angelamarie
Posted : 5/8/2006 8:02:01 AM
Hi Byrne,
Welcome to I dog and congratulations on your adoptions. Chi's do tend to have watery eyes, BUT, it sounds like this is a little bit more than a bit watery. First, you really need to have a vet check to make sure this isn't an eye infection or clogged tear duct or some other eye condition. If it is found that there is no infection, then to clean the eyes, take a soft washcloth and soak it in warm water and gently dab around the eyes, essentially soaking the crusty stuff so it will soften up and be wipeable.
I'm not familiar with the dog food you mentioned, but runny eyes can by caused by a food intolerance. It's best to start with a very simple food that has minimal ingredients, perhaps a simple lamb and rice formula to start with. Read the food label and you want as few ingredients as possible. If the list is something like: chicken, lamb, beef, carrots, potatoes, etc., etc., it's too complex. You want a label that looks like this: Lamb Meal, Ground Rice and then a bunch of vitamin additives. I have two white poodles, and runny eyes bring on terrible staining on their fur. One of my dogs does well on Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice Small Bites, the other can't tolerate it, she does fine on Innova canned and Innova kibble, which the first dog mentioned can't tolerate. You may have to experiment a bit to nail it down. My dog food store gives out sample bags of kibble, that really helped me in figuring out the food.
Make sure to post some pictures