# Has anyone's pup had blocked tear duct surgery?



## rosietoby (Mar 27, 2008)

Holly's eyes are always tearing and she still has staining so we went to the Vet to see if her tear ducts are blocked. He showed me that by the shape of her eye they probably were blocked. He put a dye in her eyes to see where they were draining. Instead of down the tear duct they went down her face.

Here's my question. Should I make another appt. with the Opthamologist (sp?) or should I just try eye drops that will reduce the amount of tearing and give her tums to adjust the ph? I don't know how invasive the different types of surgeries are or how expensive. Has anyone's dog here gone through with the surgery?

Thank you for your opinions!

Robin


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## princessre (Dec 23, 2008)

We don't have experience with the blocked tear duct, but we do use the B&L eye wash 2x everyday. If you haven't tried it, maybe you could do that for awhile and see if that works for you...it seems to really soothe their eyes and would be so much better in surgery if it worked?


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

You should see an ophthalmologist sooner rather than later. Occasionally dogs can have a thin layer of tissue covering the lower tear duct which should have gone away when they opened their eyes as pups. If caught young enough, this tissue can be removed. My dog was unfortunate that we did not discover it until later and by then he had scar tissue. If the dog will hold still, an ophthalmologist should be able to attempt to flush the tear ducts without anesthesia.


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## ilovemymaltese (Oct 9, 2008)

Gigi has blocked tear ducts as well so I will be watching your thread! LOL

I personally would never put Gigi under for cosmetic reasons. Anethsia(sp?) can kill these tiny dogs so easily. :bysmilie: Our vet was going to do it when she was spayed, but he said he didnt want to keep Gigi under that long. At first I was a little disappointed, but I was also very greatful! I wouldn't want to risk anything with my Gigi.
But JMM(she lives in my area) told me that her dog's eye doctor flushes tear ducts without anethsia so eventually(hopefully this month) we're going go to that doctor and get them flushed out. Her tearing is driving me crazy! :smpullhair: I will be soo happy when they are all gone! LOL


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## rosietoby (Mar 27, 2008)

What does that mean to flush them? How long does it take and what are they doing?
Thanks!


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

Abbey's tear ducts were too small and she had lashes growing into her eyes. I paid around $1,800 total for the proceedures.

fast forward a year or two....


She still gets tear stains!!!!!!! :smilie_tischkante: 


I am at a loss. .....figuratvily and literally, LOL.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

To flush them they take a tiny canula and syringe of eye flush and literally flush through the tear ducts. If the dog will cooperate awake, it just take a few minutes. Of course, the ophtho will also do a thorough exam of the eyes to rule out other problems. If they need to be sedated, depends on what the vet uses. Some will just gas them down a little and they pop right up and walk out the door.


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## rosietoby (Mar 27, 2008)

Thank you everyone. We'll be seeing the opthomologist!


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

I took dex to opthamologist because he has goopy eye worse than my others and was concerned about dry eye which runs in breed and very painful like sand in eye. Luckily he was fine and just allergy related but what she said not to do is not to use saline solution alot in eyes and only when windy days, etc as it will mess with the natural tear production of the eye so she told me to just use if windy and to use a wash cloth or cotton pad with warm water and wash the outside of eyes only so be careful with using that in the eye daily. 


QUOTE (princessre @ May 8 2009, 09:47 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=773607


> We don't have experience with the blocked tear duct, but we do use the B&L eye wash 2x everyday. If you haven't tried it, maybe you could do that for awhile and see if that works for you...it seems to really soothe their eyes and would be so much better in surgery if it worked?[/B]


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

I have to say i was very impressed and i paid $160 for the optho appt but she was extremely thorough and had me look through instruments to show me what was going on etc. I felt the money was well spent as she checked everything and spent about an hour with dexter. She said she would never see him again and tear test was great and he had healthy eyes. She said she could not even tell in his eyes that he had a severe case of pancreatitis or any damage done so I really felt much better consulting with specialists and i know i would have second guess having gone to vet only. 


QUOTE (JMM @ May 8 2009, 11:03 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=773636


> To flush them they take a tiny canula and syringe of eye flush and literally flush through the tear ducts. If the dog will cooperate awake, it just take a few minutes. Of course, the ophtho will also do a thorough exam of the eyes to rule out other problems. If they need to be sedated, depends on what the vet uses. Some will just gas them down a little and they pop right up and walk out the door.[/B]


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## MaryH (Mar 7, 2006)

I had tear ducts flushed on one of mine, no anesthesia, and no problems. She is trained to lay still anyway so that was a plus. They wrapped her in a towel, one tech held her still on the table, another tech held her head still, and the vet did the flushing. From start to finish was 10 minutes. Then 10 days of eye drops. A year later no tear staining.


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