# shaving around eyes



## Winston's Mommy (Mar 21, 2004)

I just had my babies groomed at the mobile day spa. They look sooooo cute in a shaggy puppy cut. The groomer did something I thought was strange. She shaved the area between the eyes and on the bridge of the nose (between and under eyes). My oldest has a bit of a staining issue, and I have to wash his face every night. This however seems to be preventing any staining (no white hair to stain). Anyone try this or heard of it?


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## TikisMom (Jul 22, 2003)

I have heard of keeping that hair very very short, but not shaved. Do you mean to the skin? How does it look?

Judi


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

yeah, i sorta dont like how they shave the top of the nose. i get baby scissors (small scissors with rounded edge) and cut really close to the eye. but thats it. they still get a little staining. i'll try to get a close up pic today.


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## pico's parent (Apr 5, 2004)

My groomer shaves Pico there, also. He's been staining real badly this past month. I'm suspecting our beach trip-wind,sand,sun, stress-may have contributed. The shaving removes the stained hair but he still stains around his mouth and down the side of his nose bridge.

No trips this month, let's see if the staining slows down.


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## ilove_d&m (Apr 7, 2004)

This last Wed I took Maya to get groomed and the groomer cut very short (not shaved) the area between the eyes and the nose. It looks like it has help Maya a little bit with her stainning. I too have to clean her face every night.


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## LoveMaltese6820 (Apr 12, 2004)

I have heard that once you cut the hair the short hair gets stained. I just wash Casper's eyes with puppy shampoo to help the staining.

Also, my breeder told me that it helps to put baking powder on the tearstains. Anybody tried this???


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## Guest (Jul 3, 2004)

My groomer also does this to Lacey. It keeps the hair out of her eyes. She hasn't had a problem with any tearstaining, so I don't know if this helps or not. I only recently started having her groomed so before this the hair around her eyes and the bridge of her nose was long. I think she looks cute with the shorter hair, I can see her little eyes now.


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## dr.jaimie (Mar 23, 2004)

i shave parker b/w the eyes b/c of his staining. right now ive been washing his face everyday so i dont have to shave it off. i also noticed he had hair growing on the inside of his eye lids and my vet and i zapped them out with some light anesthesia twice and were able to remove most of them and this has helped. when i start my opthamology class in vet school i will see if there is a better way to remove all of them. anyways he is a link to a close up shot of parker shaved there. it is large so dont click it if you are on dialupeyes


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## pico's parent (Apr 5, 2004)

Gosh, Parker and Pico could be brothers! Pico has a 1/2 pink nose just like Parker and the same size and spacing in his other points. But Parker is much more the ham, judging by his photos. And Parker seems to have silkier fur.


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## dr.jaimie (Mar 23, 2004)

yeah parker doesnt get much sun to keep it black, and he is very much of a ham...friends pick on me b/c he is such a froo froo dog


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

oh man! i forgot to bring my camera. i took a bunch of close up pics of sprites face. she has a little bit of tear stains...but nothing major. i'll definitely bring the camera tomorrow!! (i go to work for internet access, and i left my camera at home)


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## Winston's Mommy (Mar 21, 2004)

This cut is very short, almost to the skin. near the eyes. I previously had always kept the hairs short so they did not get in the eyes, but not this short.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

OK, check out sprites dogster page

http://dogster.com/dog_page.php?i=38287&j=t

the last two pics are from july 3, 2004. so they're recent. and that one with all the tear stains was from september, 2002. 

i cut really close to her eyes, and you can see that now she's not getting any tearing. and you can see that the older hair (hair furthest from her eyes) are still stained. my mom wipes their eyes with a washcloth every few days and we clean their water bowl (ceramic) a couple times a day. and they only drink bottled water (crystal geyser). and they're on homecooked foods...so they dont eat perservatives or chemicals anymore (like in dog food).


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## TikisMom (Jul 22, 2003)

Wow that is a big improvement. What do you think made the biggest difference?

Tiki seems to get more tearing when my allergies are bothering me. I used to try to remove the staining, but now I just don't worry about it much; it isn't that bad and .... he still looks cute to me.

I have to say those pictures of Sprite sure could be pictures of Tiki... they have the same type nose and eyes. I love the one of her in your hands laying on her back, I do this with Tiki also







She looks very sweet









Judi


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

I think the difference came with the homecooked foods. but im still not 100% sure. i wanna see more pics of tiki. you should open a dogster page.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

like wherever i look on the internet or books---they say that the water is really important. that you shouldn't put it in plastic bowls (something about how the bowl doesnt get 100% clean) like they said that stainless steel bowls are the best.....but i use ceramic because it looks cute. lol. but definitely bottled water is best for your dog. i heard tap water can have minerals and stuff that might cause the tearing. and tap water causes kidney stones to cats---so that sorta freaks me out. i dont have a cat...but i wonder what it does to dogs. my dogs mainly drink crystal geyser...but sometimes drink arrowhead. elllie is disgusted by dasani (i dont know why....she didnt want to drink it and she was thirsty). but i really think that if you are serving tap water that you should change. i dont drink tap water and i dont give the dogs stuff i wouldnt have. 

but i've heard some people drink tap water---thats sorta weird to me. one time i went to big bear (ski resort area) and the water coming out the sink was all cloudy....it was soo disgusting. and all my friends were drinking it.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## TikisMom (Jul 22, 2003)

Hey guys there are different types of bottled water. Lots of things will contribute to the different "flavor" of water. I was originaly told about this when I was stocking up on water just after 9/11. An Ozarka rep was stocking the shelves and had offered me a coupon for free water, I told him I didn't know why, but I didn't care for the taste of ozarka he then explained to me the information you will find on the noted web site. I did take the coupon and get the water... my kids drank most of it.

Hope this Web Site explaines a few things and may help you decide on what is best for you and your puppy









Judi


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## LoveMaltese6820 (Apr 12, 2004)

I think I am going to shave Casper there and start feeding him a homecooked meal 2 times a week.


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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

Brinkley went for his first grooming yesterday and she did the bridge of the nose and around his eyes. I can see his eyes better. She also trimmed his "bangs" as I call them. I miss the scruffy puppy look, but he is still cute. It is a little shorter around his face than I wanted. But, it will grow. He had some staining and those hairs got clipped off. Hopefully we can keep the rest stain free, we'll see.


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

thats so funny that you call them 'bangs'. i say that ellie has bangs because she has that curl over her eyes. it looks natural. lol. 

nicole-thats so crazy about the well water. they have wells around here....but its in the ranch area where they dont have sewers and stuff. you live in a city, right? i always assumed people who would have internet would have sewers and a water system. lol.







im retarded. 

tikismom--thanks for the site. they're right though...i doubt i'd ever change from bottled to tap. even that brita stuff---where you get a pitcher, add tap water and it gets filtered....i dont trust it. lol.


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

lovemaltese, trust me--if you only give it to them 2 times a week....they'll stop eating the dog food. <_< it happened to us for a while when we would give the dogs a special dinner of beef, cottage cheese, and eggs. 

i spoke to my mom, she says that every couple of days she cleans their faces with a washcloth. and if you think your dog gets it more with allergies, you can give him a little bit of childrens benedryl. we were giving it to gruffi before when he had an itchy tail.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## Mystify79 (Apr 6, 2004)




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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

i have some more pics of sprites face. i guess you can tell i spend more time with sprite than ellie. i'll try to take some pics of ellies eyes today. 

http://www.spoiledmaltese.com/forum/index....&f=13&t=670&hl=


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## Maxismom (Mar 24, 2004)

it drives me crazy when maxi has any hair in his eyes i have the groomer shave that part also and around his eyes, thank god he doesnt have a staining issue but i also want to keep him from getting one plus like i said i dont want his hair in his eyes


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

Wondering how long it takes for the bottled water theory to kick in?! We finished one gallon-took a few weeks-with no improvement. As we started on the second gallon, things started to look better. They are much lighter. I also have been using Diamond Eyes for a few days, as well as peroxide. His hair that was so stained and discolored I thinned out with one of those TINY personal shavers. It doesn't CUT his hair, so it didn't make holes...but I kinda combed it over the top of the stains starting at the bridge of the nose and coming down...it got some of that stained top layer off without it looking like I had trimmed it all. He looked SO much better. I am hoping maybe with the combination, we can keep it looking better. But mainly, he doesn't seem to be "tearing" as much lately. Which is probably the main difference. He is just not quite as ***** underneath.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

For those of you that give bottled or distilled water, do you add anything to the water? On the "other website" someone said something about adding apple cider vinegar (I think that was it) to the water. Does anyone do this?



[/QUOTE]
I just wonder about the taste/smell...seems to me like it would turn them off from drinking it?! Yuck to me! I tried taking a tablespoon of it once as weightloss aid...blech!








I decided fat was better than that every morning. That was punishment of the worst kind.










I has also read to try food without beet pulp. So, while at petsmart Saturday, I went through every puppy food! I found I think -it was just TWO brands that did not have beet pulp. Bil-jac did, all the other higher end brands did...alll the petsmart brands did. I think it was one of the Purina's that didn't, and some fish and potato blend of something. I was real tempted to try the Purina one, but was afraid it would have too much "other" stuff that was worse than the beet pulp was for the tearstains. The food/tearstain delimna (sp?) really stresses me out. I wish there was just ONE easy answer that worked for all of them...but all the dogs seem to do differently. I was really hoping Brinkley's would end with the distilled water...they have improved...but not gone.


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

i was thinking about it again--maybe the bottled water doesnt help. all three of the dogs have been on bottled water since i bought them. and all of you have seen the pics of sprite from a year ago (its in my avatar, shes sleeping). but then again---i didnt switch to ceramic bowls till november and december is when i started the homecooked diet. i read in one of those maltese sites that stainless steel bowls are th best. i dont know. and also, every morning my mom gets a washcloth with water and wipes their face. and when i get home, and if their eyes are dirty--i wipe it off with a kleenex. maybe that will help?


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

nicole, someone told me to try putting vaseline under their eyes....that sorta freaks me out. and im sure they wouldnt feel comfortable. its crazy how many different ideas there are


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## Debby (Jun 4, 2004)

I got my little Maltese from the Rescue Shelter & I don't think her owners ever tried cleaning her eyes. So I started immediately cleaning them twice a day with 8 in 1 tear staining pads, ordered some Magic Touch, mixed it with everday peroxide & I put it on 3 times a day with a QTip. At night I put Vaseline on the tear staining so it won't get tender or too dried out. So far her tear staing is at least 50% better than it was when I got her! When I first started cleaning everyday it was like it was coming off in layers!


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## Maxismom (Mar 24, 2004)

Since day one i have only given Maxi bottled water and he has always ate and drank out of ceramic bowls(
i didnt know that meant anything the bowls)

I also believe that the staining is heritary i pick at maxis eyes every day and i also have always had him cut around the face to avoid any staining he has no staining on his paws either which i have noticed in some of the malteses i have seen they have had the staining on the paws
basically i really think some just have it and some just don't
Now my friends neighbor got her maltese from the same place and he is full of stains throughout his whole face she says she cleans him constantly 
i can tell you that i feed Maxi Pedigree lamb and rice with the white of chicken mixed in it...thats what he eats 90% of the time
so I dont know if there is any science to this
i just think some do and some don't


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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