Tear Stain Remover question....
 

I'm in the process of looking for a tear stain remover (cleanser). I've heard good things about Eye Envy, but I don't know that I'm ready to spend that much! I found Four Paws Crystal Eye Tear Stain Remover at Petco, so I'm wondering if anyone has used this or knows of a reason not to use it? I know I shouldn't use anything containing alcohol, bleach, or peroxide, and I'm not sure if this one does or not?? (I'll check the bottle of course before I buy it, but I wanted to see if any fellow YT'ers have used this.)

Also, I actually have a jar of Angel's Eyes that I started to use but then stopped (it smells soooo bad to me....my nose is pretty sensitive, though). Her tears have picked back up, possibly because she is teething, and now the blonde hair under her eyes is turning pink-ish. So, I'm also wondering how safe this product is?? I know it's basically and anti-biotic, but she obviously does have the red bacteria in her eyes.....what do you think??

Thanks in advance!!

Tara

Since Angel Eyes is a low grade antibiotic, I'd be very hesitant to use it for staining unless you know there is an infection and your vet wants you to. It wouldn't be good for the body to build up resistance to Tylan just for stains. It can also falsely elevate ALT which could be blood work interpretation confusing.

That's what I was afraid of....didn't know about it elevating ALT, though (I think that's a liver enzyme, correct?). Thanks Crystal!

Eye Envy also contains a topical antibiotic (possibly in the powder part??), but I don't know much about it. The groomer got me worried about her tearing, actually, because I told her I didn't want her to shave the hair at the inside corner of her eye next to the bridge of her nose like the previous groomer had done last time (the only time I've taken her so far!) Shaving that hair didn't do anything to stop the tearing....just made it run further down her little face! Before the 1st groom, I had the vet check her eyes because of the tearing, and he said she didn't have any hairs growing in the inside corners that can poke the eye and cause tearing, but the first groomer still thought it would help....nope! Anyway, the reason the 2nd groomer worried me is that she said that if tears build up in that area (inside corner of the eye and bridge of the nose) that she could actually get "like a staph infection" there which can then cause an eye infection even, and I certainly don't want that! So, because of that AND because I want to keep the area from continuing to stain, I plan to use SOMETHING to clean the area.

Do you use anything for tear gunk/staining?? If so, what?

Weeeeeeeeeeell, don't go by me.
Remember, I have Miss Ellie here and her symptoms/issues make her vet want to :rolleyes: sometimes. After antibiotic use, her eyes smell really bad. It might have to do with yeast but that hasn't been proven, so treating for systemic yeast issues isn't going to happen right now. Probiotics may be good but I have seen something I don't like about them and am still considering. The vet hasn't really seen "smelly eyes that get worse after antibiotic use" before, so we are still trying to figure this thing out. So, no we don't but mostly they are runny and smell weird. I pull any dried clumps out of her fur. I do clean them with eye wash (saline) on occasion though.

Do you feed a food with beet pulp?
Have you tried distilled water?
Beet pulp might make the problem worse and there are some reports of distilled water making it better.

ALT is a liver enzyme.

I just started distilled water last week...maybe it will take a few weeks to see any results with that??

No, I'm pretty sure that her food doesn't contain Beet Pulp...she was on Wellness Just For Puppy, but we switched ~1 wk. ago to California Natural Chicken Meal and Rice-Puppy.

I think I will try getting that Four Paws product I mentioned in my first post to clean the area, unless you think it wouldn't be a good idea?? I will, of course, look the bottle over and see what the ingredients are before I buy it! I just hate the pink-ish tint that's starting and don't want it to get any worse...plus, I don't think plain old saline is going to be enough to help with that :confused:

Ranger's eyes recently got pretty bad, so I went ahead and changed his food from SG Just a Wee Bit to Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Salmon. I don't know if it had anything to do with it but he never had a problem before, and I am on my third small bag of SG. I also put him on Angel Eyes (my vet said it would be fine to go through the bottle and see if that stopped it). Four days into the diet change/Angel Eyes and the tears/gunk have completely disappeared. I shouldn't have made so many changes at a time because I know I will not know what effected him but oh well.

Anyway, I can understand people's concerns with the low grade antibiotic but it was getting so bad I am sure it was really uncomfortable for him. Hopefully it will resolve and he will go back to the way he was! Looks great now!

Why don't they make puppy foods with fish??? Grrrrrr! I guess we'll stick out the California Natural Chicken and Rice until she's older. *sigh California Natural makes a Herring a Sweet Potato adult food that I'll try when she's a bit older if she's still struggling with the tears. I've also thought about going grain-free after she's 1 yr. old (I read somewhere that there is too much calcium [and protein??] for puppies, especially large breed puppies, so it's best to wait and use it as an adult food only). I was thinking that grain-free is probably better for her and possibly would help with the tearing too--looks like Wellness CORE has a Ocean variety that might be good. Anyone know of any other grain-frees that are fish? (OR, puppy foods that are fish even...I haven't been able to find any so far??)

This is the key.:)
It was getting sooo bad that he was uncomfortable and something had to be done. Your vet said it was okay to use for awhile. It just seems like a good idea to get clearance from your vet if antibiotics are going to be used (more than triple antibiotic cream a couple times for a scrape I mean).

Ellie's vet did say something about Angel Eyes and I brought up the low-grade antibiotic part. She agreed that using low-grade antibiotics isn't her first choice. So for Ellie at this point we have decided against it.

To the OP, I don't know anything about those other products.:)

We home cook and Punkin was getting tear stains quite bad. It turned out to be the organic treats we were giving her. I stopped those and give her the wellness treats and a few cheerios and the tear stains are there still but much improved (I would say 80 -90 %) and there is almost never a build up of gunk.

So to make a long story short - when looking at food issues don't forget to look at the treats too.

That's good advice..

i will swear by the distilled water method. Pasquale had teary eyes when i first got him...then i read about the distilled water....gave it a try...and YUP IT WORKED. He hasnt had teary eyes since i started giving it to him and he's almost 5 months now.

My breeder had started my Maltese on Angel Eyes and I have continued to use that. It says to use an 1/8 of a teaspoon, I use half of that, very very small amount. I am noticing a difference in her coat :thumbup:

If I didn't have two big freakin' OAFS I would do it. I could just see it now- the lab drinking the distilled water out of the tiny bowl and Ranger diving into the big bowl, like always. :D

I've been very fortunate with my Maltese, Codie. He has absolutely NO tear staining at all. I don't do anything at all to maintain it -- it's just that way on it's own. However, I have a friend who has 2 Maltese puppies who have excessive tear staining and she has had great results with Eye Envy. I can't speak from personal experience since I've never had to use it but I've heard good things about it. It may be worth trying.