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Stinky eyes....what to do??

nursejess80

Well-known member
Ruby's been pawing at the left side of her face (from her eye toward her mouth) for the past few days. Her eyes have always been a little runny, but I think they're worse. Also, they smell worse than usual. I don't know if I can smell them when I'm sitting next to her because it's in my nostrils from constantly sniffing her eyes or because they're really tht stinky. She's not sneezing or coughing, her nose isn't really runny, and her eyes don't look red or anything. Her ears seem fine. Does this sound like allergies? Sinus infection? Eye infection? I just don't know....She's not acting any different. I've just noticed the pawing alot and wasn't sure if there was anything I could do to make her more comfortable. I clean her eyes probably every other day with plain saline, and it makes them look better (and usually smell better!). Should I take her to the vet???
 
Ruby's been pawing at the left side of her face (from her eye toward her mouth) for the past few days. Her eyes have always been a little runny, but I think they're worse. Also, they smell worse than usual. I don't know if I can smell them when I'm sitting next to her because it's in my nostrils from constantly sniffing her eyes or because they're really tht stinky. She's not sneezing or coughing, her nose isn't really runny, and her eyes don't look red or anything. Her ears seem fine. Does this sound like allergies? Sinus infection? Eye infection? I just don't know....She's not acting any different. I've just noticed the pawing alot and wasn't sure if there was anything I could do to make her more comfortable. I clean her eyes probably every other day with plain saline, and it makes them look better (and usually smell better!). Should I take her to the vet???

Have you checked for dry eye? We've got that problem.
 
I would definately go to the vet for two reasons, 1) she is obviously uncomfortable if she is pawing at her eyes and 2) anything that smells like that is usually some sort of infection, if there is a lot of moisture there it could be a yeast infection or as gross at it sounds it could be the skin underneath the eye starting to decay in some way ? Better be safe than sorry. Sure it will be easy fixed, it can be as easy as cleaning the area with a different product but best to check this with the vet :)
 
One of mine has Dry Eye and doesn't rub at her eye's at all, personnally I would say that if she is rubbing at her eye there may be a foreign body in it that is causing irritation and the rubbing has caused an infection. Get the vet to give her a once over is my advice too, eye problems often look far worse than they actually are as the eye doesn't have it's own blood supply. Will watch for news on her progress!! :razz:
 
Just got back from the vet.....she has blocked tear ducts and will have to have a little catheter put down them to unclog them. Makes me feel much better now!! She'll have to be sedated, so we'll be doing it sometime in the next week or whenever we can arrange it. In the meantime, I've got some eye drops that I'm supposed to put in twice a day. Just glad it wasn't something worse!!!
 
Thanks for the update! Am glad to hear it isn't anything majorly worrying, :xfngr: all goes well when they flush her ducts out soon! :hug:
 
One of mine has Dry Eye and doesn't rub at her eye's at all, personnally I would say that if she is rubbing at her eye there may be a foreign body in it that is causing irritation and the rubbing has caused an infection. Get the vet to give her a once over is my advice too, eye problems often look far worse than they actually are as the eye doesn't have it's own blood supply. Will watch for news on her progress!! :razz:


One of our cavs has dry eye and it manifests itself with stinky gunky discharge that hasn't washed away naturally with tears. We have to give her corn oil followed by a medicated eye drop.

When she gets dry, her eyes burn, she itches, and rubs her eye on pillows, etc. Just our experience.

In any event, glad you saw a vet.
 
Her procedure is scheduled for Tuesday morning, so I'll let you know how it goes. As far as dry eye goes, does it usually manifest later in life?? She's never had any kind of problem until this week, and she's about 14 1/2 months old. I mean, her eyes have always been a little runny, but they looked no different than any other Cavaliers that I've seen. She has never rubbed her face on the ground or pawed at them until this past week (unless she's just had a bath!!).
 
Her procedure is scheduled for Tuesday morning, so I'll let you know how it goes. As far as dry eye goes, does it usually manifest later in life?? She's never had any kind of problem until this week, and she's about 14 1/2 months old. I mean, her eyes have always been a little runny, but they looked no different than any other Cavaliers that I've seen. She has never rubbed her face on the ground or pawed at them until this past week (unless she's just had a bath!!).

I think she was diagnosed in the first year. But it sounds like you guys have your situation under control and have figured out it was something else. Good luck!
 
Her drops are called Neo-Poly-Dex (neomycin and polymyxin B sulfates). She gets one drop twice a day until her procedure.
 
Hers have been a little runny all of her life, but they've just gotten really bad in the past week. She hasn't been rubbing her eyes as much since I've been using the drops, so hopefully everything will be okay after Tues.
 
Ruby is back home after her procedure, which went very well. You would never know that she had been put to sleep earlier....she's running around and playing. They were able to successfully irrigate her tear ducts, and she hopefully will not have anymore problems. I had a quick anatomy lesson about her tear ducts, and apparently 2 out of her 4 openings were underdeveloped, and 1 wasn't developed at all. He had to surgically make an opening so that the duct could drain, and we're crossing our fingers that it stays open. She'll be on the same eye drops that I've been giving her for about 2 weeks, and then we'll just see how everything goes. He said that her eyes weren't infected, but that he irrigated out LOTS of mucus. I feel bad that I hadn't taken her in sooner, but I just thought that her eyes drained like every other Cavalier that I've seen. Anyway, that's the update!!! Thanks for everyone's concerns!!
 
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