I get a lot of dogs in with eye crust under their eyes.
Most of that eye crust is from the eyes draining.
On 90% of them I am able to soften the crust in the tub during the bath, and can pick all of the softened crust off.
One day I noticed that the eyes of a Maltese I was grooming were infected.
The Vet gave the owners medicine for the eyes.
I do not know what kind of medicine it was, but the stuff was like cement on the dogs hair and skin.
I think that the owners missed getting the medicine in the eyes most of the time.
For the last few months this little Maltese has been coming in with a major amount of cemented medicine a round her eyes.
Believe me, she did not want anyone fooling with her eyes.
A few times, I have had to send her home with some of the cemented medicine still stuck to her eyes.
The stuff was like a scab on her skin that would not soften or pull away enough to get under it, to cut it off.
The last time she was in, I spent 25 minutes letting her eyes soak in medicated shampoo, and trying to get her to trust me enough to fool with her eyes.
It took time for her to realize that I was not going to hurt her.
For the first time since they had been using this eye medicine, I was able to get her eyes 95% clear.
The Maltese's eyes have finally cleared up, but there was still a lot of cemented eye crust a round her eyes.
I have never seen eye crust like this.
It will not soften in the bath no matter how long you let it soak.
It clings to the skin like a tight scab.
Most of the crust that I could not get the last time had grown out with the hair.
Once again, I soaked the crust around the eyes with medicated shampoo.
She was much more excepting about me fooling with her eyes this time.
I let her face soak while I soaped up the rest of her.
I was able to lift most of the cement like crust up and away from her skin just enough to scissor.
I don't usually scissor around the eyes when the dog is in the tub and wet, but I have learned that this stuff, if it dries even a little, becomes rock hard again.
I still had to be very careful that the crust would not pull the skin up into my scissors as I was cutting.
Once I scissored all of the crust I could, safely, I let her face soak in medicated shampoo again.
This is her after the bath.
Once again, I got most of the crust.
She still has a few little pieces of the cement crust here and there around her eyes.
I will have to get that the next time, after her hair grows out more.
The owners are finished with the cement medicine, but now they have to put other drops in her eyes.
I have tried to show them how to work with her eyes several times, but they always say that she fights too much.
Hopefully the drops won't make such a mess of her eyes too.
Happy Grooming, MFF
I would not use medicated shampoo anywhere near my dog's eyes. When we were away on a trip my dog stayed in the Kennel. She had lots of fleas so they decided to give her a bath with flea shampoo the day I picked her up. That night she scratched her eyes so bad that she got a corneal ulcer. The flea shampoo was highly irritating and they got it in her eyes. We had 3 different eye drops to give her and she had to wear a collar because of this for weeks. We were using Frontline Plus which did nothing for the fleas. The vet recommended Comfortis pills - taken once a month. Funny because the insturctions say the fleas would start dying in 30 minutes and be gone in 4 hours. THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, my dog no longer has ANY fleas. VERY THANKFUL!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry about your experience with the kennel. Unfortunately, with some kennels, the people that bath the dogs are not professional groomers, but actually just kennel helpers. Sadly these people are not always taught safe bathing.
We have a Self-Serve dog wash in our shop, and it always shocks me when I see an owner rubbing shampoo all over their dogs face and eyes without even trying to keep the shampoo out of the eyes.
I have been grooming for 28 years and can honestly say that I have not had any problems with using any kind of shampoo around the eyes.
I am not saying that I haven't ever had a dog get shampoo in the eyes. It has accidentally happened. BUT, the eyes are quickly flushed well. This has always stop any further problems. I have even had dogs splash all kinds of shampoos into my eyes.
I was not there, but it is a possibility that the bather didn't even realize that shampoo had gotten into the eyes. Maybe, they also were not taught what to do if shampoo did get into the eyes, and that is sad. IF they did know, you should have been told immediately, so that your Vet could have given you drops to keep her from ever getting the ulcer.
When bathing a dog or a cat that has fleas, you MUST use the shampoo everywhere. Fleas will craw into a dogs ears and eyes to get away from the shampoo. A bather should constantly be aware of what is going on with the dog. If flea shampoo got into your dogs eyes, the eyes should have been flushed immediately.
I have been using Medicated shampoo on dogs faces for 28 years and I am VERY careful NOT to get it into the eyes.
Once again, I am very sorry that your dog had to experience an ulcer.
I am glad your Vet recommended Comfortis to you. I have been using it with my dogs for awhile now.
Lisa,MFF
Very well said and explained!!!
DeleteThank you :)
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