Friday, January 20, 2012

How to Clean Eyes on a Small Dog

Cleaning a dogs eyes can be challenging depending upon the disposition of the dog and how used to having the eyes cleaned your dog is.  We liked the video below because it talked about small dogs and why their eyes are more prone to discharge and getting "crusty" dry material around them.

One thing that my owner has not done is to give me a little treat after she is done with my eye cleanings..something that was suggested in the video.  I get nervous during the eye cleaning...and squirm a lot, so she has to hold me gently by the "scruff" of my neck...like a mother dog holds her puppy...to keep me in place while she cleans my eyes.

It is important to keep your dogs eyes clean, and if there is any hair around the eye long enough to get in the eye to cause irritation, it is wise to carefully cut that hair away....or better yet, have a groomer do that for you if you aren't sure you can do it without harming your dogs eyes.

As for solution to use in the eyes, our vet suggested using a simple saline solution for sensitives eyes that people use for their contacts, so we have been using Bausch & Lomb Sensitive Eyes Plus Saline Solution, a 12 oz. bottle of this lasts for a long time. In fact, the whole family uses it as eye drops for dry eyes, so much less expensive than buying those tiny bottles of eye drops.

Here's the video on how to clean a dogs eyes: