My dog has seasonal eye gunk and crusting. What home remedies?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. I would recommend having a veterinarian examine the eyes to check for any trauma and to see if she has adequate tear production. Dry eye can cause crusting and discomfort and could lead to serious corneal damage if not addressed early on. If there is an eye infection, the veterinarian can prescribe antibiotic eye drops to help treat this as well. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hello, sorry to hear about Gracie. It could be indeed from her allergies, however, this could also be that she had tear staining in the area which we can see with longer hair breed dogs. If she is not scratching at the area now, you can clean it with a damp cotton ball and make sure you avoid cleaning her eyes directly. Look for any signs of sneezing, persistent eye or nasal discharge, squinting, or scratching at her face. If you note any of these then have her evaluated by your veterinarian then. Alternatively, these could be signs that her tear ducts are impacted with debris and may need to be flushed out. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Hi there and thank you for posting your question! Eye discharge can be caused from many things. Allergies, dry eye, eye trauma, infection, foreign material, etc. It sounds like the eyes have been improving, so this may have been more of an allergy or irritation than anything. If the discharge continues, I would have your vet take a look at Izzy to determine what the cause is. Your vet will likely stain the eye and do a tear test to determine if there is eye trauma or dry eye present. Dry eye would require a more specific treatment and won't improve with over the counter eye drops. If it is allergies, a great allergy eye drop you can safely use in dogs is called Zaditor (Ketotifen Fumarate). You can administer 1-2 drops in both eyes twice daily to see if that helps with the eye discharge. Again, if the eyes are not improving or worsening, then I would have Izzy seen by her vet. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions / concerns you may have. I am also available via consultation.

Depending on the breed and eye conformation, some dogs will have tears that spill over the inside corner of the eye instead of draining down the tear ducts as they should. If this has been a life-long problem for Ziggy, then it may be due to his body conformation. However, there are some skin complications that can come from the crusting on the fur and some treatments that can either improve the eye draining or help prevent skin problems from the fur crusting, so I do think it would be worth having your vet examine Ziggy Stardust to see if there is anything you can do about this situation. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

This will depend on the cause of the discharge. If Max has yellow or green discharge he likely has an eye infection or eye condition that needs to be treated by a veterinarian with medications suitable for infection or antiinflammatories, etc. If the "gunk" is just reddish tear stains, there really is no remedy that works 100 %. You cna try some 3% hydrogen peroxide on the stained hair if your dog is white. Otherwise just use a moist paper towel and regularly wipe it off as much and as gently as you can. When in doubt, have Max's eyes examined by your vet.

I recommend cleaning this daily with a hot warm cloth to remove the discharge. Then when you have the area clean apply a thin film of antibacterial ointment on the area below the eyes. That will help heal the skin and stop the discharge from sticking to the skin and fur. I would have Babygurl's eyes checked by your veterinarian. This looks like she has dry eyes, which is a decrease in normal tear production. With this condition the eye discharge is thick and sticky like this. There is medication for dry eyes which will increase the tear production. Dry eyes can be painful and she may irritate the corneas causing reduced vision without treatment, so please have her checked soon. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Babygurl.

Tito is a cute little guy! You can’t really pick at that or rub at it at all. You can use a plain, saline eye wash to flush that out as best you can. However, this amount of a film is a sign that your dog’s dry eye is not controlled. I would increase your eye lube to three times daily and use a brand like Genteal Gel Severe (or generic equivelent). Having your dog’s tear production rechecked would be a good idea. There are a few different options like Cyclosporine or Tacrolimus and some work better for different dogs.