I cannot tell you how many emails I get asking me: "What can I do to help the tear or rust colored stains
on my poodle?".
There is no quick fix or easy answer to this question. Being a groomer I have tried almost everything on
the market. I have yet to find a single product that works well enough to warrant the money the product costs.
Tearing on toy and some miniature poodles is the norm rather than something unusual. This is due to the
tear duct being too small to carry the fluid away from the eye. This does not mean there is something wrong with your poodle
or that it is not a purebred or that it is poorly bred like it sounds. There are quite a few of the small breeds out there
that deal with this issue. Its just something that you learn to live with when you have a poodle. The bigger the poodle the
less of the tearing you will see. Its almost non-existent in the standard poodles. Also the lighter the color of the poodle
the more you will notice the tearing. You may also notice that in the summer some poodles tearing will increase. This is usually
due to an environmental allergy like people have. Sometimes if you notice an increase of the eye tearing along with unusual
licking of the dogs legs or feet or other items in the house this could be resulting from a food allergy.
I have found the best way to take care of the tearing around the eyes is to get used to washing your dogs
face every day or twice a day. The best thing to use I have found is non-alcoholic baby wipes. Also I shave my dogs faces
and keep the hair away from the eyes as often as possible. The more hair buildup around the eyes the worse the tearing. You
can also get infections in the eyes if the hair is not trimmed down as it will hold the tears and it becomes a breeding ground
for bacteria.
You should also be checking your poodles eyes daily for problems and one of the first places you will see
a problem will more than likely be an unusually excessive amount of tearing. You should check the conjunctiva (the white part
of the eye) daily. It should never be pink or yellow in appearance. The tearing should just be normal clear fluid you should
never see green or yellow gunk. Now that clear tear fluid can change if not kept cleaned away into brownish colored goobers
that can turn hard in the hair. This is more normal but it should be cleaned away daily and not let to get to this stage.
Also the eyes should be clear and bright and not cloudy or foggy looking. Some issues that are abnormal such as Intropia (a
curling of the eyelid into the eye causing the eyelashes to irritate the eye) will cause excessive tearing. This issue can
be very serious. It can be corrected surgically. It can be a genetic issue in some breeds. I have heard of it in the standard
poodles but its more rare. Another thing to look for is Cherry eye (a redness of the membrane at the corner of the eye). This
is also a genetic issue and will need to be looked at by a vet. If you see anything out of the ordinary please consult your
vet ASAP.
I have found that buy feeding a dog plain live cultured yogurt this helps to reduce the amount of tearing.
We believe it has something to do with the Acidophilus in the yogurt. Yogurt is also a great way to help keep the yeast down
that grows in the ears and makes ear infections. It also does wonders for a dog with a dry coat. So you can see how valuable
yogurt is in a dogs diet. I personally give about 1/2 table spoon of yogurt mixed in the food for Toy poodles and 1 table
spoon of yogurt mixed in the food for Standard poodles.
There are a few products out there that you can use on light dogs such as whites or light apricots to cover
up the stains from tearing. You should be able to find some nice products for cover up at Ryans or Pet Edge. I also have heard
of some handlers using baby desitin (the creamy kind) on whites to cover up stains.
So you can keep trying stuff on the market that really does not work or you can learn to deal with it like
most poodle owners have and just wipe the face daily and keep the hair trimmed away from the eye area.
You can believe that if I ever find anything that works well I will post it here for everyone to see.
