Tear duct problem

[PriscillasMom]

My 10 week old Papillon, Priscilla, has a tear duct problem in both eyes. It doesn't bother her, but she's always wet under her eyes. We tried anti-biotic drops last week, but it didn't help. She has another vet appt. next week. He said if it hadn't improved, she'll need to go see a doggie opthomologist. She might have to have surgery even. Has anyone heard of this? The breeder I bought her from acted like it was no big deal, but I think she was just "blowing me off".

[Giny]

If it's because her tear ducts are clogged then the procedure is not evasive at all. In fact it's not even surgery though the dog has to go under anesthesia and the vet will flush out the material that causes the blockage. Some dogs are prone to it like my little girl and some may need to get the tear duct flushed more then once. Since the procedure was done on my dog she’s never had a problem since. Hope that's the case with your little one. Keep us posted as to what the ophthalmologist says.
Welcome to GP btw, your pup is adorable!

[tommyjake]

yea some dogs have it, others dont. Jake has always had this problem since we got him as a 10 week old pup. the breeder said it was nothing to worry about and that once his head is fully developed; his tear ducts will form properly and stop watering. it didnt turn out like that though, hes 6 years old now and still has watery eyes, but its never seemed to bother him. to be honest i dont really think it necessary to have an operation for this

[calgal]

I agree, and I also feel that most of the little dogs who have excessive tearing is due to allergy's. Look how close the the dirt, carpet, grass, weeds & floors they are, not to mention their noses are general sniffing up everything on them. It's no wonder they have lots of irritants which can cause allergy's or the symptoms.

[Rip's Girl]

Hi Priscillasmom.. I had the same problem with my Papillon and I agree with Giny about the blockage, that's a real possibility. Ripley had his ducts flushed when he was neutered and while the vet was doing that he found that they were also not formed very well (Apparently that is common in small dogs, especially those with round prominent eyes.) so Ripley will always have a little excess tearing, but it's easy to manage as long as the eyes are kept clean.
The procedure did really help though, and it wasn't invasive at all.

Calgal has a really good point, too. My Border Collie hardly ever gets anything in his eyes, but my Papillon does constantly. That alone could be the cause of your problems, the eyes are getting irritated by things like that, hence the excessively teary eyes.

The thing I've found that keeps Ripley's eyes in decent shape is to just keep them wiped and dry as much as possible. for quite a while I had normal drops to put in his eyes just to clean them a bit. (It was probably a lot like visine for humans, except my vet gave them to me.)

[Barrett]

Lucy has the same problem. They flushed her tear ducts when she got spayed but the the tears continued. They haven't been as bad for the last two months and she just hit a year old. Perhaps she is growing out of it.