My 6-year-old dog has dark circles under her eyes. What's wrong?

Poor Maggie! Red eyes can occur for a variety of conditions, including corneal ulcers, anterior uveitis, blood clotting disorders, infectious conjunctivitis, among others. Eyes are delicate structures and can progress rapidly, so I recommend taking Maggie to her vet fairly urgently for evaluation to get to the bottom of things. Until you can get to the vet, put an e-collar (cone) on Maggie to prevent her from rubbing or scratching her eye, as this can make matters worse. I hope that she feels better soon!

This is generally speaking related to excessive eye discharge as the fatty component of tears is the one that stains the most. Excessive discharge can be caused by a variety of causes, being eyelid and conjunctival inflammations and infections the most common ones. A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Antibiotic eye drops may be needed. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

I recommend to get Cookie checked out by the veterinarian. A sudden change in pigment can indicate something like allergies, skin mites or hormonal changes related to hypothyroidism or Cushing’s disease. The doctor may get some clues of the physical exam and diagnostics can be run to tell you what is happening with Cookie. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hello and thank you for using Pet Coach to address your concern. What I see in the picture looks to be what we call Chemosis, or swelling of the eyelid conjunctiva. Causes of chemosis would include bacterial or viral keratitis, foreign object under the third eyelid, trauma, orbital cellulitis or a tumor of the eye. I would recommend having Maggie examined by a veterinarian. More testing needs to be done. A topical anesthetic applied to the eye will help facilitate a more accurate eye examination. A veterinary ophthalmologist may also be someone that needs to look at this further as they typically have more diagnostic equipment than a general practitioner. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

It is possible but not likely. It can be local irritation or infection from a small wound or it may be a small growth that is causing irritation. Place an e-collar (cone) on her if she is scratching or rubbing. This may be enough to allow healing. If not, have Maggie examined by your veterinarian to diagnose infection or injury.

Considering only the ocular signs, that is likely to be due to a mild to moderate conjunctivitis, probably secondary to a trauma or infection. A check up would be needed as appropriate treatment would include antibiotics and anti-inflammatory eye drops. Corneal injuries must be ruled out as well. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Maggie is very ill and needs to see a veterinarian right away. The yellow color could be because she has liver disease or she has a red blood cell disorder going on. She needs to have bloodwork and xrays done as soon as possible to figure out what is wrong and help her to feel better.