Few Questions, Tear stains and undercoat.. A tricky for the profs...

[jupiter11600]

First of all I have a imitation beagle, He's old with a gray face. One of his eyes (Yup it has been checked etc) always has tears therefor he always has tear stains. Is there anything natural or something that can be done to help this not look so horrible? I know there are products, but I don't want to buy something that will hurt him and then not even work...

Second is my girl who is sheltieXHusky has a Long and Thick coat, very cottony-ish undercoat. Right now she is clipped shorter, but her undercoat still gets packed. I can comb it out with a flea comb i have found out, But she has dementia so it gets...interesting.... Any other ideas? What do you think about a stripping knife to get it out and untangled?? It will come out fairly easy with a tug but she wants to kill me anytime I mess with her. She gets very hot so I don't think loosing most of the undercoat would bother her. I did bring her to a dog wash that had a massive blower to use after you bathed, but that is a trip for us and I would like something to do at home. She takes about 3 days of drying with a regular dryer... and I'm talking a few good hour sit downs a day... This is when she is in full coat though.

[showpug]

Can't help with the sheltie question, but in regards to the tear staining, what food are you feeding? Sometimes a diet change will help this improve.

Some other things that may help are giving bottled water instead of tap and switching all plastic bowls to stainless instead.

I have a bulldog with big tear staining issues and have yet to find a solution...

[jupiter11600]

Yup we know the food thing, Didn't know about the bowl. He's on Innova Senior. When he's on a poor food, or one that dosen't agree with him, Both eyes would leak (When we got him he was on dog chow uck) It's odd though as it is only the one...

[schurpug]

If your mix gives you a hard time combing with a flea comb, you won't want to use a stripping knife with her. She'll be even worse when you are yanking/plucking hair out of her...

As for tear staining, at shows, the handler I assist on-and-off uses corn starch to dry the stains and hide them a bit. It doesn't help to stop the staining in the future, but it does help to cover it temporarily... though, I don't think that's quite what you are looking for.

I do have a friend who breeds/shows Bedlingtons, and she has a suppliment that she SWEARS by that apparently changes the chemical balance in tear stains or something... I'll see if I can find out what it is :)

[schurpug]

Okay.. for the undercoat - I just thought of this (dunno why it wasn't one of my first thoughts)... have you tried using a "slicker brush"?? It's what we use to strip/brush out undercoat on the Pugs in most cases...

And here is the tear stain product:
http://www.angelsglow.com/AGR1.html

Apparently it doesn't stop the tearing, but instead, it kills the bacteria that causes the staining. So your dog will still tear, but it won't stain.

[jupiter11600]

Yup We've tried the sliker... Her coat is such a difficult thing... And the dementia dosen't help :-/ I just need something that will do it good and fast as she is bitting at me within a minute and I hate having to keep her muzzled so long...

[schurpug]

If she is biting at you when using a flea comb - like I said, do NOT use a stripping knife. It is basically the equivalent of you tweezing your eyebrows... except in larger amounts. Not fun stuff.

[jupiter11600]

K, That's what I needed to know :-) I've never had a long haired one, let alone with this strange of a coat and dementia so we're learning as we go :-)

[terrier terror]

I use Tums and ACV for tear stains, and keep filtered water in the kitchen. In x-pens, in their crates, and when traveling I use distilled. I would try to change foods, preferably to raw or grain free.

You could also try probiotics, I've heard it has helped some dogs when used at a higher dosage.

[MysticRealm]

Have you shaved your sheltie before? The reason I ask is b/c this could be the reason why she has such a funny coat. When you shave a double coated breed like shelties they grow their hair back really soft and not normal, which I think can add to the undercoat problems you are having. I would suggest if possible to keep her shaved short if you can. I know that shaving a double coated breed of dog can have negative affects as their coat is made to protect them but we have shaved many double coated dogs at the shop I used to work at with no problems. if you shave her in a 4skk (if you can get that through her hair, might have to use a 5 or 7) then you wouldn't have to worry too much about brushing her out. You would have to be a bit more careful about the temperature and stuff outside when she goes outside.

[jupiter11600]

Yeah she has been shaved, But when we got her she already had a icky coat like this... she's Husky mixed with sheltie also so she's got the length of a sheltie, with the thick coat of a husky. When she is fully shaved she gets sunscreen and shirts when needed... I'm trying to keep her coat at least a little thick right now due to the MN winters we can get :-)

[dunroamintack@aol.com]

a mars king undercoat tool gets the soft hair out and all of it, then you bathe and condition her in coat handler or demat solution conditioner and let it sit in for 5 mins then force dry out with a master blaster and all the undercoat will be gone gone gone



First of all I have a imitation beagle, He's old with a gray face. One of his eyes (Yup it has been checked etc) always has tears therefor he always has tear stains. Is there anything natural or something that can be done to help this not look so horrible? I know there are products, but I don't want to buy something that will hurt him and then not even work...

Second is my girl who is sheltieXHusky has a Long and Thick coat, very cottony-ish undercoat. Right now she is clipped shorter, but her undercoat still gets packed. I can comb it out with a flea comb i have found out, But she has dementia so it gets...interesting.... Any other ideas? What do you think about a stripping knife to get it out and untangled?? It will come out fairly easy with a tug but she wants to kill me anytime I mess with her. She gets very hot so I don't think loosing most of the undercoat would bother her. I did bring her to a dog wash that had a massive blower to use after you bathed, but that is a trip for us and I would like something to do at home. She takes about 3 days of drying with a regular dryer... and I'm talking a few good hour sit downs a day... This is when she is in full coat though.