[lexilu]

I have a cockapoo, with mild tear staining. She's on Innova, and has bottled water. Since she likes to chew my stairs and carpets (she's 18 mos) I have been giving her bully stix about 5 x a week. First question: would bully sticks be contributing to her eye gunk? I clean her eyes frequently, with tear wipes or plain water and a washcloth, but the fur on her face, near the eyes is really dry and stiff. Any suggestions on what to use on her face to soften that fur - it's impossible to brush or comb even with a flea comb.

Thank you

[briteday]

Anything could contribute to tear staining. But she may just have a small tear duct (tears don't drain properly) or a clogged tear duct.

I have one dog tha thas tear stains no matter what we do. So every morning and evening I wipe her eyes with saline contact solution (just buy store generic brand) using a terry cloth face cloth towel. Dampen the terry towel and remove all of the debris from around the eye. Some days I use the entire surface of the towel before I get all the little bits of brown out of the fur.

In the beginning (when she had the hardened gunk because it had not been taken care of by the previous owner), our breed mentor showed us how to smaploo the dog and when washing the face, use a clean human toothbrush around the eye stains. The warm water and use of the toothbrush really loosens things up. You don't necessarily need to bathe the whole dog though. just do her face wtih a ton of warm water to loosen things, then use a toothbrush to really get that stuff loose.

[Graco22]

I agree with Briteday. You will need to wipe her eyes daily, maybe even a few times daily, to get those "eye buggars" as I call them before they harden and dry to the hair and skin. If they do get hardened and stuck, in addition to the above suggestions, you can soak her face/eye area with water and a tearless shampoo for about 5 minutes or so, then use a flea comb to comb them out. The soaking loosens them up and makes them soggy, and they comb right out. Keeping the hair short around the eyes may help too. If any hairs are irritating the eyes, they will cause more tearing and buildup.