Dog eye care is an important but often overlooked part of your dogs overall health care.
This care can be anything from removing tear stains and build up to extraction of foreign objects – a task best left to your vet. Whenever you are doing anything near your pets eyes, you must, of course exercise extreme caution as these are a very delicate area.
Dog eye care and injury prevention starts with proper nutrition and common safety. For your dogs best health you should always feed him a high quality food as well as any vitamins recommended by your vet. I also feed my dog plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables (she loves them!) so that I can be sure she is getting enough vitamins for her overall health and to insure all the nutrients for great vision are available.
If your dog goes outside or likes to ride in the car with his head sticking out the window, you need to take special care to be sure no foreign objects get in his eye. Whenever he has been out in the woods or riding, watch him closely to see if he paws at his eye or if the eye looks red or irritated, Any signs of this and you should take him immediately to the vet.
Another aspect of dog eye care is to make sure the eye area is properly groomed. If your dog has hair that hangs in the eye, make sure you carefully trim it back so it doesn’t get in his eyes and irritate him. Many dogs have a discoloration or “tear stain” where the tears leak out at the corner of the eye. This is quite common in smaller dogs and very apparent in light colored dogs. There is a special solution that you can use to wipe away these stains. It is best that you keep up with this task every day as you can get a crusty build up from the tear “gunk” that is very difficult to remove. If this does happen, carefully wet the area and let the water soak in, then take Q-tips and try to wipe away the gunk. Be VERY careful not to poke your dog in the eye!
Your dog eye care routine can include simply looking at the dogs eyes while you play or bond with him – if you see anything unusual like redness, swelling, or any foreign object a deeper inspection and vet visit is recommended.