Tear Stains

Prominent and unsightly dark tear stains on your light and curly haired pooch are a common and unfortunate condition. Around the eyes, mouths and between toes, fur staining can be diet, health, breeding, allergy or environment related.

Stains around the eyes can occur as a result of irritation or because your dog’s tears are not draining properly. Their eyes will flush out and away anything that is irritating or harmful, and if your dogs' eyes are experiencing constant irritation, their eyes will continue to "water" or tear, which in turn can stain the surrounding fur.

In a healthy eye, small holes drain tears from the eye down the throat. Shallow eye sockets, inverted eyelids, hair growth around or in the eye or blocked tear holes can all prevent this necessary drainage, leaving tears nowhere else to go.

If your dog is experiencing tearing as a result of a hereditary, genetic, or breeding problem, this will need professional veterinary consultation, and might need to be managed rather than solved. If, however, it is due to an irritation, then the process is relatively simple - remove the source of irritation.

Keep hair and eyelashes in neat and appropriate condition around the eyes, careful to keep a close eye that nothing begins to encroach into the eye as it grows out. Similarly, check your dog's eyes over for any scratches or sores, as these will need to be treated and heal before your dog will benefit from hair removal.

Look at their food. So many commercial, big-brand dog foods are full of irritants and allergens which could be triggering your dog's tearing and stains. Grains, additives, colourings, derivatives, meat meals and very low quality meat sources can be doing an awful lot more harm than good. Changing to a high quality raw diet, where you know exactly what your dog is eating at each meal can help the process of elimination to determine what might be an irritant in your dog's diet. It is impossible to decipher exactly what is in your dog's bowl of highly processed meat alternatives and dry kibble and what is not agreeing with them as a result.

Ask your groomers for dedicated tear stain products or treatments to help alleviate the cosmetic issue. K9 Anytime Grooming has a Blueberry Facial with an oatmeal base, full of antioxidants designed to soothe and remove dark staining and irritation around the face.