West Puppy - Eye Discharge, Suspected Dry Eye?

[idealgrind]

Hi everyone!

Tried to search the forums for some information to no avail.

A few weeks ago my 4.5 month old male Westie started having a bit of green-y eye gunk in the corner of his eye in the mornings. He had a vet appointment later that week so I decided to just wipe it away and flush with a bit of saline until we saw the vet. I also made sure the hair around his eyes were nice and short. He didn't seem bothered by it - never scratched his eye, never blinked excessively, etc.

Vet said it was probably just a bit of dust or dirt in his eye (our yard is unfortunately more dirt than grass at the moment - the woes of renting!) and that I was doing all the right things. She said to come back if he started noticeably not using his eye as much or getting really bothered by it. Since then, the situation hasn't escalated, but hasn't gotten much better either. He has started to get those red tear stains on his hair from his tear duct.

Some research leads me to believe he has 'dry eye', but can't figure out what may be the underlying cause for it or what an appropriate treatment may be.

Has anyone got any experience with this? Is there any way to clear the eye so there are no longer red tear stains?

Thanks in advance for your responses :) Let me know if it would be helpful to post before/after pics of his eye around the time it occurred.

EDIT: I should probably add now thinking about it more, the last few days there hasn't been any green gunk. It is more a reddish "crust" outside of the eye. It seems logical that it is due to excessive tears and thus probably not dry eye. Will be checking with the vet to see what she things. Thanks everyone for your prompt responses!

Edited February 19, 2016 by idealgrind

[Gretel]

I'm not up on Westies but Cavaliers are very prone to tear staining which is at its worst around teething time. I wouldn't expect green gunk though. The vet can check his tear production with a very simple test.

[sheena]

My guy had this when he was young. The vet said it was a blocked tear duct & wanted to operate. I started just gently massaging around the base of his eye & it came good in no time. :)

[persephone]

Perhaps get the tear ducts checked ???? It's a simple and fast test!

[idealgrind]

I'm not up on Westies but Cavaliers are very prone to tear staining which is at its worst around teething time. I wouldn't expect green gunk though. The vet can check his tear production with a very simple test.

Oh wow, that's really interesting - thanks for that info!

Hmm I suppose that is what she was trying to do whilst we were there, but he didn't want her near his eyes (probably my fault, seeing as I had flushed his eyes with saline that morning). I'm definitely working on touching his ears, around eyes, mouth etc so he is used to it for checkups.

I'll see how he goes and might take him in again soon if necessary.

[idealgrind]

My guy had this when he was young. The vet said it was a blocked tear duct & wanted to operate. I started just gently massaging around the base of his eye & it came good in no time. :)

Wow, I bet that saved you a bit of $$$! I will try this - as I said in the reply above, I'm working on getting him used to ears/mouth/eyes being examined so I'll just incorporate this. Ta!

[idealgrind]

Perhaps get the tear ducts checked ???? It's a simple and fast test!

Thanks Persephone, you're right - will do!

[juice]

Dry eye is a lack of tears, so wouldn't run down . The test for it is simple litmus paper in the eye the vet can do, but it sounds like something else.

[idealgrind]

Dry eye is a lack of tears, so wouldn't run down . The test for it is simple litmus paper in the eye the vet can do, but it sounds like something else.

Thinking about it more thoroughly, I definitely agree that it doesn't sound like dry eye - almost the opposite. Thanks for your response, I will definitely see what the vet has to say now that she will be able to have a proper look :)

[*kirty*]

Puppies have lower tear readings than adults, it is very hard to definitively diagnose dry eye in a puppy unless tear readings are pretty much non existent. Westies are a breed that is prone to dry eye though so it is worth monitoring.

At this age I would be thinking it is more likely a blocked or lazy tear duct. Keep the eyes clean and gently massage the inside-lower corner of the eyelid.

Using saline to clean the eyes is not ideal, especially if the eyes are dry. Use plain water or even better, cooled Calendula Tea. It is a natural anti-inflammatory so will help soothe inflamed eyes.

If it doesn't improve, please see an eye specialist. It is never a good idea to muck around with eyes.

[Bowzer]

I have just been through this with my 11 month old Kelpie X Lab.

Same aymptoms exactly although he is redish in colour so red stain would not be visable.

He had weeping in his right eye one day then weeping in both.

Some greenish gunk developed after a couple of days(not too much) so I gave it a couple of days with saline baths.

This prevented it getting worse but didnt get better so off to the vet.

Procedure there was as follows -

Litmus paper test for dry eye.....all good.

Little bit of green dye put in each eye then special light used to check for scratches and foreign bodies - all good there.

Given a dose of topical antibiotic/antinflamitary cream to each eye which I took home and administered twice a day for 6 days.

There was improvement after one day!!!

I was told that it was probably started due to alergic reaction to summer dry grasses etc and maybe he scratched his itchy eye a little and caused infection and if it starts again might have to give him antihitamene (spelling) to relieve itchy before he scratches it again.

[idealgrind]

Puppies have lower tear readings than adults, it is very hard to definitively diagnose dry eye in a puppy unless tear readings are pretty much non existent. Westies are a breed that is prone to dry eye though so it is worth monitoring.

At this age I would be thinking it is more likely a blocked or lazy tear duct. Keep the eyes clean and gently massage the inside-lower corner of the eyelid.

Using saline to clean the eyes is not ideal, especially if the eyes are dry. Use plain water or even better, cooled Calendula Tea. It is a natural anti-inflammatory so will help soothe inflamed eyes.

If it doesn't improve, please see an eye specialist. It is never a good idea to muck around with eyes.

Thanks for your detailed response, Kirty. I will try massaging that part of the eyelid to see if it improves.

Otherwise, yes, I will definitely head to a specialist - I definitely agree! Thanks again.

[idealgrind]

I have just been through this with my 11 month old Kelpie X Lab.

Same aymptoms exactly although he is redish in colour so red stain would not be visable.

He had weeping in his right eye one day then weeping in both.

Some greenish gunk developed after a couple of days(not too much) so I gave it a couple of days with saline baths.

This prevented it getting worse but didnt get better so off to the vet.

Procedure there was as follows -

Litmus paper test for dry eye.....all good.

Little bit of green dye put in each eye then special light used to check for scratches and foreign bodies - all good there.

Given a dose of topical antibiotic/antinflamitary cream to each eye which I took home and administered twice a day for 6 days.

There was improvement after one day!!!

I was told that it was probably started due to alergic reaction to summer dry grasses etc and maybe he scratched his itchy eye a little and caused infection and if it starts again might have to give him antihitamene (spelling) to relieve itchy before he scratches it again.

Thanks for your response, Bowser! I'll keep that in mind. The gunk hasn't been present for the last 2 days or so, but doesn't mean it won't pop up again. I'll monitor it and see how we go, otherwise off to the vet! Definitely don't want to leave any eye problem around for too long, even though his eyes are not bothering him at all. Thanks!

[RiverStar-Aura]

I've just had my now 5 month old Norwich pup go through a sedative to have his tear ducts flushed. Both his were blocked and my vet said it can be quite common in small breed dogs due to their tear ducts being naturally smaller.

His started with yellowish green discharge, which then became black crusties twice daily under his eyes. Since having the tear ducts flushed his eyes have been nice and clean.

Checking for blockages is quite easy -- a fluourosine dye is put into the eyes and then a black light to see if it flows out the nose.

Edited February 19, 2016 by RiverStar-Aura

[idealgrind]

I've just had my now 5 month old Norwich pup go through a sedative to have his tear ducts flushed. Both his were blocked and my vet said it can be quite common in small breed dogs due to their tear ducts being naturally smaller.

His started with yellowish green discharge, which then became black crusties twice daily under his eyes. Since having the tear ducts flushed his eyes have been nice and clean.

Checking for blockages is quite easy -- a fluourosine dye is put into the eyes and then a black light to see if it flows out the nose.

This sounds exactly like what he has going on. No green gunk at all this morning and also no crusties. I massaged under his eye twice yesterday (as per above comments) and the fur around his eyes isn't even wet this morning. Will keep doing this and keep a close eye on it over the weekend and re-evaluate re: a vet appointment next week come Monday morning.

Thanks for your help!

[Dogsfevr]

And don cut the coat around the eyes ,the hair would have had length and hung down everyone trims it so short the hair can be more annoying as growing it often annoys the eye .Buy liquid tears gel from the chemist and put some In at night ,pup is teething do grubby eyes can be an issue and yes blue caked tear ducts .

[Loving my Oldies]

Before using any product have the vet check his tear duct function.

If there isn't anything wrong except a bit of irritation get Optrex liquid from the chemist, soak a cotton wool ball and wipe both eyes regularly for a few weeks. This cleans the eyes and reduces, at the very least, staining. In my experience with Maltese, the staining was completely eliminated on one dog and almost eliminated on another. I always have Optrex on hand just to give all the dogs' eyes an occasional wipe over and have never had dogs with staining since.