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Why does my senior dog have green eye goop that won't clear up?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Male | neutered | 15 years and 6 months old | 16 lbs

Maverick is a 15 year old laso ops he is blind and diabetic. He has has some goop in his left eye greenish that he rubs atfor month and was prescribed a steroid/antibiotic cream for it but it jasnt cleared up. He use to get allergy shots, could this be allergies not an infection?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on July 10th, 2018

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Based on the pictures and your description, I suspect that Maverick is dealing with a condition known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye). This is a condition that will not improve unless treated with eye medication such as Tacrolimus or Optimmune. This condition is localized destruction of the tear gland from the immune system and these eye medications suppress the immune system at the level of the eye to help try and stimulate tear production. I would recommend having the veterinarian recheck Maverick's eyes and perform what is called a Schirmer Tear Test to assess the tear production. If the eyes are below 21mm on the tear test, this is indicative of dry eye and needs to be treated appropriately. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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