# Tear Staining



## 20887 (Mar 16, 2011)

Both of my dogs are on a pre made/raw diet, yet they both still have quite a bit of tear staining. Is there anything I can do to help it? I clean their eyes a few times per day but they still have stains.


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

Missy it can be environmental. Right now three of mine are having AWFUL tearing when they never tear otherwise. The only thing I can think is that they have some kind of cold or are having some kind of allergy to something. I dry their eyes 3-5 times a day. I do use Angel's Eyes when they start to tear excessively, at half dose, every other day. That seems to really help. I don't recommend long term usage of Angel's Eyes but 2-3 times a year for 1-2 weeks is not going to hurt them. I find that having them on a supplement along with raw such as Nupro or Missing Link reduces tearing. I do not now why. I also find that giving bottled water over tap water greatly reduces staining. Both of yours have masks over their eyes, are they tearing below their masks?


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## 20887 (Mar 16, 2011)

flippedstars said:


> Missy it can be environmental. Right now three of mine are having AWFUL tearing when they never tear otherwise. The only thing I can think is that they have some kind of cold or are having some kind of allergy to something. I dry their eyes 3-5 times a day. I do use Angel's Eyes when they start to tear excessively, at half dose, every other day. That seems to really help. I don't recommend long term usage of Angel's Eyes but 2-3 times a year for 1-2 weeks is not going to hurt them. I find that having them on a supplement along with raw such as Nupro or Missing Link reduces tearing. I do not now why. I also find that giving bottled water over tap water greatly reduces staining. Both of yours have masks over their eyes, are they tearing below their masks?



I give both of them Nupro right now. I just started Penny on the regular Nupro, and Lion gets the Nupro silver. Lion's tears go below the black "circle" under his eyes and stain the white on his nose.. Penny's make a really dark brown circle below her eyes. Sorry, I just cleaned their eyes so I can't take a photo to explain. Lion's bottom eyelids also get really "goopy" sometimes.

Oh, I also started using filtered water for them instead of tap water. Maybe that will make a difference.


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

A few things others have tried ....

Distilled water - some tap water can have a high mineral content and it can cause staining. Switching to distilled water seems to have the highest success rate from what I've read (other than using Angel Eyes).

Apple Cider Vinegar - Either add a little (teaspoon?) to the food or put in the water.

Antibiotics - Angel Eyes is one. Use short term.

Contact eye saline solution - Rinse the eyes a.m. and p.m. and wipe off the excess.

Blocked tear ducts - Your vet would have to check for this but it's common on our small dogs. The ducts get blocked and the tears just roll off onto the face. The ducts can be irrigated by the vet.

Tums - some people report good success in getting rid of tear staining by giving half of a tums antacid (500 mg non fruit flavor) in the morning and evening. I have no idea how this works. 

Baby wipes - just keep them handy and make sure you clean around the eyes faithfully to keep the area as dry as possible.

Cranberries and/or blueberries - some people report that these reduce tear staining. Maybe give a couple a day as a snack?


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## 20887 (Mar 16, 2011)

Here is a photo where you can see Penny's staining. As you can see it goes across her nose.. Most of that red color underneath her eyes is staining, as her fur there is white.


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

Missy do you have one of Lion? Many black tris have tan under the black area right under the eye...Trig being one of them.


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## 20887 (Mar 16, 2011)

Yes he does have a little tan under his eyes, here is a photo:


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

Penny definitely has staining, but it seems like Lion's isn't as bad ? To me it looks like below his mask is just the tan color but pics can be deceiving. Tracy posted every single trick I know, so it might be worth trying some of those things, though.


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## Bianca00 (Nov 20, 2011)

Bianca has stains too. I've been doing a lot of natural remedies lately and this is what I found on Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar site:
I had a completely white bulldog with black spotted skin. He had dark tear stains running from his tear duct area down. I tried a few of the tear bleaching products sold for dogs but none worked (besides being expensive). I also tried some suggested home remedies (e.g. hydrogen peroxide, etc.) and those were not effective either. A vet told me the tear stains were caused by the acidity in the dogs system and if I neutralized his system, the stains would go away.

His suggestion was to put vinegar in the dogs drinking water! He suggested putting just a "tiny" bit of vinegar in the drinking water for a few days (I interpreted that as about 1/4 of a vinegar bottles cap full) and then increase the amount of vinegar added until I was adding about a teaspoon to the drinking water each day (I would estimate his drinking water bowl to contain about 5 cups of water.) Each time I changed or added water to his bowl, I also added the vinegar. Within a few weeks, the tear stains were gone for good!

I actually add 1 teaspoon to her breakfast. At first the smell was to strong, she wouldn't eat. She got use to it once I feed her a few pieces. They are lighter, we've only been using it a few weeks.


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