# beet pulp and tear stains?



## fach

Well, our Dixie will be one on the 25th and she still has bad tear stains. I feed nutro Chicken and oatmeal dry and Nat. recipe canned. The nutro has beet pulp. Should I switch to another brand of food? Do we really think the beet pulp is an issue? She has been chewing on her feet lately so i think a food switch is in order anyway. If the beet pulp is not a issue i can just go w/ lamb and rice nutro. Opinions please


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## k/c mom

Well, I can find no definitive answer about beet pulp. I Googled "beet pulp tear stains" and got tons of articles. Some said that the beets used in dog food are sugar beets and that they are white, not red. Then other articles said that food with beet pulp would stain their mouths and cause red tear stains!! 

I don't know which source to believe!


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## fach

> Well, I can find no definitive answer about beet pulp. I Googled "beet pulp tear stains" and got tons of articles. Some said that the beets used in dog food are sugar beets and that they are white, not red. Then other articles said that food with beet pulp would stain their mouths and cause red tear stains!!
> 
> I don't know which source to believe![/B]


Hmmm, I wonder where the thought that it stained came from? I love beets and the only problem I have ever experienced after eating them was red ........ never mind







Anyone who eats beets knows what I mean


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## dr.jaimie

i personally dont think it has n e thing to do with stains..if she is just turning one, i'm sure part of her staining problem was from teething, and another part from allergies, and prob other reasons too. If that was the answer to tear stains....there wouldnt be so many dogs with them. Most tear stains are from the dogs conformation. Maltese are bred for their cute little round eyes. with this comes problems...the tear ducts sometimes become too narrow, or do not lay properly on the eye to collect the tears, so they go the pathway of least resistance which is down the face. if you are lucky its just a teething problem. for some reason my Parker just stopped staining at 2 yrs of age...i can't figure for the life of me why..i bet if i did, i would be rich.

as far as the feet chewing..changing to a lamb and rice food might not be the answer...dogs are becoming allergic to lamb also b/c it is too common in food. I would rec. a food with a foreign protein and carb like duck and potato, venison/potato, or rabbit/potato. my favorite is rabbit/potato by IVD (which is now bought by royal canin) it is a very tasty food. but even if u switch...if u give treats that contain what ur pup is allergic to, then they will still continue to have a problem. now matter how tiny that morsel is.


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## Cosy

I think ingredients have less to do with coloring and more to do with food allergies when it comes to tear staining. Why not try a food with less ingredients. I feed Natural Balance Venison. All of my dogs seem to do well on it. There are others similar. Your baby may need a round of an antibiotic to stop the staining and get on the right track.


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## fach

Thanks for the opinions. I think I'll go with a different food to deal with the allergies and see how things pan out. maybe over time her stains will improve. Thanks everyone!

Should I schedule with a canine opthimoligist? Sorry can't spell correctly today


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## dr.jaimie

whether u see an ophthalmologist is up to u...it depends on how bad the stains bother u..them being there doesnt harm anything. but if u want to do all possible to make them go away then make an appointment.


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## Chelsey

For chelsey I don't know if it was the food or the spay or the flushing her tear ducts.... that cause the staining... 
She did have staining before but it was so mild i could just wipe of with a damp cloth... but after her spay her eys were runing a red river... it really looked bad not dark red liek others I have seen it was a mild blush red. The vet also flush her tear ducts when she was spayed and said they were blocked . they also gave her eye medication and that did not work... I also got her eye drops and used tha for a few months that seemed to help a lot.

Also she had this purple stich under neith were they removed the stich for her spay.
Right now chelsey has no tear stains.. it back to very very minium and can just be wiped off. A year later she is back to normal thank goodness ... 
we did change her food the same time she got spayed and it did have beets in it. All I can say is what ever it was I'm glad it's gone..


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## fach

> For chelsey I don't know if it was the food or the spay or the flushing her tear ducts.... that cause the staining...
> She did have staining before but it was so mild i could just wipe of with a damp cloth... but after her spay her eys were runing a red river... it really looked bad not dark red liek others I have seen it was a mild blush red. The vet also flush her tear ducts when she was spayed and said they were blocked . they also gave her eye medication and that did not work... I also got her eye drops and used tha for a few months that seemed to help a lot.
> 
> Also she had this purple stich under neith were they removed the stich for her spay.
> Right now chelsey has no tear stains.. it back to very very minium and can just be wiped off. A year later she is back to normal thank goodness ...
> we did change her food the same time she got spayed and it did have beets in it. All I can say is what ever it was I'm glad it's gone..[/B]


I'm happy to hear you have no problems with the staining. Hopefully i will find the correct balance for our little one too.


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## Chelsey

> index.php?act=findpost&pid=164275
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> 
> For chelsey I don't know if it was the food or the spay or the flushing her tear ducts.... that cause the staining...
> She did have staining before but it was so mild i could just wipe of with a damp cloth... but after her spay her eys were runing a red river... it really looked bad not dark red liek others I have seen it was a mild blush red. The vet also flush her tear ducts when she was spayed and said they were blocked . they also gave her eye medication and that did not work... I also got her eye drops and used tha for a few months that seemed to help a lot.
> 
> Also she had this purple stich under neith were they removed the stich for her spay.
> Right now chelsey has no tear stains.. it back to very very minium and can just be wiped off. A year later she is back to normal thank goodness ...
> we did change her food the same time she got spayed and it did have beets in it. All I can say is what ever it was I'm glad it's gone..[/B]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm happy to hear you have no problems with the staining. Hopefully i will find the correct balance for our little one too.
> [/B]
Click to expand...

I hope so too.

I'm just praying it was not an allergy , but I won't find out until summer i guess right now she is fine... and this was the time last year when it got really bad... Hopfully your puppy will grow out of it .


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## MissMelanie

> Well, I can find no definitive answer about beet pulp. I Googled "beet pulp tear stains" and got tons of articles. Some said that the beets used in dog food are sugar beets and that they are white, not red. Then other articles said that food with beet pulp would stain their mouths and cause red tear stains!!
> 
> I don't know which source to believe![/B]


I have read the very same debates... I have also run into Maltese breeders and had them comment to me, "you must be feeding your dog something with beet pulp in it"... well, that was way over a year ago but, I sure did see a change when we took Sir Micro off the food with the beet pulp, so I would say it CAN have an effect.

enJOY!
Melanie


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