Tear Ducts

[fuzzie bear]

When I brought Ruby in to get spayed, I told the vet about her runny eyes. I'm used to cavaliers eyes dripping all the time, but hers was a bit much.

They went to flush her eyes out to free up the tear ducts, but found she doesn't have any !

Is this common in cavaliers ?

[GudrunTheRed]

Wow, that sounds really odd. I thought everyone and every mammal had to have tear ducts in order for the eyes to stay moist?! I would look for more info on the internet and get a second opinion from another vet.

Sorry but that just sounds too bizarre...but I could be wrong. Please let us know what you find out.

[JaneB]

Sounds weird to me but you might want to peruse the following web sites. One of them does state that

"in normal animals, tears are constantly produced and drain out through small ducts in the eyelids. The ducts empty into the nose. (That is why your nose runs when you cry.) In animals with blocked ducts, the tears overflow the lids and run down the face.

There are several causes of the overflow of tears. Miniature breeds and Persians often have more prominent eyes. This stretches the eyelid and may cut off the drainage system. This is the most common cause and there is little we can do to correct it. Some animals are born with an abnormal drainage system that may or may not be surgically correctable.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1066

From another article:

Clogged or Shallow Tear Ducts: Studies indicate that 20-25% of small dogs and cats are born with closed of shallow tear ducts. Tears overflow because there the eyelid space is not deep enough to contain them.

And, this website has several links that may help. Keep us posted on Ruby.

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/ocular-...ogs/page1.aspx

JaneB

[fuzzie bear]

In animals with blocked ducts, the tears overflow the lids and run down the face.

That is what the vet thought first - that she had her ducts blocked and he was going to flush them out whilst she was under anethestic for the spaying. It was then that they discovered she didn't have any - or they were closed.

So now I guess I have a disabled puppy....

[Karlin]

I would think if the ducts were closed the problem would be dry eyes, not runny eyes. This is what happens in people with closed or non-functioning ducts.

Some dogs just seem to have really runny eyes. And it also seems to change over time. Mine has runnier eyes as puppies; and my tri has more moisture than my bleinheim.

Just as a total aside -- can you check your avatar against the maximum sizes listed in the 'Getting Started' section? I no longer have an automatic sizing programe running on the site as the existing one wouldn;t work with current board software. So people need to keep them below a certain size or they stretch out the whole thread to the size of their avatar. Looks like yours is running a bit large at the moment! Thanks! I'm hoping some programmer will come up with something that will work before long.

[debjen]

so he has a dry eye because the ducts are not producing the tears..there are from what I understand 3 different ducts that produce tears..his bad eye has produced tears on a scale of 1-9 depending on the time of the test compared to an 18 on his good eye..because his ducts aren't working I actually have to put drops in his eyes to keep enough moisture in there... do you have a Vet-eye specialist you can go see.