Dirty eyes

elius

My misses is looking after one off her work mates Shih Tzu while shes on holiday.
He has a desperate build up of mucus under his eyes in the hair and i'm just wondering is there anyway to get rid of it. Ive tried water on some kitchen role but hes a wriggly little bugger . Any ideas? Hes due a clipping but she wanted to wait till she got home from her hols..
Cheers

CreedonsDogDayc

is the hair above his eyes sticking into them? This can happen when it grows too long and irritates the eye, causing infection.

If so, id get him groomed now, or even just have the hair above his eye groomed as it can lead to a more serious infection!

ha-ya-said-what

Cleaning the eyes is a weekly routine of luke warm water & a soft cloth. You can use tear stain remover around the eye to take away the dirty look. They are prone to excessive eye discharge & eye problems.

With ours I find the if the hair around his eyes isn't clipped tight the more the mucus flows. I just clip it myself, he's afraid of heights so he used to sit perfectly still on the counter while I clipped around one eye, few treats, bit of a rub & move onto the other eye. He's at the stage now where he knows what I'm going to do so just sits anywhere to get the hair clipped! You wouldn't even notice the hair around his eyes clipped when it's done right. I do all the eye hair & coat clipping myself now since so many F ups with groomers, they are a doddle to clip believe it or not... once you can get them to sit that is

ha-ya-said-what

CreedonsDogDayc wrote: »

is the hair above his eyes sticking into them? This can happen when it grows too long and irritates the eye, causing infection.

If so, id get him groomed now, or even just have the hair above his eye groomed as it can lead to a more serious infection!

All true I won't argue, but I prefer to tie up the long hair from over the eyes that hangs down into the eyes, & clip the hair underneath that sticks up into them. They just don't look right when you see them with their lovely eye lashes gone & the hair on the brow skint & you don't notice the under hair clipped tight plus the beard sticks out & hides it.

morganafay

Shih Tzus often seem to have this problem. Just wanted to add that after the eye is cleaned, then you can put some vaseline where the tear stains are to prevent tear stains and protect the skin.

greensleep

Get yourself a little baby scissors from the chemist, you know the ones with the rounded tips that you uses on baby feet and hands. Hold the bottom of the dogs face (his beard) and cut out the bad bits you don't want. Because the scissor end is rounded you won't stick it in the dogs eye, so you should not have to worry.

you*ess*bee

OP No idea how to clean the eyes, fortunately my dog doesnt have this problem.

However, I just wanted to say how nice it is to see someone interested in helping a dog thats not even theirs. It warms the heart, and shows what a decent person you are

CreedonsDogDayc

ha-ya-said-what wrote: »

All true I won't argue, but I prefer to tie up the long hair from over the eyes that hangs down into the eyes, & clip the hair underneath that sticks up into them. They just don't look right when you see them with their lovely eye lashes gone & the hair on the brow skint & you don't notice the under hair clipped tight plus the beard sticks out & hides it.

oh ya, much better idea too and cuter!! plus it saves anyone going near the little fellas eyes with a scissors!

ghost_ie

Try bathing his eyes with cold tea on a piece of cotton wool. I use this on my youngest dog who has a chronic problem with red eye and it keeps the problem under control

Sigma Force

Wiping with cooled Chammomile tea might help, regular tea can be staining.
If you are able to clip around the eyes yourself that would help but don't take any chances if unsure in case he wriggles.
Our little guy had the runny eye thing for a while where it stained his fur, wasn't infected just a thing some dogs get not sure if it was just age or diet but he seemed to improve a lot when I switched to Burns now he just gets sleep around the area very little, if any, staining.

I got the eye wipes for dogs but didn't work very well, as mentioned there's a tear stain remover you can get though.

elius

Thanks all. Just want to clean them up might have another go clipping round the eyes...Hair is just a little to long..

edited to say i just gave him a clipping round the eyes i can see them at last there was that much hair before you could just make them out. Buy god they a have mucus filled eyes. Reading up chlorine in water is a big factor causing this and she lives in the city so id imagine the water doesn't help. She will be on well water for the next 10 days so wonder if it cleans up.

Molberts

Well water Elius - yum lucky you!

If you find the water does make a difference, tell the dogs owner that filtering the water can help big time - just the usual brita type tap filters us city folks have in our kitchen to make the water taste better

edit - to clarify I mean it helps big time with dogs sticky eyes, not just the taste for humans