Cleaning the Eye Gunk!

[LoveMyBullyBoy]

So my boy has had cherry eye (removal) surgery on both eyes. He was just a few months old & the first surgery was to replace the gland. That lasted less than 2 days & it popped back out. So it was removed. Just a few months after that, he had the right one removed too. All this happened by the time he was just over a year old.
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He now has dry eye in his left eye, & I suspect it's becoming a problem in his right eye too. I put ointment in his eye twice a day. He has a lot of discharge in his left eye, and some in his right. Some days are worse than others. But it's generally always ON his eyeball, not just in the corner. I hate having to pry his eye open & wipe it off his eye b/c I don't want to irritate them. I try just wiping as it makes its way out of the corner, but that doesn't always work. He'll have a thick film of it covering most of his eye & I swear it will stay there all day! I do use artificial tears on him, & sometimes that helps loosen it, but not always. The Shih Tzu does lick his eyes, but he's just cleaning the goop that's on the outside. (Gross, I know, but he licks his ears out too, & keeps those pretty clean for me!)
Any suggestions on the best way to get it out? Tricks of the trade? Thanks!

 

[Donna LeBlanc]

My daughter's Bullie, Chloe has dry eye. She uses baby wipes to clean the gunk out...same method you use. Moving the gunk from the middle of Chloe's eyes to the corner. My Bullie, Punkie doesn't have dry eye but she does wake up with eye gunk each morning but her's is mostly on the outer edges of her eyes and is easily cleaned off with a baby wipe. What you say about your Shih-Tzu is funny because my daughter and I both have what we call "nurse" dogs. My daughter has a male chihuahua and he makes sure all her dogs have clean faces and ears! My little "nurse" dog, Zoei is a rescued terrier mix...she keeps my all her pack mates ears and faces cleaned up. My Bullie, Punkie has a deep tail pocket and Zoei tries to clean it but I have to finish the job when she starts it because she leaves Punkie's tail pocket wet...so after she cleans it, I dry it throughly and put some powder on it. Gotta love DOGS!

 

[BruceP]

A flooded cotton ball flooded with saline solution is what our vet said to use. Baby wipes are too course for the eye he said. He specified cotton balls as opposed to cotton patches for the same reason.

 

[2BullyMama]

agree with [MENTION=1034]BruceP[/MENTION]... our vet told us the same thing, but I can't do it -- YUK - good lord do I hate cotton balls. The green goo is no bother to me.

 

[LoveMyBullyBoy]

I'm afraid cotton balls will leave fuzzies behind in his eyes. And I don't even use commercial baby wipes on my daughter... I use homemade wipe water with super soft paper towels. I keep a pack of alcohol free sensitive wipes though for when we are out & about & I need something quick. I've been using a soft paper towel dampened with filtered water (I'm a filtered water freak!) to just dab the goop out of his eyes. It works pretty well, since the stuff seems to stick to the wet paper towel w/o too much rubbing, most of the time. Was just curious if anyone had any less invasive tricks. Maybe I'll just hold his eye open while the Shih Tzu licks the goop from inside of his eye too!
Donna LeBlanc, I wish our little "nurse" dog would keep Gravy's tail pocket clean too, but no such luck. That's all on me! And he does NOT like his behind being messed with!

 

[lexterwayne]

Lex will sometimes get the goop in his eyes after a nap or just allergies. If it's in the middle I've gotten to were when his eyes are closed I rub ( not hard) the outside of his eyelid around a few times, and when he opens them back up the goop is usually in a better location to grab it better. Hope that makes sense

 

[bullmama]

I use human eye wash from bousch and Lomb, just squirt into the eye like giving eye drops, followed by lubricating eye drops.

 

[BabyDuke]

I use human eye wash from bousch and Lomb, just squirt into the eye like giving eye drops, followed by lubricating eye drops.

we do the same regimin we use a saline solution for senstive eyes, then put the eye drops in..

 

[Chunksmama]

Chunk's eye doctor told us not to clean it out! He says it's the body's way of naturally caring for the dry eye. It's annoying to look at but I only clean once it's out of his eye completely.