# Question about food and tear staining



## jen_hedz (Mar 5, 2008)

I switched ellie and angelo over to NB duck and potato about 3 months ago and angelo does great on it, no tear stains and firm poo. Ellie also has firm poo and seems to do really well on this food other than the tear staining she has since she started this food. Is it possible that this food doesn't totally agree with her and that's why she's staining again? I guess I had thought that if the staining was due to the food they would have other symptoms as well as far as the food not agreeing with them. I also ruled out any other possible allergies because nothing else has changed, nothing new in the house, no new treats, everything is as it was before switching foods. TIA!!!


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## cloey70 (Jan 6, 2008)

It could be airborne allergies, and usually food is not the culprit, sometimes we never know why they stain. Trust me on this one.


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## Nikki's Mom (Feb 13, 2008)

It's a frustrating problem. I home cook for Nikki. I use all organic food. I give her probiotics, filtered water, and I have two heavy duty air cleaners in the apartment. She still tear stains badly. I wash her face every day with Spa Facial scrub. I plan to take her to an opthamologist as soon as I can afford it.


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## biancasmom (Jun 24, 2008)

i dont mean to hijack your thread but i too have a question and didnt want to start another thread with similar questions in it.

My bianca has bad tear staining. I am hoping it was just a teething face and she will grow out of it.. however Ive been feeding her nutro natural for puppies and i read that it has beet juice in it. Someone told me that the beet juice can cause bad tear staining.

Ive read the forums and the websites that talks about what food is good, etc. 

What I would like to know is: Has anyone had a problem with tear staining.. switched foods and now its better? if so what food did you switch to?

janie


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## jen_hedz (Mar 5, 2008)

I don't think I would even think twice about it if ellie had always had a problem with tear staining untill she was atleast a year old but she has never stained much even when teething. I have always washed her face daily and it has helped a lot but now since on the NB duck and potato I can never get the hair from the corner of her eyes white or even to lighten up much. This is what leads me to believe that it's the food. It seems too coincidental that her staining started shortly after she started on this food. I hate to switch foods again, ehh all the research gives me a headache!!


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## tamizami (May 1, 2007)

I don't think this is the cause in all cases, but this was our experience:

Stuart had quite a bit of staining. For other reasons in January, our nutritionist had me switch to a strict diet of just white fish, sweet potato and white potato (we use Pinnacle Trout and Sweet Potato or home cooked). In June hubby and I were out to dinner one night, I had broiled chicken left over and started to add a little to each meal as an extra treat. Within 3 days I noticed that Stuart's face was getting super wet again. So I stopped giving him any chicken. I also don't even consider duck or turkey for him. No more wet face. No more staining.

I'm now experimenting with a little cooked beef added as a treat and he hasn't started tearing after 3 days of it, so I assume he is not allergic. 

I'm convinced that allergies to chicken are more common than most people realize. My vet says that beef is also a high allergen, along with wheat and corn. The only way to test for food allergies is to put the dog on a very strict diet of only 1 novel protein source and 1 or 2 vegetables for at least 6 weeks. Then slowly add a new protein over a few days and check the results.

Hope this helps a little, I know how frustrating the tear stains can be.


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## Yummy (Sep 5, 2008)

I wonder if sometimes the allergy to meats ie: "chicken" is not the chicken itself but all the hormones and antibiotics they put in the chicken.

If anyone would like to try chicken that doesn't have hormones/antibiotics I know Sams Club carries it. Also, if your interested, (since some Maltese enjoy sitting at a outdoor cafe  ) that Panera does not have hormones/antibiotics in their chicken either. 

Hope this helps!


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## Missy&Maggie (Jun 17, 2007)

QUOTE (Yummy @ Oct 20 2008, 04:44 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=654420


> I wonder if sometimes the allergy to meats ie: "chicken" is not the chicken itself but all the hormones and antibiotics they put in the chicken.
> 
> If anyone would like to try chicken that doesn't have hormones/antibiotics I know Sams Club carries it. Also, if your interested, (since some Maltese enjoy sitting at a outdoor cafe  ) that Panera does not have hormones/antibiotics in their chicken either.
> 
> Hope this helps![/B]


That's good to know. We love to take the girls and sit outside at Panera!!!  

It could be the food that is causing Ellie to tear stain or it could be something in bloom. I feel like there is so much that contributes to staining. I agree with Tami, if you suspect it is the food put Ellie on a strict diet and see what happens. Good luck.


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## tamizami (May 1, 2007)

QUOTE (Yummy @ Oct 20 2008, 01:44 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=654420


> I wonder if sometimes the allergy to meats ie: "chicken" is not the chicken itself but all the hormones and antibiotics they put in the chicken.
> 
> If anyone would like to try chicken that doesn't have hormones/antibiotics I know Sams Club carries it. Also, if your interested, (since some Maltese enjoy sitting at a outdoor cafe  ) that Panera does not have hormones/antibiotics in their chicken either.
> 
> Hope this helps![/B]


I fed organic chicken.


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

i read this too it is beet pulp but someone sent a pic of beet pulp and it is white  it is more red dyes in food that you want to stay away from. Tear staining can be due to genetics and tear ducts being clogged in many cases but probiotics, distilled water and cleaning eyes daily can help alot 




QUOTE (biancasmom @ Oct 20 2008, 12:49 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=654286


> i dont mean to hijack your thread but i too have a question and didnt want to start another thread with similar questions in it.
> 
> My bianca has bad tear staining. I am hoping it was just a teething face and she will grow out of it.. however Ive been feeding her nutro natural for puppies and i read that it has beet juice in it. Someone told me that the beet juice can cause bad tear staining.
> 
> ...


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

costco carries the organic chicken too - that is where i buy it 


If anyone would like to try chicken that doesn't have hormones/antibiotics I know Sams Club carries it. Also, if your interested, (since some Maltese enjoy sitting at a outdoor cafe  ) that Panera does not have hormones/antibiotics in their chicken either. 

Hope this helps!
[/QUOTE]


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

Allergies are to proteins, pollens and flea saliva -- so it is the protein which is the chicken that the allergy is too not the hormones or antibiotics but those are not good for them as they are such small dogs so you want to go organic with them if you can



I wonder if sometimes the allergy to meats ie: "chicken" is not the chicken itself but all the hormones and antibiotics they put in the chicken.


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

i read on a maltese groups which i thought was interesting that white dogs tend to be allergic to chicken - my demi does not have allergies but my dd has horrible allergies so to rule out food allergy you have to do one carb and one protein - novel - one they have never eaten before. beef and chicken, corn, wheat and soy tend to be the highest allergic for many dogs and most commonly eaten. The trial should be 12 weeks with no other food. My dd had eaten too many proteins so hers was pinto beans and potato  Only 10% of the time is it food allergy though -90% of time it is enviromnental which is very frustrating 



I'm convinced that allergies to chicken are more common than most people realize. My vet says that beef is also a high allergen, along with wheat and corn. The only way to test for food allergies is to put the dog on a very strict diet of only 1 novel protein source and 1 or 2 vegetables for at least 6 weeks. Then slowly add a new protein over a few days and check the results.

Hope this helps a little, I know how frustrating the tear stains can be.
[/QUOTE]


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## I found nemo (Feb 23, 2006)

Nemo never stained until he was on Nutro Lamb, once I switched to Natural Balance the stains disappeared!
I really feel it was the Beet Pulp..


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## 2maltese4me (May 8, 2006)

QUOTE (cloey70 @ Oct 20 2008, 10:27 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=654230


> and usually food is not the culprit,[/B]


In the nicest possible manor, I disagree with this!

Food can absolutely be the culprit of tear stains. Per a few vets I have spoken with about this....apparently tear stains (aka yeast) is a sure sign of a food allergy. And in all three of my dogs case, this was true. As soon as we moved to grain free (apparently they were allergic to grains) all three cleared up quickly and now have very white faces!!!!  

While tear stains absolutely can be caused by something other than food, do not discount the food. 

Good luck finding the culprit, OP.


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## jen_hedz (Mar 5, 2008)

Well Ellie has been on chicken based food before and did well although she did her best on lamb and rice so that's what we will be switching back to. I think for ellie the culprit is the potato. I did see online that california naturals makes a small bite in the lamb and rice so I'm going to check into that.


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

this is true about food and yeast as dogs that have ear infections over and over should stay away from grain based foods as ear infections can be tied to food allergy. Sugars i believe are what yeast and bacteria live on in the body and that can be tied to the grain diets. It is so tough with allergies though as i have been reading on that for 4 years since I have a severely allergic yorkie  My boy is food intolerance of potato as white potato is inflammatory unlike sweet potato. So tough to figure all this out -- just eliminate one thing at a time for two weeks and see where it goes from there but doing too much at once can confuse where the real culprit is


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## allheart (Oct 3, 2008)

I am slowly introducing Blue food to baby Nina and combining it, what they were feeding her, before I got her. I also gave her little pieces of the Blue health bars, which she loved, and her slight staining seems to have stopped all together. I also get a very soft cloth, and several times a day, just dry her face. I don't re-wet it, as I think, having it wet in the first place from tearing, is the start of the staining. 

I never was overly concerned about the staining, as my sweet past three malts did have some, but it was not exsessive, and I would just dry their little face. As long as it was not a health problem,
I just continued to dry their little faces, with a very soft cloth, and it always seem to help.


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## totobingo (Oct 25, 2008)

we took one long year to clear toto's tear stains ... he is not perfect yet. but def much much better ...  


before








after


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## jen_hedz (Mar 5, 2008)

Well it's been 7 days since we switched over to california naturals lamb and rice and Ellie already has much firmer poo and the 
hair in the corners of her eyes is coming in white, her eye area stays dry on it's own now. I wash they eye area twice a day
and the staining that she did have is much lighter. I guess that I was right about it being the food that she was on.


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