I adopted a resuce dog six weeks ago and on the day I collected her found out she was in pup!  anyway, to cut a long story short, the pups will be 4 weeks old on Weds everything went well,(even though I'm a complete beginner), they are now eating soaked and mashed baby rusks as well as mum's milk.  Mum is only about 13 months old herself, so she is doing brilliantly.  She had 4 bitches and two dogs and one of the dogs eyes seem to be constantly wet, the eyes themselves look ok and he's focusing, but there are always dark lines underneath them where they are wet - anybody know what may be causing this?  Also, I want to move onto dried puppy food soaked and made into a porridge - what age can I do this?

Hi it could be ingrowing eye lashess cheek with your vet as it could be more serious. regards debbie.

I believe you can start on dried soaked puppy food from the start of weaning :)

Iam sorry did not say when u can feed dry food u can start now make it very soft and u will soon find that they will eat the food dry.Make sure you put water down at all time debbie.

It could be a problem with the tear ducts being blocked or narrow ducts, one of my pups in the past had this problem but grew out of it by the time they were 4 months old.  She ended up with quite bad tear staining, she is now 7 months old and no signs of the staining and no more runny eyes.  My vet used a yellow dye drops, which was put in her eyes around 8 weeks, we waited for the drops to appear out of the nose, which took quite a while, apparently it should have been instant.

All my pups are weaned straight onto Burns mini-bites, soaked and mashed to start then gradually as their teeth come through they are fed the complete dryer until by the time they leave here at 8 weeks old, they are being fed completely dry.

Thanks everyone, looks like a trip to the vets might be best to check it out.  Going to give them their first puppy food porridge tonight, I'm really enjoying the experience!

Puppy's eyes seem a little better tonight - typical, as soon as you start panicking! Will watch him closely over the next couple of days thoug. They all thoroughly enjoyed their puppy food porridge, have been to the loo and are now all fast asleep.

Please get him checked by a vet, even if he seems to be a little better.  He could have entropian (inturned eyelashes) as already mentioned.  This is a very painful condition and needs attention.  The rubbing of the eyelashes on the eyeball can quickly cause ulcers and pups can loose sight quickly.  It is curable but does need attention - NOW!

I know, because my pup had it :(

Took puppy Max to vets this morning, eyes OK, vet seems to think it's just the shape of them causing a bit of a problem but thinks as he grows it will come right.  She's given me some cream to put in twice a day just to stop any irritation. I've had to put some netting across the entrace to the puppy pen as they can all get out of it now- it has got a door on, but I like to give Mum free access.

Yep!  That sounds like entropian.  It does sometimes correct in time and the ointment just keeps the eyeball moist to stop any damage.  The vet is right in saying when he grows it may change - but then again it may not. 

I was fobbed off with expensive drops, cream and artificial tears for the first few visits, I then changed vets for a second opinion and was told it needed an immediate operation to avoid permanent damage.

Please keep a very close eye on him (!!) and make sure you take him back if it doesn't look like it's improving.

OK thanks, I will watch him closely.  Really nice day here today, so pups all outside in puppy pen with blanket over, they seem to be enjoying camping!