Blocked Tear Duct

[Shelley]

Has anyone any experience of a dog with a blocked tear duct. My 5 month old puppy has one, she has had steroid eye drops, which have done nothing, and the vet said if they didn't work then he wanted to open the tear duct, which I don't like the idea of.

Her eye is fine, no infection at all.... It is just runny. I like to keep my dogs natural because I think (actually I know) it is healthier. So they have a raw meaty bone diet, no vaccinations, no chemical flea treatments and no wormers. The thought of the vet fiddling just because her eye is runny worries me. If it was continuously infected then fair enough.

Is it safe to just leave it as it is.... Or will this cause problems further down the line? And if the vet does go fiddling, will it actually work? Does anyone know?

[Shelley]

No one had any experience of a blocked tear duct?

[elaine.e]

William's right eye was almost continuously runny when he was a pup, mostly a watery looking fluid, but occasional infections too. The tear duct wasn't functioning properly and at 15 months old he had it flushed. There was an immediate improvement that lasted about a year then the problem started up again and he kept getting infections. A second flush procedure was carried out and helped, but not as much as the first time and the vet's conclusion was that the duct was either narrowed or scarred and would continue to cause problems. I used cold tea to bathe the eye and help keep it clean and moist but still battled against infections.

Since then William has been diagnosed with Dry Eye (Keratoconjunctivitis sicca) which is caused by destruction of the tear glands by the dog's own immune system, meaning he can't produce enough tears. His right eye is worse than the left but luckily he's doing very well with Optimmune ointment applied once a day. Dry Eye is a lifelong condition and if untreated the damage to the tear gland will worsen until it is destroyed. It can be painful and can lead to blindness. Cockers are one of the most susceptible breeds but I'm optimistic with William that it was diagnosed early enough and is monitored and treated well enough that he should be OK for many years, maybe for the rest of his life.

I can understand your desire to keep things natural for your puppy, and I'm not saying that she has dry eye, but I wanted to make you aware of the condition and suggest that you mention it to your vet. I think he's right to be concerned about her runny eye.

There are quite a few others on this forum with Cockers with dry eye and other eye problems so I expect some of them will come along and post too.

I hope with your puppy that it's something straightforward and easily treated, but please be aware that a seemingly harmless runny eye can be a symptom of something potentially more serious.

[Shelley]

Thanks for your reply.

I don't think it is dry eye, as one of my older Cockers had that. She was always squinting and having infections, in the end we had her eye removed because she seemed to have a continuous infection. Her eye was always sticky and mucky.  Melody's eye is different, she doesn't squint at all, the eye looks to be perfectly normal... Just very watery, no infection at all.

Someone told me to try cold tea, so I shall try that... And I think if that doesn't work I will try Colloidal Silver, I use it for everything else, just wasn't sure about it going in her eye!

I'm worried that a vet "clearing" the duct out could cause more problems. At the moment the only problem is the tear stained fur!

[grracee]

Charlie, my orange roan had this whilst he was a pup. I took him to the vets quite a few times as I was worried about it and eventually they told me not to worry as it's better to have a dog producing more tears than not enough. I then took him to another local vets for a second opinion and she said she thought that he would grow out of it. It's now a few months on and they are alot better. I also got told by the vet and the breeder charlie came from about the cold tea and I also got told to put a drop of vinegar in his drinking water (I never tried this as they were better when I was told).

Hope your puppy's eye's are better soon 

[lindseyp]

Hi Shelley,
I'm mum to Purdey (William's brother - elaine.e.) & she has dry eye too. She has been on steroid eye drops for some time (Maxitrol)  & these seem to work well for her condition. She has to visit the vet regularly to have them checked. Over the past 6 months or so the tear staining on her left eye has got progressively worse - I mentioned it to our vet during her check up this week - he feels, that although her eyes are the best they have been for some time, there could possibly be a blocked tear duct in the left eye causing tear overflow but wouldn't want to suddate her just for that reason alone but would check it out in the future, should she need an OP for another reason.
I bathe all my girls eyes with cold tea (no milk  )  when doing eye care 

Like Elaine says, I hope it turns out to be something innocent & easily sorted for your little pup but if you are concerned at all, then IMO it's always best to get an ophthalmologist referral, just to get an expert opinion - eye's are too precious to take chances with