Care between Grooming Trips

9/15/14

Kiwi’s Korner …………………………. “Hair . . . long beautiful hair!” Not so in the ears and other places.

        There are three areas of concern regarding hair growth between grooming trips resulting in taking care of it at home.  The eyes, ears and santi-area are in need of care from a daily issue to a weekly or bi-weekly care.   When I started writing this article I thought I would cover all three areas but as I have discovered, my article needs to be a three part piece.  To those of you who would prefer to get it all in one reading, my apologies.  I just found I could not do the topic anywhere near justice in a short piece.  In this series I am referring to normal eye discharge, normal discharge within the santi-area and normal conditions within the ears.  If there is head shaking with the ears, abnormal coloring, texture or odor with any discharge make an appointment to see the vet.  Abnormal discharge can mean so many things and only the vet can evaluate the situation accurately.  Long term abnormal discharge can result in permanent damage so make the date and have a check-up.

 Eyes

         The corner of my eyes is an area of concern where I can have excessive eye drainage and build-up.  Mucous discharge dries to become hard pebbles and stuck in the hair from my eye duct down the side of my nose below my eye resulting in hair glued together, darkly stained, stiff with hard knots of yuck in it.  It is always good to have the vet examine me to establish I am healthy and any discharge is normal or to set a ‘baseline’ of information about me.  A friend of mine recently went to her vet with excessive discharge.  She learned she had eye allergies and medicine could help the health of her eyes and decrease the overly excessive drainage.  There are products on the market that work very well to minimalize normal eye drainage and may be of interest to you.  One of these products is called Angels’ Eyes made by Angels’ Eyes, a U.S.A. company and for those of you who are interested in these things, they say all there ingredients are 100% from the U.S.A.  This is actually becoming more important for pet owners because of lack of regulations or higher standards in other countries and is an article for another time.  I use this product and it does work but I really want to emphasize eye care on a regular basis.  Having distilled water for your water supply is another choice.

          In the Havanese family or what is referred to in some circles as a ‘breed issue’, more than one reason exists for eye drainage.  I have even heard of some Havanese that have almost no eye discharge and whether are not the eye has dark hair versus lighter hair around it makes a difference.  I will leave those questions up to you but the explanation for the tearing I have found very interesting has to do with the beautiful almond shape to our eyes.  The shape of our eye inhibits proper drainage.  My human friends refer to the buildup of this drainage as ‘eye boogers’.  They use this juvenile reference instead of ‘eye duct obstruction’ or ‘excessive tearing’ or any of the other more mature references.  Some days . . . but with any reference I sincerely appreciate the frequent removal of buildup and care given my eyes. 

         One treatment that seems to help is when I have the hair closely clipped in the corner of my eye, the path the drainage takes and any hair that may touch my eye enough to irritate me.  In the pet stores rounded end scissors are sold.  Some people have spoken of using baby fingernail scissors.  The ones we have are very sharp so there is no pulling and they have rounded tips for safety.  A finger is laid over my eye to prevent any contact and the clipping is patiently and carefully done at the corner of my eye and the path of drainage just below my eye.  Do not! clip my eyelashes.  They are there for a reason but this is not about my eyelashes right now so leave them alone, please.  It only takes a few minutes every two weeks or so to check on it.  Viola!  I can see well, I have less problems with my eyes draining and dried mucous discharge.  I get a treat for being still, too, after I’m told what a good dog I am, of course. 

       I hope this has helped you.  There are a million other tips and almost as many products on the internet for good eye care from eye wipes on to drops, etc.

 I receive no discounts or other perks for product endorsement.  Drat.  You can always address questions or comments to me via [email protected].  I welcome hearing from you.  - Kiwi