Community Chat

[Lovemyboots]

I have a little 14 1/2 yr old ShihTzu that is having some problems with her eyes having some draining & the hair around the eyes is stuck together & around her eyes in the morning. I use a warm wash cloth every morning & throughout the day. But I wish there were some kind of safe soap or something that I could use around her eyes to clean that icky stuff out of her hair. Was hoping someone would have some ideas. She has a total cataract in one eye & another one starting the other eye. Vet gave her some salve to put in her eyes, but just said to wash with wash cloth but it just isn't really working. He is out of town right now so cant call him, I was hoping some one here might have some ideas. Thanks

[rockcity]

Eye envy is a product that you can get to wipe around the eyes each morning. I would recommend the Eye Envy starter kit... It comes with a liquid solution that seems to clean the area as well as soothe it, pads and a powder. After wiping the area,,, then apply the powder which helps to keep the area dry. I use it on my small white teacup poodle. Hope that helps!

[Poodlepet2]

I don't think you could go wrong with irrigating the eye area with normal saline. My idea is that those secretions are thick and really need to be thinned out, but it's the eye area and I would not use soap of any kind without permission from your vet. Another thing I would do is clip as much hair away from the eyes as you can.

That worries me a little that you say her eyes are so "rheumy"....it's not unheard of for dogs to develop allergies to food they've eaten all of their lives. That might be an issue worth exploring with your vet.

Poodlepet

[Lovemyboots]

Thank you for the replies. I have cut away the hair as much as possible from her eyes. She is getting tired of me messing with her! She ran a bit of fever last night. I am so afraid I am going to lose her this year. She has been so quiet lately. Sleeping a lot. She only eats once a day. She just had a complete blood work up. Everything looks good. She is still going out to the bathroom but when her eyes were watering so much I noticed she kept running into stuff. Poor baby. I have some saline I could use till I can get the Eye Envy.

[NickNack]

Isn't there another vet taking over while your vet is out of town? If she was running a fever she needs to go to the vet ASAP. I'm sorry she's so sick. I have a 13 1/2 year old Japanese Chin that I'm afraid I'll lose this year, too.

If she isn't eating well you may need to switch to canned food. I had to do that recently. I finally found two kinds that my dog will eat--Innova Adult and Nutro Ultra.

[sneef]

Baby Shampoo works wonderful, get the Johnson and Johnson no tears, it takes out the matter, odor and very gentle. I am a nurse and we use this on our residents that have mattery or sticky eyes. Good luck

[Papertiger]

This may not apply to your fur baby, but we have an 8 year old Shih Tzu that had watery eyes that "ran" and "gooped up". We switched his water to bottled water only and out of a "glass" bowl (not stainless steel) and his eyes stay clear....just a suggestion!

[58Meezer]

On 3/14/2014 papertiger said:

This may not apply to your fur baby, but we have an 8 year old Shih Tzu that had watery eyes that "ran" and "gooped up". We switched his water to bottled water only and out of a "glass" bowl (not stainless steel) and his eyes stay clear....just a suggestion!

I had a Lhasa that used to have eye problems...I wish I thought of that - we used to use prescription doggie restatsis...

I am wondering about the stainless steel bowl - it is had nickle in it - nickle is commonly mixed with stainless steel and nickle causes all kinds of allergies... My sweet Lhasa passed away 1/18/2014 ad 16.5 years old. I wish I had thought of the bowl...We tried everything - in the end she had a sudden devastating stroke. Never fails everything always seems to hit at once - my husband's brother was having cancer surgery, we came home and our beloved Lhasa was not doing well - we called the vet the next day and made the decision to let her go - then my daughter was hospitalized for possible miscarriage. Thankfully that worked out ok. We just recently got a Silky Terrier pup - I just miss my dog so much thought I love my Meezers dearly...

Good luck to you with your little furbaby.

[pistolino]

You also may want to revisit the vet about the eyes due to dry eye---my late poodle had cataracts and he also had VERY dry eyes, I had to put cyclosporine drops in them every day (from a compounding pharmacy), and if I forgot one of the twice-daily doses his eyes would be gooey.