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Puppy's eye has white covering, watery, and rubbing. Is it serious?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Male | unneutered

I recently got a puppy from a friend who wasn’t really taking care of him. i was told he’s pretty much imbred. Well we thought he had a lazy eye but today his eye has seemed to gotten worse the corner of his eye has a lot more white covering it now it’s like a white covering not see through or anything just like covering it’s going farther over his eye also it’s watery and making him rub and shut his eye. He’s a lot more sleepy Also.. The 2 photo is from the other day it’s worse now

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on March 10th, 2018

This white covering you are seeing is likely Tyson's third eyelid, which is a normal part of a dog's anatomy but should only come out when his eyes are closed such as when he is sleeping. When you see it out while his eye is open, that is a sign of illness such as an eye infection or foreign body in the eye. Clearly his eye is bothering him if he is rubbing at it, and you need to put an Ecollar on him to keep him from doing that because he could make the problem worse. I will put a link below on how to make an Ecollar at home. Next step is get him into a vet asap. The eye is such a delicate and important structure that any problem with it should be considered an emergency. That's because leaving it untreated can lead to vision loss. The vet can diagnose what is causing his third eyelid to protrude and how best to treat it. Good luck, I hope this helps!

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1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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