Blueberries and Eye Staining

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Tear Staining

Short Version

Best Choice Yet:   Blueberries , yep, Blueberries    

Long Version

Types

1. Light color – basic overflow

2. Red – porphyrins.  Don’t look up the definition because if you are not a chemical guru the best you can get out of it is that they are a natural bodybuilder.   They are very important to building red blood cells, specifically, to carry blood.  They are normal and are expelled through urine, saliva, tear ducts and other natural means.  The color red is from the iron they carry. Sunlight also darkens stains containing iron.  

3. Brown – not rust colored.  Brown means you probably need to go to the veterinarian because it is indicative of a yeast infection. 

The first thing you really want to do is go the veterinarian and get the scoop about what is/is not causing the staining such as allergies, yeast infection, eye infection, genetics, teething, blocked tear ducts, ph acidity of the tears, lashes, and more to give you the short list.  As you can see color of the stain can abbreviate your choice of origin and go from there.  The last I want to add to this is that you can have multiple problems at one time, just to brighten your day.

Reasons

Part of the Havanese eye problem is basically it’s breed characteristic almond eye.  An almond eye has greater drainage problems than a circular eye because of the placement of the tear duct.  Beyond that the reasons are varied and many from having your dog eat or drink from an old damaged, plastic container that can hold bacteria and reach your dog’s face to shallow eye sockets (not a Havanese trait).  There is a lot in between.

Cures

I have tried a few things myself.  I have friends who have tried a few things themselves and the whole of it is not perfect.  I’ve read what a lot of other people have tried. With oral chemicals there’s the effect on the rest of the body, with the topical there’s the risk of if getting in the eye and there’s also an element of danger/damage.  To my knowledge there is no cure to curtail eye stains.  What I do know encourages my support of the blueberries.  Reports talk about not understanding all there is regarding antioxidants

but what catches my attention is that blueberries can affect ph.  I think this may be part of why they work for eye stains.  I am not a doctor.  I am not a chemist.  If any of you can add more input here about ‘choice blueberry and ph affect with tears’ send it to us: [email protected].  I like blueberries because the treatment is gentle on the dog, your pocket book, and works to improve less staining. 2-3 a day.  Always check with your veterinarian first.  Let us know your story about blueberries and stains. Aside from being good for your dog, you can give them frozen berries for a treat!

          1 Tear Staining: What Is It and What Causes It? - Mercola.com 

                                healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/.../pet-tear-staining.aspx

         2  www.pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/dogs-and-tear-stains

         3  www.havanesefanciers.com/tearstaining