Boxer Dog Eyes

janninew

Hi All

Hope somebody can give some advice please!

I have an elderly boxer and recently I've noticed his eyes are quite watery. I asked the vet when he went for his yearly booster and she said its quite common as they get older and to keep wiping them.

I've always wiped his eyes twice daily since he was a pup, as anybody with a wrinkly faced breed will know is a must! I wipe them with cotton wool which i wet slightly with warm water. This isn't very effective any more though and he's eyes and cheeks are starting to look messy. Has anybody got any suggestions as to what I can use to clear his eyes and the wrinkles in his cheeks?

Many thanks.

Janninew

catlou

Hiya

My dog gets "tear stains" I used to buy Eye Wipes that you get from pet shops but I now use fragrance free baby wipes - they seem to do the same job. I get the Tesco value ones works out loads cheaper than the eye wipes did.

I also use Johnsons / Vitacoat "diamond eyes" every few days (although it does say to use it daily on the bottle)

http://www.petmeds.co.uk/p-5682-johnsons-diamond-eyes.aspx?CAWELAID=451073580&

Diamond Eyes is Unique for tear stain remover and suitable for all breeds. Also cleansing agent for furrows on Bloodhounds, Boxers, Penkinese, and all similar breeds. Cleans and accentuate the area around your dog or cat's eyes. Diamond Eye is safe to use around your pet's eyes. Diamond Eye is easy to apply and can help produce lighter brighter fur around the eyes and it reduces discoloration on lighter-colored pets.

You can get it in most pets shops and online costs about £2 for 125ml bottle or £4 for 250ml.

janninew

catlou wrote: »

Hiya

My dog gets "tear stains" I used to buy Eye Wipes that you get from pet shops but I now use fragrance free baby wipes - they seem to do the same job. I get the Tesco value ones works out loads cheaper than the eye wipes did.

I also use Johnsons / Vitacoat "diamond eyes" every few days (although it does say to use it daily on the bottle)

http://www.petmeds.co.uk/p-5682-johnsons-diamond-eyes.aspx?CAWELAID=451073580&

Diamond Eyes is Unique for tear stain remover and suitable for all breeds. Also cleansing agent for furrows on Bloodhounds, Boxers, Penkinese, and all similar breeds. Cleans and accentuate the area around your dog or cat's eyes. Diamond Eye is safe to use around your pet's eyes. Diamond Eye is easy to apply and can help produce lighter brighter fur around the eyes and it reduces discoloration on lighter-colored pets.

You can get it in most pets shops and online costs about £2 for 125ml bottle or £4 for 250ml.

Thanks for that! I did consider baby wipes, but wasn't sure if they would be suitable, I will give them a go though. I will look into getting diamond eyes as well, I'm so paranoid when I take him out that people will think he isn't well looked after as his eyes are all dirty! I think its especially important to keep on top of our dogs health and well being as they get older!

catlou

It was my dog groomer that suggested baby wipes as long as they are fragrance free ones.:D

My dog is only 1 but if I don't wipes his eyes daily the tear stains make him look like he has got something wrong with his eyes!!

Don't worry about what other people think they probably don't notice!! it's just because we know it's there!

imaginarynumber

Not sure what you feed your boxer but diet change could help a lot.

Tear stains are a visual indicator of red yeast. The enzyme that is the building block of the yeast is a by-product of the bacteria in the tears metabolising the iron content as it starts to oxidise.

Neither the yeast or bacteria are harmful but the stains can be musty smelling.

This yeast is also responsible for the red marks in the skin folds on dogs such as bull dogs. it is also commonly seen around the mouths of larger dogs such as St Bernards.

Your vet could prescribe an antibiotic (eg. tylosin or tetracycline) to kill the bacteria, most however see this as an inappropriate use of antibiotics.

Changing the ph value of the tears can prevent the bacteria from metabolising the iron. Many owners add a little cider vinegar to the drinking water. There may (or may not) be other health benefits from using Cider vinegar. Not all dogs are willing to drink the water though.

With regard to diet change- There is a school of thought that considers that dogs should not be subjected to processed grains as they would never have been part of the dogs diet in the wild. The result of the dogs dietary intolerance of grains is that the dog produces more tears that it would otherwise.

Wipes and tear stain removing pastes aside, the approach that I prefer is to use supplements that are high in antioxidants.

I use one called Angels Delight, I get it from Bichon Hotel. It works by oxidising the iron before it enters the tears., thereby preventing the bacteria from metabolising it. Although I cannot recommend Angels delight highly enough it would be expensive to give to a dog the size of a boxer. I have seen an American version sold on Ebay.co.uk called Naturvet Tear Stain Supplement. I haven't used it but have heard good things about it.

You may see other tear stain removers on the web from the USA, check the ingredients. A lot of them contain Tylosin, an antibiotic not approved for dog use. They are illegal in Europe and most of the world. The sellers wont bother telling you though. If Customs and Excise see it they will charge you to post it back to the USA or destroy it for you!!!

Good luck

KVet

Never heard of "red yeast" or iron in the tears?! Will have a quick google...

It sounds like your Boxer has tear overflow. This is usually caused by blocked tear ducts - most common in brachycephalic breeds (ie squashed faces). It can sometimes be a congenital thing or caused by debris blocking up the nasolacrimal ducts which drain the tears down the nose. THis is why some older brachycephalic breeds get tear overflow and their nose get a bit crusty and dry as the tears are not coming down to keep it moist. Main thing is what you are doing - keeping the face clean and dry as moist skin = skin infection breeding ground. If you wanted to get his tear flow tested then as your vet to do so and they will probably pop some dye (fluorescein ) in his eyes and wait for it to come down the nose, if it doesnt come down the nose in a minute or two then hes prob got blocked ducts. They can sometimes be cleared by being flushed under an anaesthetic but some people prefer to leave be and deal with the overflow side effects. Sometimes with time the ducts unblock themselves. Hope that helps a wee bit!

devildog

My elderly GSD has developed this problem, however in his case it appears be a ( late onset) pollen allergy.
Having been involved with a lot of the bullbreeds, I used to use cotton wool and water, dry thoroughly and then dusted with unfragranced talc/chalk (obviously not lots of the stuff and care would be required applying because it would not be good for dog to inhale) Another product to use once the area is clean is vaseline(to stop stain penetrating) but can almost look as unsightly as the stain itself and the area would not be 'dry'.
Imaginarynumber-an interesting piece of info and along with many other things in this modern world it appears that what/how we feed is responsible for a lot of things/inbalances etc.
Supplements can be extremely beneficial if only people would give them a chance!!!

imaginarynumber

KVet wrote: »

Never heard of "red yeast" or iron in the tears?! Will have a quick google...

It sounds like your Boxer has tear overflow. This is usually caused by blocked tear ducts - most common in brachycephalic breeds (ie squashed faces). It can sometimes be a congenital thing or caused by debris blocking up the nasolacrimal ducts which drain the tears down the nose. THis is why some older brachycephalic breeds get tear overflow and their nose get a bit crusty and dry as the tears are not coming down to keep it moist. Main thing is what you are doing - keeping the face clean and dry as moist skin = skin infection breeding ground. If you wanted to get his tear flow tested then as your vet to do so and they will probably pop some dye (fluorescein ) in his eyes and wait for it to come down the nose, if it doesnt come down the nose in a minute or two then hes prob got blocked ducts. They can sometimes be cleared by being flushed under an anaesthetic but some people prefer to leave be and deal with the overflow side effects. Sometimes with time the ducts unblock themselves. Hope that helps a wee bit!

Hi Kvet

I have bichons so I have a LOT of tear stain experience. I agree that flushing the ducts works for some breeds but others just have a face shape that lends itself to the tears running down the face rather than falling off of the face. some breeds just have inefficient ducts.

With-out intervention, 2 of my 3 bichons would look like Alice Cooper!!!

CFC

Thanks for the info KVet - my little bichon/westie cross appears to have a blocked tear duct but the vet felt that trying to correct the problem in small breeds generally didn't help and could make it worse and so has advised me to leave it alone. Has such been your experience?

It appears to be worse some times, and better at others. (Leaving him like this though has made me feel like a Very Bad Person as he didn't have the problem when he first came to me).

imaginarynumber

devildog wrote: »

My elderly GSD has developed this problem, however in his case it appears be a ( late onset) pollen allergy.
Having been involved with a lot of the bullbreeds, I used to use cotton wool and water, dry thoroughly and then dusted with unfragranced talc/chalk (obviously not lots of the stuff and care would be required applying because it would not be good for dog to inhale) Another product to use once the area is clean is vaseline(to stop stain penetrating) but can almost look as unsightly as the stain itself and the area would not be 'dry'.
Imaginarynumber-an interesting piece of info and along with many other things in this modern world it appears that what/how we feed is responsible for a lot of things/inbalances etc.
Supplements can be extremely beneficial if only people would give them a chance!!!

Hi Devildog

Pollen is a very common cause of excess tearing. anything which irritates the eyes will lead to an increase in tearing. This could be food intolerances, stress, hairs falling into the eye, dust mites even ear infections. The list is fairly exhaustive.

One cause that should be of least concern is teething. The gum inflammation can temporarily make the ducts less efficient (by applying pressure on them). Puppy owners are better off waiting until the teething has finished, it might be the case that the level of tears taper off and that the dog will be tear free in the future.

TBH I think that the natural supplements will struggle to help during the teething phase. There are tylosin antibiotic based products from the USA that might be more effective but none of them are legal in the UK.

Kvet might be able to help here- I spent hours looking, not so much as why dogs tear, but why those tears turn red. I have come to the conclusion that much of the information 5 years ago was lifted from the sites of the makers of the antibiotic tear stain removers.

There are 4 that I know of- only one of them mentions on their homepage that tylosin is an antibiotic- they all say that it is FDA approved- yet they all omit to mention that the FDA only approved tylosin for poultry, bees, cows and pigs. Not dogs or cats.

IMO because they are coy about mentioning the antibiotic they claim that their products work by "tying up circulating porphyrins"- porphyrins are metals that react and change colour in the light. Now if this were the case surely these would change colour on any tissue that was used to wipe away the tears.

The worrying thing is that I have even seen vets say that the stains are solely the result of these porphyrins, they then go on to recommend the antibiotic products.

Another area of misinformation form the makers is that tylosin is rarely used on dogs and so if a dog's bacteria became resistant to tylosin it would not be a big problem. Again this is untrue, whilst tylosin does not have a Marketing Authority it can be prescribed by vets in exception circumstances under the Cascading Rule and is often prescribed to help fight colitis.

At the risk of over simplifying things- what you feed your dog will affect it on many different levels.

When I was a kid our dogs were mongrels form Battersea- they ate our scraps and food out of tins. It didn't seem to harm them but who is to say how much longer they would have lived if we avoided commercial bulking agents like processed grains (never part of a dogs natural diet). Many pedigrees though seem to have far more in the way of food intolerances.

My youngest bichon. for example, was reared on a big brand name kibble. he was constantly scratching and liking his coat until it became sore. the vet prescribed steroids. Concerned, we rang a breeder who told use to home cook chicken breast with broccoli and pasta. A month later and he was fine. perhaps he would have been fine anyway. All I know is that I didn't want to use steroids.

Incidentally the breeder looked at his KC papers and told us he was a puppy far dog, his grandfather was his not just his grandfather. They didn't tell us that when we got him from Harrods!!!

It is easy to get carried away and spend way too much on our mutts but for most of us they are members of our families and I for one want to spend as much time with them as I can before they shake off this mortal coil (lead?). If it means spending more on quality food then so be it- a small price to pay.