Tear Stain?

I might tend to disagree with the antibiotic theory of not causing the tear staining. Some tear staining is due to candida yeast (red yeast). I personlly can attest to getting a yeast infection after being treated with an antibiotic. Antibiotics can eliminate the good bacteria as well as the harmful ones. These benefical bacteria help to keep things like yeast away. SO, if your babies tear stains were caused by this yeast, the antibiotic could have helped cause it.
There are many things that can cause the reddish/brown stains at the eyes, feet, or other areas. Saliva, yeast, irritation (at the eyes'), diet, etc.

I just bought Diamond Eye for my maltese who had really nasty looking tear stains and I couldnt stand it anymore. Besides, it had to have been bothering the poor dog! My mom used it on him for the first time and it looks good. His eyes look a lot healthier now.
 
I visited a maltese breeder/shower website and he said that if you trim the hair around the eyes it will only grow back worse. I`m having a hard time believing this and wanted to know what you think.

whats a tear stain?[sm=uhoh.gif]

myspace is danjorus,you could get in a bad promblum with sexpretadors!!!!BE CAREFUL!!!!

Eye stains are a pain [:@]
I've found that Red Yeast can be a problem after antibiotics but usually the problem is caused by the food or treats fed.
Fix the yeast overgrowth (yoghurt helps) and feed the best human grade natural food you can afford. The results may well surprise you.
Topical bleach type stain removers are OK for a quick fix but make the fur more porous and then it stains even easier.
Best

This is all interesting information. The last two times I had Abby groomed, I had them trim her short, and that included her face.  The comment about cutting the hair making it worst when it grows back I can now understand.
 
So, it seems the best thing to do, is leave the hair longer on the face, so it doesn't grow up and towards the eyes, so it must be trained to go down.  OK, yes I admit I have no clue on these little guys fur and grooming.[]
 
But I can see how the hair going into the eyes can cause problems. Abby gets tears and it hard to clean them away, I wash her face almost daily. And she is on a good brand of food, and she is on probonics.
 
Now, I will have to let her face fur grow out and see if that helps.

I've heard on show shih tzus, to make the hair near their eyes "lay down" they put a little vasaline on the hair. Don't ask me why, but I suppose because it's safe if it does accidently end up in the eye. That's what they put in the eyes when dogs have surgery so the eye doesn't dry up- sinc they can't blink.

I am guessing that your dog is an Eskimo?  I have a 2 year old Eskimo who, except at about 9 months, just before we changed his diet from puppy to adult food, started to have tear staining - lasted for about a week.  He had been eating Hill's Puppy food - which of course contains corn. I know many people don't care for corn to be in the dog's food - but my biggest concern with the Eskimo breed is that their tummies are extremely sensitive to corn - and we were all thinking digestive enzyme to cut down on output.  We did 2 things - we switched him to Fromm's Salmon A La Veg - Eskies do well on fish based foods - and I started giving him bottled water.  Toronto tap water is supposed to be potable with no problems, but like many Eskies, they can be stubborn and drink when they want.  I noticed that when I poured myself a glass of water he would kick his dish so I started pouring it in - a week later eyes were clear - and so far, not one single eye stain of any colour.  He weighs 23 lbs. and has the Teddy Bear face - don't know whether being a small standard helps - or the fuller face - or if it is the diet or water - but happy.  I can't use eye drops myself so I wouldn't want to try putting anything in his eyes.  Your pup is very cute.

My baby girl is actually a Pomeranian.  (hehe)  I don't give her kibbles no more, she eats home cooked food.  Some said that bottle water helps, I might try it.  So far none of the products I buy works and so I don't want to spend useless money on something that I barely use.  So what I do is wipe her eyes everyday.  Luckly her tear stain isn't as bad as some dogs that drips down all over their face.    Thanks for the tips everyone, even the funny tips as well!

I never knew that food could cause tear stains to be worse.  My Poodle gets awful tear stains, but I was worried that some of those stain "removers" would get in his eyes and sting, so I usually try and trim the stained hair.  Doesn't work real well though.
 
 

REallly? where do you get them? Is it healthy?

Ohh i tried Professional Pet Products - tear stain remover ...waste of $$$$[:'(]

#1 All systems Super Whitening Gel. Works Really good on my Cockers. I have even used it on Urine stains and it's Great!

My favorite whitening shampoo is Kelco Plum White (can be found at dog.com)
 
Angel's Glow is supposed to work well too:
[linkhttp://groomblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/angels-glow-conquering-tear-stains.html]http://groomblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/angels-glow-conquering-tear-stains.html[/link]

What I do is that I just wipe under my dogs eye everyday when i wake up in the morning before our walk I just wipe his face with a warm wet paper towel. Its just a daily thing that yiu have to do. Just boil some hot water dip a paper towel or cloth in there and swap where the stain is and it will be so small you will never have a big problem []