# blocked tear duct



## Rylee (Oct 21, 2011)

My puppy has been to the vets because of discharge from his eyes, they have said his tear duct is blocked and this needs an anesthetic so they can flush the tear duct.

Does anyone have any experience of this?

Im a bit worried about him having an anesthetic at his age and also concerned that it may get blocked again. Has anyones dog had the tear duct flushed, did it cure the problem? Or did it come back?

They did want to neuter him at the same time but he is only 16 weeks so there is no way i'm doing that.


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## DirtyGertie (Mar 12, 2011)

How have they come to the conclusion that he has a blocked tear duct? Did they do a Fluorescein test? Is it red stains? Is it both eyes?

Just asking because I believe you have a Westie. I have a Bichon. White dogs do often have red stains around their eyes which is usually tear stains.

My dog had really bad tear stains when she was a puppy, as did her sister (my son's dog) and also his present puppy. The tear stains can become worse when pup is teething and sometimes clears up afterwards. My son's dog is totally clear of tear stains now at 4 years old. My dog still has them but not as much as she used to but I do wipe around the under eye area every day with Optrex Multi Action Eye Wash which helps keep them down.

When she was spayed at 10 months, I asked the vet to check her tear ducts and she did the Fluorescein test whilst she was under anaesthetic. Her ducts were not blocked. She's just a teary dog, as some are.

Environmental factors can play a part in tear stains too.

Obviously if they're not red stains then you can ignore everything I've said .

Well done on resisting the neutering at such a young age.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Rylee said:


> My puppy has been to the vets because of discharge from his eyes, they have said his tear duct is blocked and this needs an anesthetic so they can flush the tear duct.
> 
> Does anyone have any experience of this?
> 
> ...


Usually a good indication although not totally 100% is that if dye is put into the eye and the head is held in a downward position you should be able to see the dye drain down into the nose after a minute or two. If the ducts are draining properly then excess tears should drain through the ducts into the back of the nose and throat. If he did manage to do the test properly (not always easy on wriggly unco-operative puppy) and there was no sign of the dye in the nose, although not always 100% conclusive its often a good indication there may be problem with the ducts. The only real way to have a good look and check and clear them if they ate blocked etc is to put them out to do it. Sometimes the ducts can just be too narrow, or even sometimes the ducts don't develop and open properly. By being able to check properly they can usually deal with all eventualities while they are out and carry out any procedures needed a lot of the time.

Usually with blocked or ducts that are not working you get an almost constant overflow of tears making the face and under the eyes wet and stained.

Im assuming her has checked all the other common reasons for eye infections and tearing, like dry eye (common in westies) caused by not enough tear production which is done by schrimer test that takes few minutes in the surgery. Injuries, ulcers, inturned or extra eyelashes, simple infections etc.

If they have ruled out some of the other common causes and particularly done the test with the dye to check for block ducts and it does look suspect there is duct problem, and it is causing problems with his eyes, then really it does need checking further.

You can have post op bloods done to check that all seems OK and there are no obvious problems that could cause issues with anaesthesia. These tend to be treated as optional/precautionary by insurers though and some wont pay for the blood test. Anaesthesia and monitoring is highly controlled and he should be fine. If you have any doubts and worries, you should really speak to your vets and voice them. Im sure they will answer any questions you may have first.


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## Jobeth (May 23, 2010)

My oldest dog had the dye test and has blocked tear ducts. He gets a bit of darkish, slimy discharge around his eyes and I wipe it away as needed. My vet said not to worry. She said they could be sorted, but to wait until he was under a general anesthetic for something else. It depends though what you mean by discharge and if it is just tear stains. If you're not sure ask the vet how necessary the procedure is. It could be that it is ok to wait until he is older and they can do it when he is neutered. As it doesn't cause mine any discomfort or problems I'm happy to leave it.


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## Rylee (Oct 21, 2011)

Sorry for being a bit vague, i've had him 8 weeks, he is now 16 weeks and since i've had him he has had weepy eyes on and off. At first it was a greenish gunge, i would bathe it and it cleared up but would come back etc. This time, on tuesday, it came back but it's a red/brown colour this time. In between times his eyes are fine and no tear staining but when it flares up it's quite gungy.

The vet did the test to check if the fluid in his eyes came out of his nose, it did on his left side but nothing came out of the right nostril, this is the eye thats much worse than the left.

She was very keen to get him in for being nutered but when i said i didn't want that she said it was important to get the tear duct flushed asap and could do it by itself. I asked the question about it coming back and she did say it could become blocked again and the problem come back.

I am speaking to a specialist eye surgeon later (ophthcologist?) who has suggested looking into the cause of the problem not just unblocking the duct so i will find out more from him later.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Rylee said:


> Sorry for being a bit vague, i've had him 8 weeks, he is now 16 weeks and since i've had him he has had weepy eyes on and off. At first it was a greenish gunge, i would bathe it and it cleared up but would come back etc. This time, on tuesday, it came back but it's a red/brown colour this time. In between times his eyes are fine and no tear staining but when it flares up it's quite gungy.
> 
> The vet did the test to check if the fluid in his eyes came out of his nose, it did on his left side but nothing came out of the right nostril, this is the eye thats much worse than the left.
> 
> ...


As there can be a few problems with tear ducts not just straight forward blockages then you are doing the right thing consulting a canine ophthalmologist, at least that way, they can check thoroughly and then if needs be deal with anything that needs doing first off. Going by the dye test although not conclusive it does seem to indicate there is some problem there or at least on one of them,


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## Rylee (Oct 21, 2011)

Just a little update, the ophthalmologist wasn't very forthcoming with an opinion as he deals with referrals from my vets so i think he was being a bit careful as to what to say however did suggest unblocking the tear duct could then result in it blocking up again and he did mention the possibility of it being an infection.

I decided to trust the vets oninion and called in to the surgery today to book him in and i saw my usual vet in reception (not the one that saw him) and i got the impression she didn't agree to try that and even said if it's gunky it could be an infection as you would expect it to just be water on his face is it was a blocked tear duct and not infection. However she did say to book him in as it's a simple procedure.

I didn't think to ask if we could try to treat him for infection first but after thinking about it i'm going to call tuesday and see if we can do that.

If he needs the tear duct unblocked thats fine but i'd rather try eye drops first to treat it if it's an infection. A general anesetic seems quite drastic and i'm wondering if it's the practice owner (the vet i saw) seeing pound signs, especially as she wanted him neutered as well.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Rylee said:


> Just a little update, the ophthalmologist wasn't very forthcoming with an opinion as he deals with referrals from my vets so i think he was being a bit careful as to what to say however did suggest unblocking the tear duct could then result in it blocking up again and he did mention the possibility of it being an infection.
> 
> I decided to trust the vets oninion and called in to the surgery today to book him in and i saw my usual vet in reception (not the one that saw him) and i got the impression she didn't agree to try that and even said if it's gunky it could be an infection as you would expect it to just be water on his face is it was a blocked tear duct and not infection. However she did say to book him in as it's a simple procedure.
> 
> ...


To be honest I assumed if he had green/yellow discharge which is a sign of infection usually that he was probably already on antibiotic eye drops or they had tried them and it didn't seem to help, or initially it may have and the infection came back. So Im surprised they haven't given you any already really


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## Kathyvet (Aug 24, 2014)

Hi,

First things first- did the vet do a schirmer tear test to make sure tear function is ok? Did they use the flurorescein dye to make sure there were no ulcers as well as checking for flow to the nostrils? If these things are ok it sounds as though it may be a re-occurrent infection alongside a blocked tear duct. I agree that it makes sense to treat the infection before rushing into an anaesthetic. Then if he does end up needing the ducts flushed he will be a bit older and can be neutered at the same time. It might be worth them taking a swab of the discharge as this can be sent to a lab and bacteria present can be identified and he can be given the appropriate antibiotics.

Let us know how he gets on, 

Kathy BVMS MRCVS


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## Rylee (Oct 21, 2011)

The only thing the vet did was put the flurorescein dye in to check if it drained through. She did look at the eyes but don't think she looked well enough to be looking for ulcers. I will be phoning them tomorrow to see if they will give me something to try for an infection.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Rylee said:


> The only thing the vet did was put the flurorescein dye in to check if it drained through. She did look at the eyes but don't think she looked well enough to be looking for ulcers. I will be phoning them tomorrow to see if they will give me something to try for an infection.


The dye is also used to show up ulcers too, so in theory if she used the dye and did look at the eye as well as use it to do the test for blocked tear ducts then it should be safe to say there didn't appear to be any at the time.


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## Beaglemummy (Jan 21, 2014)

My dog had tears in her eyes and at first my vet said it could be hay fever but we have since found out she has a food allergy. Since her change of food her red patches have shorted so I'm assuming it was the food. 

My vet said it goes red because there's bacteria growing on the tear after it's fallen down the face. 

My groomer uses stuff to remove the redness


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## Lityoyo (Jan 26, 2017)

Rylee said:


> Sorry for being a bit vague, i've had him 8 weeks, he is now 16 weeks and since i've had him he has had weepy eyes on and off. At first it was a greenish gunge, i would bathe it and it cleared up but would come back etc. This time, on tuesday, it came back but it's a red/brown colour this time. In between times his eyes are fine and no tear staining but when it flares up it's quite gungy.
> 
> The vet did the test to check if the fluid in his eyes came out of his nose, it did on his left side but nothing came out of the right nostril, this is the eye thats much worse than the left.
> 
> ...





Rylee said:


> My puppy has been to the vets because of discharge from his eyes, they have said his tear duct is blocked and this needs an anesthetic so they can flush the tear duct.
> 
> Does anyone have any experience of this?
> 
> ...


Hi Rylee,
I saw this post and my newly adopted 6 year old Pomeranian has the same issue with very watery eyes. Just wondering if the problem came back after your dog had the surgery / flushing of the eye duct. Appreciate if you can let me know. 
Thank you.
Linda


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## Rylee (Oct 21, 2011)

Lityoyo said:


> Hi Rylee,
> I saw this post and my newly adopted 6 year old Pomeranian has the same issue with very watery eyes. Just wondering if the problem came back after your dog had the surgery / flushing of the eye duct. Appreciate if you can let me know.
> Thank you.
> Linda


In the end he didn't have them flushed out. I took him to a different vet who gave him a cream I think it was and they cleared up in a few days and he has had no problems since. They were shocked the previous vet had suggested having them flushed out as this should be a last resort not the first course of action.


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## Lityoyo (Jan 26, 2017)

Rylee said:


> In the end he didn't have them flushed out. I took him to a different vet who gave him a cream I think it was and they cleared up in a few days and he has had no problems since. They were shocked the previous vet had suggested having them flushed out as this should be a last resort not the first course of action.





Rylee said:


> In the end he didn't have them flushed out. I took him to a different vet who gave him a cream I think it was and they cleared up in a few days and he has had no problems since. They were shocked the previous vet had suggested having them flushed out as this should be a last resort not the first course of action.


Hi Rylee,

Thanks so much for your kind reply.
That's good to hear. If you can recall the name of the cream or have a picture of it, that will be great.
Thanks again.
Linda


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## gesic (Feb 19, 2009)

Lityoyo said:


> Hi Rylee,
> I saw this post and my newly adopted 6 year old Pomeranian has the same issue with very watery eyes. Just wondering if the problem came back after your dog had the surgery / flushing of the eye duct. Appreciate if you can let me know.
> Thank you.
> Linda


Has this problem just started or has the watery eyes always been an issue? Is your dog squinting/blinking more than usual? Just asking as watery eyes are not always a symptom of blocked tear ducts. It could be another condition like distichia (eyelashes irritating the eyes). Has your vet checked them?


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## Rylee (Oct 21, 2011)

Lityoyo said:


> Hi Rylee,
> 
> Thanks so much for your kind reply.
> That's good to hear. If you can recall the name of the cream or have a picture of it, that will be great.
> ...


I can't remember what the cream was to be honest, sorry.


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