Hi I am new today. I have an 8 month old yorkie who has very runny eyes. I know yorkies are prone to this however despite cleaning everyday she has tear staining that makes the problem look even worse. Any advice on how to clean her eyes and prevent tear staining would be gratefully received. Many thanks and Happy New Year to you all!

You can buy tear stain remover, but to have much effect you will have to clean the stains several tiems a day every day.

Really you should look into why the dog is tearstaining?

Has the Vet ruled out blocked tear ducts (which can be flushed out)or eyelash problems.  The later can damage the surface of the eye, and should not be left.

Thanks for your reply. When I mentioned it to my vet he didn't seem concerned. He looked at her eyes and didn't give any explanation. Maybe I will take her back and have him look properly to make sure all is ok. Thanks.
Jane

Has she finished teething yet as this can cause tears?  Maybe a bit of vaseline under the eyes so it just slides off may help if it is just due to the teething period as many small breeds don't get their teeth through until much later than the bigger breeds.

Don't think she has finished teething so this is a possibility. Will try some vaseline and see if it helps.
Thanks for your help.
jane

Combine with the cleasning the vaseline will at least gie some waterproofing to the hair/skin preventing any soreness.

Hi, I have a golden retriever who had a tear stain constantly from one eye, it turned out that he had been born without one of his tear ducts so the vet did a small operation to make him one! To test the tear ducts your vet will just put some dye into the eyes and see how it drains.

Beau, I have a Golden with one tear stained eye too. She's had the dye test and not much happened. I thought it was due to a blocked duct or a malformed duct. I didn't know that a new tear duct could be made. Is this operation common ? How old was your dog when it was done ?

I woudn't worry too much. If the eyes aren't  bothering the dog and they don't keep 'going at them' then you don't have cause for concern. If no irritation seems apparant then leave it be. My 'baby' has constent tear stains on her face but her eyes don't bother her in the slightest. So I'd leave it alone. Some dogs just get runny eyes in the same way that humans do!

Our 7 month old sheltie little girl has tear stains.  Her eyes are quite 'flat', she's still got her top puppy teeth but she isn't bothered in the slightest by her eyes :)  We just wipe them with dampened kitchen roll so they don't get 'clumped up'   Our previous sheltie bitch had the same problem all her life (and her tear ducts weren't blocked) but the male didn't.

[Edit to say - the vet isn't concerned about it but will 'monitor' the situ :)]

Many thanks for all your replies. Her eyes are bright and she is not bothered by them so I think I will watch closely to make sure no probs and mention it at next vet visit.
Thanks a million
Jane

I would keep an eye on the area to ensure the wetnmess does not cause skin irritation in addition to the staining.

we do :)

Sometimes i think that it's the type of food that's used which causes tear stains, i used to feed mine hills as a pup then i switched to nutro but he still had the staining with both of them, now he is on eaglepack and he has no tear stains at all.

Sometimes i think that it's the type of food that's used which causes tear stains,

I think it has a great deal to do with it.My wee dog had terrible eye stains and eye boogers when she came to me,she was fed on pedigree and gusto,which are both vile foods IMO.She has been with me for over 6mths now and her stains and general eye probs have completely cleared up!

Jane what food are you feeding? :)

Hi I hadn't even considered that it could be feeding. She has JWB Turkey and Rice. Jane