Teary/Goopy Eyes

My corgi Brian has always had teary eyes since I got him, which tended to be off and on (especially depending on present allergens). However, his tearing started to get more consistent (every day) about a month ago when the weather really started to get cold. He now has constant tear stains, and his eyes "run" a clear tear subtance every once and a while, which I prompty wipe up with a cloth or tissue.

However, in the past week, he's started to wake up with light greenish goop in the corners of his eyes (although much more often just in his right eye). This is only after sleeping for an entire night; I haven't noticed any other eye secretions (other than the clear tearing) during his waking hours. I've checked his eyes, and they don't seem red at all, and he isn't bothered by the tearing or the goop at all. I've been thinking that it might be an infection from reading some of the other discussions, but I'd rather get some input before I take him for a costly vet visit.

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on January 22, 2009 at 5:27pm

Can't say how often my wife would've been doing this, but if it was just me, I'm sure it would not have been much more than 3X a day and, like you say, a couple of minutes.

I'd think the hotter the better -- microwave a wet cloth in a baggie, take it out of the baggie before you use it, make sure it's not too hot (it can be unevenly heated) but the dog should barely be able to stand it. I'd try to get it hot enough that the dog might squirm, but not yelp. I always tested it on me first.

I think repeated cycles might help -- on again, off again, on again, off again -- get pulses of heat and circulation in there to try to flush out the irritants.

Gwynnie had teary eyes often when she was young but it seems to have mostly gone away.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Ambrosius on January 22, 2009 at 6:36pm

Good to know. Thanks for the "guidelines"

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Permalink Reply by Brian Ambrosius on January 26, 2009 at 10:24pm

Just as an update, I had my mom take Brian to the vet to see what was going on with his eyes. The vet couldn't say for sure, said it could be anything from allergies (of what, not sure) to conjuntivitis to an infection. They also tested him for Glaucoma and dry eye (both results were negative). They gave us some antibiotic eye cream which needs to be put in his eyes every 6 hours. We'll see how that goes, and hopefully he'll respond to the meds.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Ambrosius on February 23, 2009 at 6:45pm

the vet gave us antibiotic ointment, which clears it up within one or two applications. But once we stop, it goes back to being goopy again, although the goopy isn't greenish any more, more crusty and dark. i'm crossing my fingers that it will clear up and get better with some warmer weather!

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Permalink Reply by Aj on March 21, 2010 at 8:57pm

My Brian has had tearing in his left eye for 3 days, and I was waiting to see if time would allow it to get better. But today, when I woke up, I found his left eye to be cloudy and discharge-y. I panicked, afraid that he was going blind in one eye.

So we rushed him to the vet today and the vet performed intra-occular pressure: numbed his eye, tested the pressure of his eye by poking it with a special tool. She also performed fluorescein eye stain to check if there were any scratches on his eye, etc.

Results? Nothing seemed wrong. She determined that it might be some sort of trauma to the eye as the white of his eye was red.

She prescribed Neomycin and Polymyxin B Sulfates and Dexamethasone Opthalmic Suspension (anti-bacterial/anti-inflammatory eye drops). One drop, twice a day for 7-10 days. 7 days if it's better that day.

I'm guessing the trauma might be from Ein and Brian playing, as Ein sometimes licks Brian's face/eyes, sometimes accidentally poking his eye(s) with his silly nose. Who knows...