Japanese Spitz Tear Stains

[Alec]

Hi All,

New to the forum and what a great help its been for far!

I live in New Zealand and am picking up a 8 week Japanese Spitz girl on tuesday My question is about tear staining and diet.

We went and visited the breeder last week to meet our pup and noticed she had quite a bit of tear staining, as did her sister. The breeder says it happens with all her pup's when she starts putting them onto kibble (Purina Pro Plan mixed with real meat), but it goes away after a few weeks. She also changes their water to distilled which I imagine helps alot. She had a 12 week pup in her house at the time which had tear staining at 8 weeks, but it was completely gone.

She is a great breeder and her beautiful dogs frequently win best of breed. We were at one of the shows, her dogs really are nice

When we get her, the first thing we will be doing is changing her diet to Canidae Chicken and Rice. We might change her to Canidae Grain free at a later date, but were told C&R is better for tear stains as it has less iron or something so will start with that.

We will also use distilled water.

My questions.

- Has anyone had experience with Canidae and tear stains who can give me feedback on if/how it helped? From what ive read on this forum and all over the net, diet seems to play an important part.

- Is it worth trying apple cider/vinegar in her water immediately? Or wait to see if the change in diet helps?

I don't want to use medication (or angel eyes or whatever its called) if I can help it. Prevention rather than cure is my motto

Our baby(terrible photo sorry! Not giving her cuteness justice

EDIT: Haha just noticed this was the forum our breeder was talking about where she posted my wife and my photo's of her JS 'Kendra'

We are the proud puppy buyers mentioned here

Thanks!

Alec

Edited August 12, 2011 by Alec

[stonecutter]

Welcome Alec! She looks adorable

Our girl also had tear staining at 8 weeks, though when she came home at 12 weeks it was gone. I've read about ACV - tried putting a drop in Ziva's water but she just wouldn't drink any. Apparently feeding tomato paste also works (though I haven't tried it myself)

I was also told to stay away from feeding beef as that is meant to make things worse.

Feel free to drop into the JS/Samoyed thread

[Alec]

Hi,

That was a quick reply! Yes she is adorable

Thats good to hear other have had the same experience (well not good but...you know what I mean :p), makes me worry less lol

I'll wait off on the ACV for a few weeks I think. Thanks for the tip about the beef, will keep that in mind.

When we get her ill be sure to post some nice pics taken with our SLR Much better than a camera phone!

[W Sibs]

Hey!

Tear stain usually goes away after teething or when they get out of puppy stage. I use the tomato paste (the one you use on pizza), a teaspoon a night and it seems to work on Emmy. But, her tear stains wasn't all that bad...

As for diet, Emmy has been on a raw diet since she was 6 weeks (her breeder is a firmer believer in raw diet) and I continued feeding her raw when i got her at 9 weeks. I fed her everything including beef, and she was fine with it :D

Come to the JS/Samoyed thread! You must post up pics :D

[sheena]

I understand what the cause of the stain is, but what is the cause of the tears....is it because of a blocked tear duct. My BC pup has a weepy eye & someone suggested a blocked TD. His eye is otherwise quite healthy looking & no conjuctivitus.

[Alec]

Tomato paste sounds interesting! Will keep it in mind also

Sheena, i'd be interested to know that also.

[Dogsfevr]

Please don't rush to change the diet continue with the diet pup is use to & then slowly change over ,this is for the pups benefit not yours.

Change of diet can affect there tummies & end up with a puppy with the runs or sick because the food was changed to quickly & even your breeder will tell you this.

Also keep in mind because the product sounds great doesn't mean it will suit your pup so its all about trial & error .

I now someone feeding it because there obsessed with "natural & free Off" It is a show Maltese it has a horrible dry coat with no lustre,it is severely underweight despite her feeding quantities that would suit a beagle.

She wont change the diet because its the best in her view but it simply doesn't suit her dog

I would discuss diet changes with the breeder ,they will be able to give some feed back or whether it has known issues within the breed or not .

2 of our pups recently came back for grooming at 5 months.

Both have changed there diets to our sheet big time.

1 is growing to fast

1 has turned from Jet black to copper red as the diet isn't suitable all this in 9 weeks of change.

The other pups we have seen all look super & correct for there age & have followed our diet chart or discussed options of change

[Guest lavendergirl]

I find the tomato paste recommendation surprising. I have heard that it is best to avoid tomato pomade in kibble as it can cause tear staining.

[W Sibs]

the paste isn't in the kibbles.. it's simply a teaspoon a day.

a groomer suggest I do that and I found that it works.

[Alec]

Please don't rush to change the diet continue with the diet pup is use to & then slowly change over ,this is for the pups benefit not yours.

Change of diet can affect there tummies & end up with a puppy with the runs or sick because the food was changed to quickly & even your breeder will tell you this.

Noted I plan to change it very slowly over a week. The breeder has suggested the same as you and I certainly dont want to upset pup's tummy! That's the very reason we are getting the Chicken and Rice recipe of Canidae and not the one with all the other meats, its supposed to be better for sensitive tum's.

Also keep in mind because the product sounds great doesn't mean it will suit your pup so its all about trial & error .

I now someone feeding it because there obsessed with "natural & free Off" It is a show Maltese it has a horrible dry coat with no lustre,it is severely underweight despite her feeding quantities that would suit a beagle.

She wont change the diet because its the best in her view but it simply doesn't suit her dog

I would discuss diet changes with the breeder ,they will be able to give some feed back or whether it has known issues within the breed or not .

2 of our pups recently came back for grooming at 5 months.

Both have changed there diets to our sheet big time.

1 is growing to fast

1 has turned from Jet black to copper red as the diet isn't suitable all this in 9 weeks of change.

The other pups we have seen all look super & correct for there age & have followed our diet chart or discussed options of change

Also noted. I'll discuss with the breeder the new food when we pick up the pup. She is very helpful and we will be keeping her updated on the pup's progress so she'll be able to notice things we wouldn't

Thanks for the warnings