Do you know if Vaseline with boric acid in a 10/1 solution is good for tear
stains? I have always read to keep the wrinkles dry, Vaseline doesn’t seem
like the best thing to keep bacteria at bay, but then again the eyes are
always wet with drainage when there are tear stains anyhow. A breeder told
us about this for our dog. What is your opinion?

—answer—

Tear stains are a natural occurrence caused by trace minerals in the liquid
of the tears, primarily copper. The copper stains the hairs.

I have always thought the best solution was to treat the
cause of the tears.

If your bulldog has any of the bulldog eyelash problems, I would recommend
they be taken care of by an ophthalmologist vet.

If the tearing is caused by allergies, that’s a bit more difficult to remedy.

I have heard of various tear stain remedies ranging from hydrogen
peroxide (which I wouldn’t do) to rolaids.

Here’s some suggestions from one of the bulldog groups:

tear stain remedies:

Dermalone Ointment (Panalog) for tear stains also under the
nose roll. Works great.

—–

use a chewable supplement made by legacy for life called companion. It
works great. really brightens and whitens.
—-

dealing with tear stains is different with every dog. I think
food is probably the biggest culprit. In my experience, my bullies
have had fewer tear stains with food that do not contain any copper,
and if they contain beet or beet pulp, it is way down on the
ingredient list. Of course, daily wiping on the face is a big help…I
try and stay away from using chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide
around the eye..I think it irritates the eye and may cause more
tearing, thus more staining…

I have one dog that it doesn’t matter what she eats..she will have
tear stains, however, given one plain Rolaids (not the flavored ones)
with her food daily eliminated her tear stains totally. (we only gave
them when she was showing)

I have two dogs that changing their food to one with no copper/no
beets cleared theirs up in a matter of about a month. Keep in mind,
they need to loose the stained hair under the eye…you can speed this
up by trimming the hair down and letting new hair grow back..(as a
foot note–these 2 are related to each other–hummmm)

I have one that neither of the above worked, however, someone
suggested benedryl, so she got a benedryl every 3rd day (when she was
showing) and it cleared up the stains..(and this one is not related to
the other 3)…

—-

Our dogs only get distilled or filtered water(PUR waterfilter) .
We were told the minerals in well water would cause them, thus
no spring water either….

We also use tetracycline when showing regularly. I’ve been told
the beet pulp is the main culprit in food and makes sense when
you compare the color of tearstains to beets.

I have not heard of the boric acid, but it sounds like it could really irritate
Biggie’s eyes worse, and I don’t think Vaseline would help either.

One thing is certain. If you can remove the source of irritation, whether it
is from eyelashes gone astray or from allergies, there will be no more tears
and then the stains will go away.

In my opinion it is not normal for a bulldog to have these stains. You need
to figure out why his eyes are running and then treat that. Otherwise you
are just covering up the cause with cosmetic measures.

You can read more about bulldog eyes in my book The Healthy Bulldog

Comments(1)

This may be a controversial post because I have
definite opinions about casual Bulldog breeding.
Many bulldog owners think their dog is so cute, they
should breed them.

Breeding Bulldogs is a complicated, expensive, and
labor intensive process that I recommend only to
experienced breeders.

I ran across a case study of one such pregnancy at
Alameda East Veterinary Hospital. Many of you may
be familiar with this hospital because it is featured
on Emergency Vets on the Animal Planet.

Anyway, I know Dr Kevin Fitzgerald and Dr Messinger,
they were two of Vivy’s many vets.  And Alameda East
is a class A facility.

This story illustrated the problems you can run into
when you breed your bulldog. And the importance
of having great vets available when you need them.

Read the cast study here:
http://www.aevh.com/ShowCaseStudy.asp?CaseStudyId=44

Anyway, I don’t want to offend anyone who wants to
breed their Bulldog. I just think in most cases
it is definitely not profitable and
it’s better left to the experts.

Your Bulldog Pal,
Jan

Comments(0)

Jan,

thanks so much for the email, and I look forward to your course reading.
Magnum is a good little pup; 3 months 25lbs; our only issue is potty
training, he still goes in the house and the kennel, but I think it’s
just youth.

Your thoughts?

Nate

—–answer—-

Hi Nate,

It is his youth, but there are some things you can do to help.
A puppy wants your praise and attention more than anything else.
He goes in the house because he thinks that’s the place to go.

What you need to do is take him outside often and when he
does his thing, praise him highly and use a word like “quick quick”
every time he goes.

Never get mad at him if he goes in the house. If you catch him
about to pee, pick him up and rush him outside and then praise
him when he goes.

Eventually he will learn that it feels good to go potty outside (remember
he loves lots of praise) and he’ll associate the words “quick quick”
with going potty and will be stimulated to do it when you say the
words.

If you are still having problems, perhaps with an bit older dog,
you can take him outside and then keep her moving around until
she pees - don’t let her back inside until he pees. When he does pee,
give him a treat and lots of praise. He’ll get the idea and be proud
to pee outside.

For more training information, take a look at this 7 day puppy potty
training  course.

Your Bulldog Pal,

Jan

Comments(0)