# Food & Eye stain???



## Mom2Mitzi (Jan 6, 2008)

I am SO confused and hoping you can help me. I was doing a web search on dog food and eye stains when I came across the dog food analysis site. Mitzi's vet has prescribed Royal Canin Dental dog food for her, but I see it gets a very poor review on the analysis site. Also, it contains wheat gluten and beet pulp which I am wondering..could it be a cause of tear stain? The foods that get the higher ratings seem to be higher in calories and protein. She is 2 years, 4 months old and weighs exactly 4#. The vet says she is at a perfect weight and that is where we need to keep her. I want to give her the best food possible, but so many choices...I just don't know what to do! If I talk to the vet about this, she will recommend we stay on the RC because she says Maltese are prone to getting bad teeth, although Mitzi has no problem with her teeth right now. Also, she does not think eye staining is a problem. Mitzi does not have bad staining, but she is "pink" between her eyes and a little under them. When I look at the pictuers of your beautiful babies, I don't see tear stains so I am wondering what you feed them? Can anyone PLEASE help me?????
Thank you!


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## ddsumm (Jan 26, 2006)

QUOTE (Mom2Mitzi @ Nov 22 2008, 06:32 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=675548


> I am SO confused and hoping you can help me. I was doing a web search on dog food and eye stains when I came across the dog food analysis site. Mitzi's vet has prescribed Royal Canin Dental dog food for her, but I see it gets a very poor review on the analysis site. Also, it contains wheat gluten and beet pulp which I am wondering..could it be a cause of tear stain? The foods that get the higher ratings seem to be higher in calories and protein. She is 2 years, 4 months old and weighs exactly 4#. The vet says she is at a perfect weight and that is where we need to keep her. I want to give her the best food possible, but so many choices...I just don't know what to do! If I talk to the vet about this, she will recommend we stay on the RC because she says Maltese are prone to getting bad teeth, although Mitzi has no problem with her teeth right now. Also, she does not think eye staining is a problem. Mitzi does not have bad staining, but she is "pink" between her eyes and a little under them. When I look at the pictuers of your beautiful babies, I don't see tear stains so I am wondering what you feed them? Can anyone PLEASE help me?????
> Thank you![/B]


*First hi and welcome to SM. You have joined a great forum. You will get much expert advice here.

I am NOT an expert or breeder BUT I have been told that staining is caused because they are teething. Not because of food.

You will see most babies here have grown out of it. So I guess they may be something in this.

Maybe one of the breeders or Dr Jaimie can tell you if this is true or not.

Please this is only what I have heard. 

My other baby Chloe never had staining at all!!! 

I do not feed tin food though. I home cook. Steamed chicken; rice or pasta and some veggies. 

But Katie my new baby is eating science diet biscuits and some steamed chicken breast and rice.

You can help by using those tear wipes each morning to help.

Just my opnion like I said.

Hugs and tail wags


Dede and baby Katie from 'under down under' and precious memories of the little sausage


*


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

Beet pulp has been thought to contribute to tear staining, so if you can, I would stay away from a food that has that (which is easy to do in high-quality foods).

Royal Canin really is just a glorified version of Science Diet (in my opinion) and honestly, I would switch. If Mitzi doesn't have any signs of declining dental health, there is no reason to have her on a dental food.

Because of the higher protein content in the 6 star foods, I would select one of the foods from the 4-star or 5-star list. You will most likely have to try more than one to find the right one for Mitzi. I'm getting ready to try Natural Balance Potato & Duck for London, and she is currently on Solid Gold Hundchen Flocken Puppy (lamb). Some Maltese do better than others on certain foods. Mitzi could be allergic to something in her current food (like chicken even), or she could have allergies similar to human allergies (from dust, etc).

You can do a 10-day course of Tylan powder (which you can get from a feed store or from your vet) and see if that clears up her staining.


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

Both of mine had tear stains a while ago. I used Angels Glow for Sophie and after only using it for about ten days the new hair starting growing out whiter and we haven't had a problem since. Annie was put on so many antibiotics after she came to us suffering with demodectic mange and bacterial infections and what little hair she had was a rusty orange color. As her new hair started growing in it was white which I contribute to the antibiotics. 

I also think that in addition to the staining being caused by a yeast infection that their food can also contribute to staining. Mine both eat Natural Balance Duck and Potato and sometimes a little Wellness sweet potato and venison wet food. They do well on both. 

Welcome to SM!! I would love to see some pics of Mitzi. 

Linda


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

I think depending on the situtation and/or dog, food can be a factor in staining. I switched to Prairie Nature's Variety from Solid Gold because of some itching/dermatology issues and as a bonus, I found the tear staining much better on the new food. I do have staining but it's pretty minimal and something I can live with. 

I tried Royal Canin and while my crew liked it, i kept feeling like i wasn't feeding them the best thing out there.


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## mom2bijou (Oct 19, 2006)

I found the beet pulp definitley caused staining. I had Ben and Emma on Life's Abundance for awhile and the stains were present. I have had mine on Artemis now for a few months and give them Activia plain yogurt everyday and I finally have no stains! It's all trial and error


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