Advice for Senior Cairn Eye Discharge

[KatZ]

Hi there, our female, 15-year-old Cairn Terrier named Mali developed some eye discharge in each eye a couple of months ago. We thought maybe it was allergies and the vet had us go the eyedrop route. However, the discharge is still present after the medication has completed. It starts out like a very large gooky clump of “eye sleep”, but then streams down her face and makes her face hair very crusty. I know that older dogs develop I discharge in some fashion, this just seems like a lot. I was wondering if there is anything homeopathic you guys have done for your senior Cairns with this issue. The other route our vet wanted us to take was an ointment that seems like it will stress her out more than necessary. We have to pull her bottom eyelid out and pump the ointment into her bottom eyelid, then close her eye & rub her eyes twice a day. It was extremely stressful for both us and her, so I’m very motivated to find any other outlets that have worked for others. Thank you so very much Cairn community! Sending love to you and your Cairns!

[bradl]

Our guys (young and old) also get seasonal allergies and occasional discharge.

In the absence of anything nefarious going on in the eye we just scrape away any crusty eye boogers with a fingernail regularly and/or use an eye wipe occasionally to soften build-up, if any, and touch up the coat under the eye from any runnier goop. 

Bonus — the eye wipes are (sometimes) useful for rubbing off pine pitch that gets in their coat or on their paws.