# Cause and treatment of tear stains?



## danielamv7 (Feb 10, 2021)

I have a beautiful Maltese. He has had tear stains ever since I went to pick him up at 2 months old. I decided to give him a chance because he was probably teething and stuff. Now he is almost 10 months old and his tear stains are out of control. I have tried everything: Spa tear stain cleaner, eye envy, contact solution, cleaning the eyes everyday for months, artero pretty eyes, even hydrogen peroxide (only did it for 2 days, I was very careful), I also changed his food, cut the chicken, gave him hypoallergenic royal canid food, metal and ceramic bowls, I've done everything.

His tear stains used not to smell but now they do, that area is always wet, he's continuously tearing.

I wonder if he was initially tearing because of teething and now he has some sort of infection?

I really wanted to try and find the reason by myself before getting him to an ophthalmologist, they're quite expensive in my area and it's something cosmetic.

What do you guys think?

this was him at 4 months old










him now (9 1/2 months old) after cleaning his eyes


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## Musa15 (Jul 9, 2021)

2 things help dramatically with my Venus’ tear stains 1. Raw food (we use primal now) and 2. Filtered water only. I can actually tell when the filter needs changing based on Venus’ tear stains. They’ll start creeping back and sure enough the filter is due for a changing! 

I have a new baby (Echo) and she’s 15 weeks old with terrible tear staining she was really bad when I got her but like you decided to give her a chance. She’s still going through her puppy kibble but after the bag is finished I’m switching her to 100% raw and seeing if it helps the tear staining. She’s also teething now which doesn’t help the tear production. 

Best of luck!


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## rosietoby (Mar 27, 2008)

Talk to your Vet about Tylan or Tylosin. It’s the only thing that helped mine. I just gave them a tiny pinch of it for a week.


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## Musa15 (Jul 9, 2021)

@rosietoby was this something you had to administer ongoing?


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## Dc1227 (Jul 18, 2018)

danielamv7 said:


> I have a beautiful Maltese. He has had tear stains ever since I went to pick him up at 2 months old. I decided to give him a chance because he was probably teething and stuff. Now he is almost 10 months old and his tear stains are out of control. I have tried everything: Spa tear stain cleaner, eye envy, contact solution, cleaning the eyes everyday for months, artero pretty eyes, even hydrogen peroxide (only did it for 2 days, I was very careful), I also changed his food, cut the chicken, gave him hypoallergenic royal canid food, metal and ceramic bowls, I've done everything.
> 
> His tear stains used not to smell but now they do, that area is always wet, he's continuously tearing.
> 
> ...


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## Dc1227 (Jul 18, 2018)

When we got our Maltese, the bleeder was adding cultured buttermilk powder to her food. We continued that and weve never had a tear stain issue. I give her tear stain chews every other day and comb her eyes because she does tend to get eye goop. Her bottled water and food are given to her in ceramic bowls, not stainless steel or metal. Maybe some of this advice helps. I know how annoying it can be when your beautifully white dog has those red stains.


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## Melitx (Apr 25, 2014)

Have you tried a probiotic? Ollie used to have very bad tear straining until I started sprinkling 1/2 a packet of this probiotic over his food once a day. I also feed him Stella and Chewy raw food and he only drinks Evian bottled water.








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## Kathy H (Mar 30, 2021)

Don't worry he is so cute. I had the same problem with Theo. Fed chicken free hi quality diet, filtered water only, washed his poor little face almost daily, ceramic bowls, you name it I tried it. Nothing was working. He still had those rusty tear stains. I gave him a vet approved eye tear stains chew. At seven months I was so beyond my beautiful Theo had ugly tear stains. Now I INSISTED my vet prescribe Tylan Powder and she did reluctantly. Gave 1/16 of a Teaspoon daily and guess what? The Tear stains stopped. Now he still has what I call wet eyes, but there is no more staining. I only had to give him the Tylan about 2 weeks before you could see his new hair was growing in pure white. There are reasons you wouldn't want to keep them on an antibiotic long term but perhaps you can persuade your vet and see if that gets rid of them? Best of luck! Kathy p.s. the groomer I originally used cut Theo's hair very short around his eyes. I know that is why he still has "wet eyes" it takes forever to grow out that hair, and it pokes until long enough to get it in topknot...


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## CottonCandy (Jun 23, 2020)

We struggled with our Candy's tear stains. Tried everything including bottled water. But the best thing that has worked for him so far is to have the surrounding of his eyes totally free of hair. Cut every hair that could get into his eyes short and the staining has reduced more than 80%. We are happy with this. Times when we can't groom him staining increases.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Two of my girls had tearing well over a year when they finally finished teething. At 10 months, he has to be teething still, so I wouldn’t worry. Your doing all the right things, so I’m sure they will clear up once all the adult teeth are in. Worse case scenario, come 11/2 years, if still tearing, you could have the tear ducts flushed if needed. It’s very inexpensive to do by the eye doc.
You mentioned the eyes smell now, which means he probably DOES have an infection which will need an RX by your vet. Tylosin is great to clear up infection but if it’s due to teething, It doesn’t help. At least for my girls it didn’t.
Patience and time is needed with tear staining. We have all been there. It never seems like it will ever go away, but I can assure you, your fluffs eyes will clear up.
Also, let’s not forget Tylosin may be an easy fix for cosmetic reasons but its not really healthy for the dog, which is why they removed it from Angel Eyes.


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## Eluard (Jul 24, 2021)

Kathy H said:


> Don't worry he is so cute. I had the same problem with Theo. Fed chicken free hi quality diet, filtered water only, washed his poor little face almost daily, ceramic bowls, you name it I tried it. Nothing was working. He still had those rusty tear stains. I gave him a vet approved eye tear stains chew. At seven months I was so beyond my beautiful Theo had ugly tear stains. Now I INSISTED my vet prescribe Tylan Powder and she did reluctantly. Gave 1/16 of a Teaspoon daily and guess what? The Tear stains stopped. Now he still has what I call wet eyes, but there is no more staining. I only had to give him the Tylan about 2 weeks before you could see his new hair was growing in pure white. There are reasons you wouldn't want to keep them on an antibiotic long term but perhaps you can persuade your vet and see if that gets rid of them? Best of luck! Kathy p.s. the groomer I originally used cut Theo's hair very short around his eyes. I know that is why he still has "wet eyes" it takes forever to grow out that hair, and it pokes until long enough to get it in topknot...





rosietoby said:


> Talk to your Vet about Tylan or Tylosin. It’s the only thing that helped mine. I just gave them a tiny pinch of it for a week.


Hello, I just joined Spolied Maltese and am concerned about tear stains on our 2 year old female Maltese, Lexie. We recently adopted her.I'm glad you found a solution for your Maltese. When you say you gave a tiny pinch of tylosin/tylan for about a week is that it. That is, for tear stains to clear up or be greatly reduced is one week enough or must it be given on a regular basis. We love our girl and are hoping to do all the right things. I know the group will be invaluable. Many thanks!


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## Kathy H (Mar 30, 2021)

Eluard said:


> Hello, I just joined Spolied Maltese and am concerned about tear stains on our 2 year old female Maltese, Lexie. We recently adopted her.I'm glad you found a solution for your Maltese. When you say you gave a tiny pinch of tylosin/tylan for about a week is that it. That is, for tear stains to clear up or be greatly reduced is one week enough or must it be given on a regular basis. We love our girl and are hoping to do all the right things. I know the group will be invaluable. Many thanks!


He had it for two weeks before I saw results.
I have started it up again now at one year because in transitioning to adult dog food he is getting some staining (very light) compared to before and I literally just began it this week. Will give fore two weeks again and let you know if it clears up again. Have continued bottled water and pea free food.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Eluard said:


> Hello, I just joined Spolied Maltese and am concerned about tear stains on our 2 year old female Maltese, Lexie. We recently adopted her.I'm glad you found a solution for your Maltese. When you say you gave a tiny pinch of tylosin/tylan for about a week is that it. That is, for tear stains to clear up or be greatly reduced is one week enough or must it be given on a regular basis. We love our girl and are hoping to do all the right things. I know the group will be invaluable. Many thanks!


Have you tried changing her food to something high quality first? Giving spring water etc. Tylosin should be giving at last resort only.
At 2 years old, it’s definitely not teething, so perhaps she has other dental issues? It could be the beginning of an immune disorder, , food, environmental allergies, so it’s best to address the cause and why it’s happening before starting your fluff on any RX medication.
What did your vet say?


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## danielamv7 (Feb 10, 2021)

danielamv7 said:


> I have a beautiful Maltese. He has had tear stains ever since I went to pick him up at 2 months old. I decided to give him a chance because he was probably teething and stuff. Now he is almost 10 months old and his tear stains are out of control. I have tried everything: Spa tear stain cleaner, eye envy, contact solution, cleaning the eyes everyday for months, artero pretty eyes, even hydrogen peroxide (only did it for 2 days, I was very careful), I also changed his food, cut the chicken, gave him hypoallergenic royal canid food, metal and ceramic bowls, I've done everything.
> 
> His tear stains used not to smell but now they do, that area is always wet, he's continuously tearing.
> 
> ...


Hey guys! Update:

I took him to an ophthalmologist, his tear ducts were clogged, they flushed them.
She prescribed some eye drops to keep the tears from being so heavy so it helps the ducts not to clog again, I hope it works because the vet told me they almost always get clogged again. it could be in as little of a week or in a couple of months.
I hope its the second one! lol.

wish us luck


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