to keep feeding the Orijen puppy to both of them.

He said what a lot of people aren't aware of is the fact that a lot of canine allergies aren't due to certain ingredients or foods, but the combination of ingredients or foods or both, which makes allergy testing far less accurate or dependable than a lot of vets let on. He made an analogy how humans may not be allergic to bananas, or apples, or strawberries, but could be allergic to a banana-apple-strawberry puree, because when things are combined, it changes the elements, etc. He said the same happens in dogs, only it's more difficult to distinguish exactly what combination they're allergic to, and hence why our Brussels was showing that he was NOT allergic to anything, when in fact the vet suspects he had an allergy to a combination, and that particular combination isn't in Orijen, hence why his facial fur is clear and clearing of stains, and why his tears are running clear now instead of slimey with boogers.

Interesting... :aimeeyork

In any case, he said Brussels looks healthy as ever and everything looks great. ;)

He wouldn't give Bella the last of her shots because he said it's very important (to him) that she be a bit heavier first. That and she is not of age yet for the last one. She weighed 1.14 lbs last week and today she was exactly 2 lbs, 1 ounce. Yay, Bella, good girl.:D

[Edit] Bella's asleep (Again)! :grumble grumble: lol I asked him briefly about that while we were there and he said she's actually still not sleeping as much as she should be, and that I shouldn't pet and play with her fur when she's in rest mode; it disturbs her. I'm trying my best!! He said due to her size and breeds, she should be sleeping 12 to 13 hours out of a 24 hour period. :( She sleeps about 10, and I thought that was a lot!

I'm not sure if double/triple posting is allowed here but it wouldn't let me edit.

He also said to make sure that I take the toys *out* of her playpen when she sleeps.:( When I asked why, he said that puppies are a lot like human babies and are easily distracted by their playthings when their bodies should be sleeping. I found that .. odd, but I listened and took them out. He said her sleeping periods should be brief, but frequent, and they're not. She sleeps forever, and then she's up forever, and gets cranky and sassy until she's had another long sleep.

It would explain why her 'naps' last forever, because usually she falls asleep, I put her in there (which stirs her) and she begins gnawing on a toy or fooling around with her teddy bear or her squeaker...whereas before I put her in there she was fast asleep.

I'm definitely listening to him on this one.

I LOVE OUR VET!

Yes, just 2-3 drops per eye. You're welcome! :D

I love him too! What state do you live in? Lol!

I put PJ's on my Tink when she needs calming down. I think they warm her up a bit and make her sleepy. Or I'll cuddle with her on the floor... body heat does the same thing. Then she's good for a 40 minute nap.

With some hyper pups, one really needs to have the upper hand with scheduling... they will never stop playing on their own til they're exhausted. Some forget to stop and eat too! Maybe a little snack before a nap would help.

PS: Sometimes longer posts get lost... okay to break them up into smaller posts... as far as I know!

Hi again,

Well she fell asleep on the way home (the vet's only 5 minutes down the road, which we took into great consideration when we moved). We're in MO.

I just peeked in on her and she's sleeping (sort of). She was asleep until she felt me hovering and did the 'one eye open one eye closed thing'. OOPS:rolleyes:

Brussels likes it when she sleeps because he gets some 'older dog rest' too.

I would very much like to put jammies on her, but she wants no part of them (she barely tolerates a T-shirt, lol).

The vet insists to leave her alone and she'll tell me when she's awake, but our Brussels never did, we had to keep looking and he'd be awake, just sitting there waiting for us to take him out...so i don't know about the whole "she'll let you know" thing.

I can't believe she should be sleeping 12 to 13 hours in a 24 hour period, that seems like an *awful* lot of sleep to me! He said it should be an hour or two here and there during the day, and a solid 6 at night by this age. I do trust him but that's SO much sleep!:eek:

And as I write this I think I just heard her whimper. Okay so maybe he was right.

*waves bye*

Definitely..."believe she should be sleeping 12 to 13 hours in a 24 hour period." While "that seems like an *awful* lot of sleep" to you, she is a baby dog (key word = "baby"), and as anyone who has ever had any kind of baby...dog, cat, human, or otherwise...knows, at first they sleep, sleep, sleep...and need to. This is a critical time in their lives. They are exhausted from burning energy in part because their bodies are growing soooooo fast right now. Remember, a canine reaches his adult size pretty much in the first year. Think how tired you might be if your body had to go from 21" long and 6 lbs. to...say, 5'5" and 100 lbs. in a year.

I know I get tired gaining 5 pounds...:)

Typically, a puppy still with its dam will play, drift off, awaken, eat, do its little messy things, play, cuddle up with litter mates and drift off again. Just because she is sans doggie family at this point does not mean her life should change from what would be normal if her doggie mommy raised her for six (6) months to a year. You, as her mommy mommy must step in and provide a lot of the same experiences she would have had with her doggie mommy.

Also, you do not want to over-tire her so that she does not eat properly. A puppy has such a high metabolism that they will burn quickly through any (if there is any at all) reserves stored in their body. You do not want this to happen.

I know how difficult it is to allow a puppy baby to mature through the stage Bella is in now, but maybe this is a good time for you to start that new hobby making doggie clothes, or hair bows, or learning how to polish doggie nails. :)

Actually, I am only half kidding...anything you can do that will occupy you and lessen your worry/stress over your adorable little Bella will be better for the both of you.

Along that line, I will tell you a quick comparison between my two (2) real sons. The first son slept only when I held him and was a night person...up all night while I was supposed to be sleeping. I always knew what he was up to...he was in my arms and I got nothing done...even for him. He slept on my chest on the sofa during the day while I dozed off intermittently. It was horrible and I was exhausted to the point I thought I'd never recover. He slept four (4) hours one night, then another four (4) straight through during the afternoon once...I cleaned the whole house and re-arranged the furniture. :)

My second son, on the other hand, would sleep until 20 minutes...by the clock, and on the hospital's schedule, too, I might add...before his next feeding. I would change him, then feed him, and he'd repeat the routine. Based on my experience with my first son, my mother had come to stay with me...to help. We were both bored to tears except for interfacing with each other and playing with my now days-under-4-year-old son. We'd go and stand in #2 son's doorway and watch him sleep. With my mother's help, all the work was done in no time and we'd look forward to #2 son waking up just for something different to do. :)

Fast forward several years and you would find that #1 son was neat, orderly, never made a mess...well, almost ever...my house did not even need baby-proofing because he was always wherever I was. On the other hand, if #2 son came up missing, you better find that child...he was into something that was going to give you many hours of undoing. Both are great and were great growing up, but one was easy when tiny...the other after getting a bit older.

Count your blessings. Let Bella sleep. Put your 'good' shoes on a higher shelf. Puppy-proof your house. Take naps yourself. Do research on the internet. Anything interesting. Once this initial, super-sleepy stage is over, she may scoot through your house like "hell, fire and brimstone" and you will be glad you had some time beforehand. Right now, all you will miss by using her nap time for youself will be watching her breathe in and out. Get ready to NOT miss the cute and fun stuff! :)

Glad everything is okay for Brussels. Food makes a huge difference for all creatures, dogs and humans alike...and most of us do not eat properly and we do not even have a clue 'most' of the time what might be wrong with the way or food we eat. The ingredients on the Orijin food look good to me, and I have sourced kitty and puppy food even from health food stores...until they change the ingredients and start adding stuff I know to be unhealthy for any creature to consume...even going so far as to create my own food for them. Also, I think if you want to check into it, you will find that, while dogs may not be 'obligate' carnivores like cats, they are basically carnivorous animals and their diet in the wild doesn't include buttered toast, guar gum, carrageenan, refined and/or hydrogenated vegetable oils, or most other ingredients listed on the label of a 'typical' pet food bag. In the wild, all of their nutrition comes from whatever they consumed, and what it had consumed, etc., and, in their wild, true, natural they don't get heart disease, diabetes, etc. like their domesticated counterparts.

We humans think we know so much more than the animal kingdom, huh...but we are wrong...a lot. :)

Take care.

- Cat

Definitely switching food can affect tear stains! Orijen is pretty top quality, IMO, and your dog is probably just reacting better to it. Especially from Nutro.

I love Acana and always had great luck with it. I've learned in the past few months that Jackson just does best on grain-free... I've fed grain inclusive since late July (different brands, but all what I consider high quality) until this past month and just recently switched back to grain-free and have noticed a difference, even just with a month back on it, minimal differences that probably only a dog-crazy mama like me would notice, but differences nonetheless (for the better). I think some dogs will do better on grainfree; some may not.

But yeah, Jackson had gotten the tear stains before on certain foods. I've done tests where I would stop the supposed tear-staining food, feed the non-tear staining food, go back to the other one, and they'd come back again. So I really don't think it's a coincidence. I am certain that some ingredients, and the formulation of certain ingredients all together, can make a difference.

I am so glad you found something working for you!