My puppy still has eye boogers after antibiotics. Should I worry?

Hello and thank you for your questions about Rouge. If the discharge is yellow or green, this often indicates an eye infection. In general, if the discharge continues for longer than 3 days, if she is squinting, if she is pawing or rubbing at the eye or if the eye is very red, she should go to the veterinarian. If the discharge is white, opaque or greyish, it could indicate allergies. You may try a trial of over the counter antihistamine like Benedryl or Zyrtec. Don't use any type of eye drop for allergies for humans in dogs (these often burn) but you can use an artificial tear (like Genteal) 3 times a day to see if it helps. If there is not a change after 7 days, I also recommend to have Rouge examined as she may need testing of her tear glands and maybe stronger medication. Continue to gently clean around the eyes. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Dogs will very commonly get mild infections in their eyes which also involves the tissues around the eyes. As you have found, sometimes you can resolve it by flushing the tissues frequently, but sometimes we need to give them topical medication with an antibiotic and/or a steroid to decrease inflammation. If Dude is squinting, keeping his eye shut, or rubbing at his eye, it should be evaluated ASAP. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and Dude's eye heals quickly. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Dogs can get eye infections, allergies that lead to infections, scratches on the cornea and dry eye. These will all lead to increased eye discharge. Maverick’s discharge looks slightly green from the photos and this is generally indicative of an infection. If the green discharge lasts longer than 24hours, he seems uncomfortable, he is rubbing at the eye or he is squinting, he needs to see the veterinarian. I hope he starts feeling better quickly and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Without knowing what the medication that was used and not knowing what the diagnosis was from your previous vet, it is difficult to guide you in the right direction. However, if the eyes were treated with an antibiotic and cleared up but are still accumulating thick material, I would recheck with the veterinarian and have the eyes checked for dry eye to see if this is the primary problem. Life long medication is needed if the eyes are diagnosed with dry eye. I hope this helps! Optixcare is an eye ointment that is over the counter that can help with dry eye so if you are unable to get to your vet, you can start with this ointment to see if it makes a difference. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Oakley. No, it is not normal for an eye infection to continue for so long in a puppy. I would recommend he has eye tests done or repeated as his condition is not resolving. I typically stain both eyes to look for a scratch on the surface, take a swab to look at under the microscope, and then measure the pressure and tear production in each eye. Care should also be taken to see if there is an eyelash contacting the surface of his causing chronic irritation. His eyes can also be numbed and checked for a foreign body under the third eyelids. I hope this information helps!

I agree that her eye does not appear irritated. From the photo, that does not appear green, it looks grayish to me. You may watch it for a few more days. You could use saline and gently flush the eye. If the discoloration continues, have her examined by the veterinarian. I hope this helps.

Dry eye can result in the discharge in the picture you posted and can require more than just Artificial Tears to treat. (That would be more common than an allergy problem especially since only one eye is affected.) I am attaching a handout with more information about dry eye below. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951823 I would recommend contacting your veterinarian to let them know that the discharge has not resolved with the antibiotic and steroid ointment and ask them if they think a cyclosporin eye medication would be appropriate to try. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.