it's really bothering me

[jansop]

There's absolutely no way I can take booker to the vets tomorrow for a checkup. I'm so worried about his eyes and the crud under them.

I came so close to going to walmart, but changed my mind. I'm going to place him in the tub with no shampoo, just a rinse. Off to try it now...........jan

[fancypants]

Why are you so worried? Why no shampoo - I use baby oatmeal shampoo and i give my Emma a bath almost every weekend due to runs in a nearby creek. I must have missed something! How did the bath go?

[Guest posting as: jansop]

Where do you get baby oatmeal shampoo?

I put booker in the sink and used just plain water. I gave him tiny pieces of chicken while I was rinsing him. He did ok.

How can I get the crud off? I took a washcloth and tried. The hair is matted right below his eye...........jan

[bradl]

If it's dry and crunchy I can usually just sort of scrape it off with my thumbnail. Dabbing with a wet cloth can also sometimes make it soft enough to scrape off. Eye-wipes (some kind of treated cloth) from PetCo or PetSmart or wherever may help dissolve them.

Tip: eyewipes can also be handy to get slug goo off puppy lips.

[kayharley]

I call it "eye-ick" from the sandman....not a big deal. Sometimes it's in their eyes and other times I see small bits in their fur. Takes a second or two to either gently scrape it out of eye area of pull it out of face fur. They know it's part of the daily grooming ritual so they have gotten used to it.

Brad, what is slug goo off puppy lips?

[bradl]

Ah, here in the Pacific Northwet we have a lot of slugs. They trail slime that has to have something in common with superglue (see below). A dog (usually a puppy) will come into the house with a bunch of pine needles glued to their lip and you know they've been eating - or at least mouthing or playing with slugs in the back yard. The stuff is almost impossible to clean off. A friend tipped us off that she'd found that some eye wipes she'd gotten for eye gunk worked a treat to get it off.

http://www.naturepark.com/bslug.htm]Scientists have tried to reproduce slug slime because it is one of the best natural glues and may be of use in the medical field. But somehow, a slug is able to make what no human scientist with years of experience can. Perhaps if they can figure out what component is missing, we will one day have slug sticks instead of glue sticks!

http://www.answers.com/topic/banana-slug for more slug fun facts ...

[Eliz222]

Banana slugs.....yuck!

[Toto times 2]

Hi Jan:

Once you get the initial stuff off from around his eyes just do it everyday with your finger or a soft cloth. It was probably allowed to accumulate before you had him but once it is cleaned up it's easy to get off. I do Smokey every day and Ghillie doesn't seem to have a problem. Good Luck.

Barb, Ghillie and Smokey

[fancypants]

Lots of good eye advice already! I get the baby *wash* (for body and hair) at a drug store and it says on the bottle "safe and gentle enough for daily use". I put a plastic baby bathtub under the tap inside the big bathtub and put a bunch of the oatmeal stuff in the water as it's filling up, then I pop her in and get her all nice and clean (usually the water is black after 2 weeks of visits to the nearby Don Valley) and then the second fill-up I put good quality hair conditioner in the water - (not on her!) - and then a final rinse to finish up. It works great for us, only takes a few minutes and we have *never* had itchy skin - yea!!! I don't like to use dog products, but I prefer to use baby ones because I have a feeling that they are tested more thoroughly. All the best with your little one - what fun!

[bradl]

Granted, this is from a place that sells dog products, but the info seems plausible.

It seems human shampoos are often used on dogs. There are some important skin difference between dogs and humans which can influence the formulation of a shampoo:

    * Human skin is 3-5 times thicker

    * Dogs don

[Darsey]

I had to google what skin turnover is but okay I get it now. I think when combining all the factors together it amounts to dogs have more sensitive skin, I agree with brad that the PH factor is very important if I remember correctly from chemistry what the info amounts to is that humans can withstand shampoos and soaps with more base PH levels than dogs, whereas they need more of a neutral or slighty more acidic PH level (which may have something to do with their more rapid skin renewal?). The skin turnover rate explains to me why I saw results so quickly when I stopped giving Toto frequent baths. - Darsey

Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!