# to clip tear stains or to not clip tear stains?



## rmwms (Aug 6, 2007)

Spoke to a groomer today who said if she were to groom Abbi, she would clip all the tear stained hair around her eyes. Is that what ya'll have done during a grooming session? I don't think I am going to use this particular groomer because I was not at all happy with the facilities. I am going to go the route of mobile grooming but wanted your advice on the tear stain clipping.
Thanks, as always.
Have a good weekend!


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## makettle29 (Nov 12, 2005)

I clip. I clip because I don't like the stains and I keep my pups in a "puppy cut". My Theena has a topnot AND a little bangs. My Herk has outgrown his tearstaining and I still keep the hair around his eyes short (not shaved).

best of luck, it's your choice, mary anna


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## Scoobydoo (May 26, 2005)

I keep both boys in short coat, and I did have the hair clipped around the eyes when they had tear staining and still keep it shaved, it does help keep their eyes clean and particularly with Koko at the moment because he has his eye problem his eyes are weeping constantly. It's amazing how fast the hair grows back around the face too, but clipping the stained hair does help I think, more for a cosmetic appearance really, but if you are using Tylan or Angel's Eyes eventually there won't be any stains to worry about


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

After I give Archie & Abbey their baths, I might clip any stained hair around their eyes. It makes them look better. Cleaner.


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## binniebee (Sep 27, 2007)

I haven't clipped any hair off of Midis' face yet. (Of course he is 10 months old, not a few years.) My theory is that if I clip the hair he will just stain the next group of hair under that group. So, if I have some special place to take him where it is very important to me that he look un-stained then I could cut that first top stained hair then. Having said that I will also add that he isn't too badly stained anyway at 10 months. I wash his face every couple of days and now that he's past teething (I think) and obviously has no yeast issues it more like just a bit of eye goop that needs to be cleaned off and it doesn't really stain much. My last malt the groomer did always clip off the stained hair and I didn't really care for that look. Made his snout seem too long.

BinnieBee


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

At one point I switched Ollie's food and he started staining for the first time in his life. I don't know if it was outdoor late summer allergies or the food or both. Anyway, I switched him back to his "old" food and gave him Angel's eyes for about 8 days and the staining has stopped. I did not clip the hair away. I found that over time, and washing, it has faded to being almost unnoticable. So no, I did not clip that. I do, however, clip a VERY small section of hair right in the corners of both eyes. The amount of hairs I cut there is VERY small, really only a few dozen or so hairs per eye. They tend to stick straight out and poke him in the eyes if they get too long.


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## Joey's Mom2 (Aug 24, 2004)

Before, I would clip and the stains would just come back. So I started using Angel Eyes for two weeks, and THEN clipped, and it's been weeks--no stains.


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## Missy&Maggie (Jun 17, 2007)

I have decided not to clip Maggie's tear stains. Maggie just had the last of her baby teeth pulled, so she should stop tear staining soon. Maggie's tear staining really isn't that bad though. It can be hard to notice because the rest of her muzzle hair covers up her tear stains. It seems like if you don't clip them, the tear staining can't spread to between the eyes. I plan to put Maggie on Angel Eyes once all her adult teeth are in. I agree with your decision not to go to that groomer. I found a groomer that I really like in Palm Beach because they do exactly what I want. I think that a groomer should do what you want, not what they want! I hope that this helps! :biggrin:


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## binniebee (Sep 27, 2007)

> I haven't clipped any hair off of Midis' face yet. (Of course he is 10 months old, not a few years.) My theory is that if I clip the hair he will just stain the next group of hair under that group. So, if I have some special place to take him where it is very important to me that he look un-stained then I could cut that first top stained hair then. Having said that I will also add that he isn't too badly stained anyway at 10 months. I wash his face every couple of days and now that he's past teething (I think) and obviously has no yeast issues it more like just a bit of eye goop that needs to be cleaned off and it doesn't really stain much. My last malt the groomer did always clip off the stained hair and I didn't really care for that look. Made his snout seem too long.
> 
> BinnieBee[/B]


To show my earlier reply to this question and then to update:
I clipped Midis' hair around his eyes last night! He had some tangles going on which were caused by the eye-goop and his hair was really getting in his eyes. I started to just wash his face, but prior to that to try to comb it (he HATES this; not the washing but the combing). But then I realized it wasn't stains it was a little mat with the eye goop in it (very close to his eyes, not down his cheeks). So I clipped it on both sides. One side in particular I had to cut more than I would have liked, but I am not going to try to work through "stuff" on his sensitive face. He's already bad enough about making me avoid that area (hence, the mess). So, we've started over a bit, but he really did look good today after getting in my new bands and scissors I'd ordered and putting his little topknot in a piggy-back double tail. 

We went on a day trip to my granddaughters' birthday parties in West TN today and they all thought he was gorgeous. (Well behaved, too! Loved the kids and just either played with them or sat in my lap.)

Cyndi (aka BinnieBee)


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## Desiree (May 29, 2007)

I don't let the groomer clip around his eyes either because as Midis said it is just a short-term fix (unless you plan on doing it often), so I'm just letting the hair grow out that way it doesn't poke and bother him. I also don't keep him in a puppy cut though and all I let the groomer do is trim his pad hairs/around his feet and pluck the hairs in his ears. I imagine once you start clipping around the eyes you will have to do it constantly. Just letting Eros' face hair grow long enough to where it isn't always infront of his eyes and his bangs fit into a topknot has been a slow process, so I'm definately not clipping now lol

<div align="center">Desiree & Eros


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## Malsam (Sep 28, 2007)

generally speaking, show and pet groomers have a lot of practise in conflict. Staining area is just 1 of them. For the eye area, the pet groomers will tell u to remove them since they look unclean and takes a lot of effort to get rid of them. Show groomers will prefer to keep it there using chemicals to remove as the cutting it off will just make it grow back again. Keep them and once they are long enough, tie them up to solve the problem.

hence depending on what your preference are, pet groomers usually go for the simple upkeeping rules. They prefer slickers and clip off for matted coats since their priority is to save effort for maintenance for pet owners. Show owners go for looks than ease of keeping. So u must decide which 1 u prefers.


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## MissMelanie (Feb 13, 2006)

> generally speaking, show and pet groomers have a lot of practise in conflict. Staining area is just 1 of them. For the eye area, the pet groomers will tell u to remove them since they look unclean and takes a lot of effort to get rid of them. Show groomers will prefer to keep it there using chemicals to remove as the cutting it off will just make it grow back again. Keep them and once they are long enough, tie them up to solve the problem.
> 
> hence depending on what your preference are, pet groomers usually go for the simple upkeeping rules. They prefer slickers and clip off for matted coats since their priority is to save effort for maintenance for pet owners. Show owners go for looks than ease of keeping. So u must decide which 1 u prefers.[/B]


enJOY!
Melanie


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## giselle79 (Aug 8, 2007)

I think that the best cure for tear staining is a high quality natural food, so no chemicals get diluted in the tears and stain the malt face. Another thing I was recomended to do is urine acidification, some people do it with vinegar, I just give my malt a quarter of vitamine C with no colorants 2 or 3 times a week. I'm new to this maltese world anyway, so I'm not sure is the vitamine C is what keeps Maxi's face OK or is genetics.


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## Malsam (Sep 28, 2007)

> I think that the best cure for tear staining is a high quality natural food, so no chemicals get diluted in the tears and stain the malt face. Another thing I was recomended to do is urine acidification, some people do it with vinegar, I just give my malt a quarter of vitamine C with no colorants 2 or 3 times a week. I'm new to this maltese world anyway, so I'm not sure is the vitamine C is what keeps Maxi's face OK or is genetics.[/B]


I heard about all these also....it works only to some of my malteses. I'm feeding natural food and no kibble. And they still have stainings.


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## laceyluv (Oct 23, 2007)

Lacey used to stain alot when she was younger.. I don't know if she outgrew it, or the pet food change helped or the groomer clipping the hair helps, but she doesn't stain at all now. He does clip/shave a little bit. Everyone always asks how I keep her so white there.

I tried angel eyes.. did anyone else think the smell of it was horrid? I couldn't give it to her anymore, I felt so bad!


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## gosseck (Jul 16, 2007)

> At one point I switched Ollie's food and he started staining for the first time in his life. I don't know if it was outdoor late summer allergies or the food or both. Anyway, I switched him back to his "old" food and gave him Angel's eyes for about 8 days and the staining has stopped. I did not clip the hair away. I found that over time, and washing, it has faded to being almost unnoticable. So no, I did not clip that. I do, however, clip a VERY small section of hair right in the corners of both eyes. The amount of hairs I cut there is VERY small, really only a few dozen or so hairs per eye. They tend to stick straight out and poke him in the eyes if they get too long.[/B]


What kind of food do you use. I am using Iams and it is really staining Gracie's mouth.


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