The arrival of a puppy in our home is always a challenge when it comes to caring for it. There is a lot of difference between sizes, even between breeds, or perhaps we do not have much experience with animals and find it difficult to distinguish between what is normal and what is considered a sign of diseasein the first weeks or months of living together.
This article on our site will try to group a part of the many doubts that can assail us in basic care, to try to answer a fairly common question at first, Why does my puppy have so many rheums? We explain it to you below:
White Logs
One of the most important aspects is to distinguish the coloration of the secretions. It is not something that can give us a specific diagnosis, but it can give us an idea of the seriousness of the matter. What we usually find are puppies with white rheum, a kind of light fabric that is quite easily removed, and has a little mucous consistency.
Our puppy is otherwise in perfect he alth and we see no signs of illness, only a constant production of that rheum, to the point of having to clean his tear groove two or three times a day. day, but it doesn't bother him at all. Surely we are still in the phase of completing the vaccination plan and, when discussing it with our veterinarian, it is most likely that he will indicate cleanings twice a day with physiological saline solution
This type of discharge is very common in puppies up to 10-12 months of age and is often called puppy follicular conjunctivitis There is cells of the immune system involved (lymphocytes) that form small follicles or blisters on the conjunctiva of the eyelids, causing this hypersecretion, which is otherwise harmless.
It is also common to see it in adult dogs together with some other sign of generalized allergy or without it and, except for specific cases in which there is a lot of discomfort due to the size that the follicles reach, it is treated exclusively with saline cleanings.
If the symptoms persist over time or worsen, it may be necessary to use corticosteroids in the form of drops, something that you try to avoidby all possible means as it is a benign process in principle and even almost common in all puppies.
How do I know if white lumps are normal?
If there is any complication in this follicular conjunctivitis or a more serious underlying cause, it is most common to detect other signs such as:
- Mucus production in the nose
- Constant scratching of the eyes, which endangers the cornea (possible corneal ulcer)
- Red sclera (white of the eye)
- Blepharospasm (inability to open the eyelids)
- Change in the color of the legañas
If our puppy has gone from a constant production of white legañas without further ado to any of the aforementioned symptoms, it will be time to go to a veterinary check-up.
Brown-brownish scum
Sometimes we find the lacrimal groove constantly stained with a sticky, brownish , which hardens and forms a crust if we don't clean it once or twice a day. Once again we see that our puppy is normal, with no more symptoms than that kind of paste that accumulates daily.
Usually we are talking about puppies (although later they will suffer from it as adults) of certain breeds or crossbreeds such as: poodles, yorkshire, m altese, pomeranians…
These breeds often have a small problem with the nasolacrimal ducts These drain the tear secretion responsible for lubricating and cleaning the eye into the holes nasal. If the duct is obstructed, due to inflammation or due to a certain breed (brachycephalic dogs and mini or toy breeds), the tear production will overflow through the medial angle of the eye and accumulate in the lacrimal groove forming that brown paste.
Is it important to clean the dog's legañas?
It is important to get our puppy used to cleaning that area daily, just as we get him used to brushing. It is necessary to remove the secretions daily before they harden and form a crust, which ends up forming a injury to the underlying skin
It is not uncommon to find young puppies that have never had that rest removed due to lack of habit or because they did not have anyone to care for them and that end up having real wounds when that scab is finally removed.
We recommend soften first with physiological saline solution or with a specific eye cleaning product from the many that exist on the market, this step is highly recommended to minimize damage to our puppy.
And if the pasta is a different color?
The main mission of tears is to keep the eye lubricated and clean, eliminating any substance that could damage the cornea If we carry our puppy to the beach or a park with peat (vegetal land), the most normal thing is that this secretion acquires a light brown or black color, respectively. It is because tears drag products with that color into their work.
Cleaning the eyes of our puppy (and of any dog in general) is essential after having been with him in an area with a lot of dust, sand or small particles in suspension.
Greenish-yellowish legae
If greenish or yellowish lumps appear, it usually indicates that our puppy is suffering from bacterial conjunctivitis. In this case, it usually shows evident discomfort, constant "handling" of the eyes, blepharospasm…
It is interesting to mention here a specific virus (although we are referring to bacteria), since sometimes they are the first to act and the bacteria come later. Although the canine distemper virus routinely caused eye problems for a long time, the truth is that the presentation of this disease covers a very wide range of symptoms, and the ocular form in which an abundant discharge of rheum appeared, was only one of them. they.
Fortunately, the mass vaccination has made it no longer among the most common causes of conjunctivitis, although it can never be ruled out in puppies that have never been vaccinated or in collectivities. However, the tear secretion in this case was much less dense (serous) and did not usually present this characteristic color. Still, it can always be secondarily contaminated with bacteria.
Bacterial conjunctivitis, however, usually occurs as a frequent complication in skin problems. For example, in puppies with sarcoptic mange or generalized demodecosis, secondary bacterial infections are common and the eyes are not immune to these opportunists. Along with this typical discoloration, the discharge becomes thicker than usual mucous
Treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis in puppies
In this case, our puppy will need something more than washes with physiological saline, and our veterinarian will prescribe the application of an antibiotic eye drops or ointmentfor a few days. In general, eye drops should be applied every two or three hours and ointments should be applied less frequently. If the discomfort is excessive, you may need the use of an Elizabethan collar to prevent your tendency to rub your face from leading to a corneal ulcer.
It is difficult to know which bacteria is involved without an antibiogram, but since secondary complications usually come from Staphylococcus spp, it is usual to use some antibiotic eye drop broad-spectrum that she and many other types of bacteria respond to. Obviously, if there is any responsible cause, as is the case of generalized skin problems (mycoses, scabies…etc), it must be corrected to avoid relapses.
Other causes of rheum
There are many other causes of rheum in dogs, but they are not specific to puppies and some are not often found until our dog is a certain age. However, in medicine, two and two are almost never four, and any pathology can be found in isolation at unexpected times. In this section we will briefly summarize some of them:
- KCS (Keratoconjunctivitis sicca): Absence of tear production, causing secondary infections, cloudy eyes, pasty green discharge intense, and blindness over time. If we have a puppy of a predisposed breed, such as a cocker spaniel, bulldog or pug, we must pay special attention to the lubrication of its eyes, even if it does not suffer from this disease (as a preventive measure). Being an autoimmune disorder, the age of presentation is highly variable, but it is not usually diagnosed before the first year of life. But sometimes it is confused with other less serious disorders, so it is possible that it is underdiagnosed and that in the future we will see even puppies diagnosed. The use of immunosuppressants for life, such as tacrolimus or cyclosporine, and constant lubrication for life, will be essential in the treatment of this disease.
- Foreign bodies: Spikes, seeds, grains of sand… The constant rubbing of a foreign body can cause an abundant secretion of tears and a secondary bacterial infection. It is necessary to check the upper and lower eyelids well, and use physiological saline to perform washes in case of detecting particles too small to be removed by hand. In this case, after removing the cause of the aggression to the cornea, a fluorescein test will be done to determine whether or not there is an ulcer.
- Allergies: It is not common to find allergic pictures in puppies less than 4 months old, but from then on we can see eye allergies to practically everything: the pollen, the plastic of the feeders, the hay of our guinea pig… The inflammation of the eyelids, the inability to open them in some cases, and the constant tear secretion, contaminated by bacteria or not, are indicative of a process allergic. The arrival of spring usually triggers the presentation of these pictures, which require therapy with eye drops that contain corticosteroids together with an antibiotic to control the bacteria of the body's own flora that take advantage of it to aggravate the picture.
