Tearing question

I don't mean to be redundant, I did do a search and read all related topics I could find but I'm still just not sure of what is going on.

Jace was not tearing at all when we got him, he was 12 weeks and he seemed to immediately start excessively tearing from the very first day. First thought was the food, but I kept feeding him the same food the breeder was. On that note, I switched Caden's diet to the Bill Jac and he immediately started having the red stains like never before. My next thought was climate, the breeder was from middle/Northern Georgia and I live in the Panhandle of Florida but that didn't explain Caden's sudden tearing. So I gradually switched there food to the Chicken Soup and it hasn't helped either!

I've tried several of the recommended products for staining but they don't help because their eyes remain constantly wet, Jace more noticeably than Caden since his eyes have a lot more white.

Any ideas or suggestions?

I'm certainly a novice at this - don't even have our cav yet! But, I have read that teething causes tearing, and that teething starts around 4-5 months old. Hope this helps icon_whistling

i got zack when he was 3 1/2 months. The woman i got him from said all her cavaliers had some tearing, and she said she washes the eyes once a week with something the name of which i now forget, but it was a common thing, i think it's the contact lens cleaning solution, or something like that.

But when i brought zack home, i didnt' see tearing. I just saw very faint very small pinkish stains in the corner of his eyes, dry. No wet stains. Nothing like what i was used to seeing on my daughter's cavalier, belle, who always has dark large tear stains.

zack got tearing for the first time 3 weeks after i got him when a vet prescribed sulfasalazine for diarrhea/colitis, it's an antibiotic and the most common side effect is damage to the tear ducts. He got wet stains that had an odor. I gave him probiotics for it. It took months for the tearing to dry up but it did, and he had no tearing, no odor. i don't know if the probiotics had any effect one way or the other, no way of telling.

I've heard that the pink kind of stains are from yeast, and that yeast stains have an odor so i've given him probiotics by mouth when he's gotten smelly stains. The second time he got smelly tearing was after i'd given him brewers yeast tablets for fleas for about a week. I stopped the tablets and gave him probiotics. I've wondered whether it would be good to make a solution out of the probiotics and wash his eyes with it when there is tearing.

When zack went on antibiotics for pyoderma recently, i thought he'd get yeast overgrowth in his eyes for sure so i gave probiotics every day. He never got any tearing during the 14 days of the broad spectrum antibiotic. i can't say whether the probiotics had anything to do with it.

Belle (blenheim) has been examined by two vets for her rather extreme tearing and each gave a different opinion. One said the tear ducts never formed and surgery was needed, the other said the tear ducts were OK. when she was spayed, they flushed her tear ducts and that's when the one vet said they were never formed because the flushing didn't work. Lisa wants to take Belle to an opthalmologist.

i hope your dog's tearing is from teething and will pass. If you get him neutered, you might want to consider having his tear ducts checked out while he's under anaesthesia, but it seems like whatever they find could still be controversial. If it's caused by yeast, i sort of have come to believe in probiotics.

It could be teething, eating, getting excited - anything really ....if you are really worried mention it to the vet. I never notice it on Busta or Ozzy but on Woody really shows as he has the white fur around his eyes. If there was staining round the mouth and paws then that is the food dye.

Is it just a bit of discoloration and damp, or constant or regular tearing and watery eyes? If the latter, have him checked. Cavaliers can get eyelashes that grow inward and irritate the eyeball and this can cause damage and a lot of pain, even blindness if untreated. It would be a good idea to have a vet have a look if you are concerned, as cavalier eyes are so sensitive.

Personally I don't think food makes much of a difference in tearing. Many puppies as they grow have far less tearing anyway. I don't think tearing is related to teething either. But that's IMHO -- never heard a vet believe there's any connection but maybe some do.

The red staining is not due to yeast in food but totally external -- a damp environment allows this to grow on their fur. It is the same reason why dogs that lick their paws often get reddish marks on their legs.

Just carefully wiping the area to prevent the growth in the fur will help the staining. Also you can use a solution like Renu contact lens solution (ONLY the solution that can go in the eye, be used for rinsing etc). This has an ingredient that stops protein buildup on lenses and also seems to stop the yeast growth in fur.

Neither of my two usually suffer from tearing but since Maxx had some strong antibiotics a few weeks ago he has dark tearing under his eyes and round his mouth. It looks awful and like he's uncared for

He's having two dollops of Bio yogurt every day to try and alleviate it and I'm also using Optrex eye lotion to help remove it, too

I agree with Jenni and anyone else who has mentioned teething. At that age, teething would be high on a list of suspected causes for discolored tearing.

Rod Russell
Orlando, Florida USA

I have never heard about the yeast difficulties but will keep my eyes open (no pun intended;-) for such difficulties. It seems I learn something every day from this site! Finn does have some tearing, which leads to stains but I have found that it is more noticeable when he is in pollen seasons. It is more pronounced or when we have been out on windy days or hiking. I use a remedy at the end of the day that I used for my rabbits and horses as well - a weak camomile tea soaked baby cloth (doesn't shed cotton bits like some pads) and I bath his eyelids...if the cloth is saturated then it flushes his eyes of any dust or plant pollen.

May not be a permanent solution but defnitaly soothes the eyes if irritated.