Red fur..

[MamaMia]

My Cesar has runny eyes.. Ive been through so many different treatments with him, tablets, drops, ointments and flushed his tear-ducts and he's still brown-red under his eyes, and paws. My vet obviously doesnt know what she's doing and im tired of paying thousands without results!! Any advice? Ill try anything, he's obsessed with his paws and icky eyes..

[Princess Lucy Loulou (Tina)]

Lucy had runny eyes but when she was diagnoised with Dry Eye it went away,  with her treatment it came back really bad  but since I took he off Burn's Mini Bites it is clearing up even though she is still on medication,  so i'm convinced it as her food  it may be what you are feeding him 

[Freedom (Sandie)]

Some of us have found a solution to this problem by changing what goes IN!

Mary Ellen found she had to give distilled water for her dogs to drink; apparently there is too much iron, or some other mineral(s) in her city water.

My dogs needed to go onto a grain free food.  It took about a week for things to clear up after I made the switch.

Alot of it is trial and error, from what I've read on here over the past 2 years.

[EDDEL]

Mia, I moved your thread from [Health & Nutrition] board to here, as this is where all our tear-stain related threads are.

As pointed out by Tina & Sandie, it could be due to his food or water.  What kind of a diet is Cesar on now?  Kibble?  Raw/BARF?  Home-cooked?  

Other causes could be genetics (as in, small/blocked tear ducts) or environmental (allergies).  If his tear ducts are very small (a common occurrence in the breed so I've heard), it'll clog-up after awhile even if the ducts have been flushed.  

Does Hero have the same problem?  What about Cesar's fur-mom?  

Lastly, when you say "obsessed with his paws", do you mean Cesar is constantly licking them?  If so, it's either boredom (a bad habit) or allergies.  Likely the latter if he's tearing badly, especially during certain times of the year.

PS: You can read/check other tear-stain related threads in this [Grooming & Care] board for more answers/tips.

[MamaMia]

Tear-stains would be the word, ofcourse!! lol red fur.. oh well. Thanks for moving the thread! His parents look great, Hero had his tear-ducts flushed tho but he's looked great since! i dont think its seasonal allergies since he's had this all winter ?? He's constantly licking his paws, looks awful! I'll have a lot more questions for the vet this time around.. thanks! and they get Royal Canine vet care addition, young adult feed.. Ill definitely change to the allergy kind!

[Alison]

How old is her? Abby had a lot of staining when she was teething.Alison

[MamaMia]

He's almost 3

[Lizzie]

It's back to basics I'm afraid.    Distilled water can help with the staining and also you do need to look at his kibble.  There is a thread on the forum with the kibble grading.   You want a kibble with no beet pulp as this can cause the staining.  Myself and a few other breeders were using Burns but had a falling out with them as the dogs started staining and were out of condition.  The dogs were put on James Wellbeloved but this resulted in even more staining.  After much corresponding I changed back to Burns about 4 months ago.  As they say - the proof is in the pudding and they all have white faces now.  So yes as Sandie says - you have to look at what goes in. 

[Luana]

My Charlie had a lot of trouble with his ears and paws, bacteria.  He would lick his paws constantly making the fur quite red.  He didn't have any problem with his eyes, however.  It went on for so long that we finally had him tested for allergens and found he was allergic to poultry, wheat, dairy, barley, and flax.  When I found a food that didn't have any of those (not an easy task), he cleared up nicely.  The tests include blood work for both indoor, including foods, and outdoor allergies.  The tests aren't cheap, but it would have taken me forever to find all those allergens on my own. 

I do hope it is something simple for Caesar, and that you don't have to go through all that.  Good luck.

[MattiesMom (MaryEllen)]

My advice is similar:  Look at the food, treats, and water that you are giving him.  Without allergy testing, you can try a wheat and corn free food and avoid poultry as the protein source.  At the very least try something that has only rice as the grain.  I don't know the brands available in Norway, but here in the States we can get a food that is limited ingredient: Wellness Simple Solution, which is one meat (lamb or salmon) and brown rice.  It has no dyes, is organic, and is made for dogs with allergies.  If you can find a food like that and try it for a month, you can probably find out if food is the issue because he would more than likely begin to clear up.  You could also try making your own dogfood if you want.  It's not so hard and there is information here in threads in "health and nutrition".  There are also lots of recipes on the web.  So, to sum up:
Cesar drinks only distilled water.
Cesar has only grainfree treats like jerky.
Cesar's food is a basic meat (avoid poultry except duck) and vegetables with only rice for the grain and definitely no beet pulp.
    You will most likely find that you have a happier, more comfortable, and whiter bichon.  Best of luck, MaryEllen

[darwinsmom (Chris)]

I'm thinking all your posts are related. He may have a gluten intolerance similar to celiac disease in humans. I would try to eliminate grains and dyes and see where you are. (BTW I'm a people NP, and sometimes I overreach when translating to dogs, but it can't hurt...)
Chris

[MamaMia]

Allright so to sum up what i should ask the vet next app:
Test him for infections, small tear-ducts, and have him try a new feed for allergic dogs..
And ofcourse drops every night and dry off any discharge.. Im shaving his face around the eyes tomorrow, his eyes are sticking more out than Hero so just to be sure its not irritation ill try that. he wont look like a bichon then ( oh well everything to get him better!!

[Andrea]

Just a side question for Mary Ellen- you advised not to give chicken for protein- what is bad about chicken?  Noah gets a lot of chicken as I thought that it was very mild and when they are sick the vet always suggests that when giving food to use chicken and rice. 

[pam]

If I remeber correctly Royal Canin isn't very ethical either.
http://www.uncaged.co.uk/petfood.htm

Pam

[Annie36]

To answer your question Andrea....Chicken is a very common allergen in dogs....since it is so common it is one of the things vets will omit in the diet first to see if it helps....Jake is not allergic to chicken, but is allergic to beef and pork.....each dog is different and unless you do the allergy tests, you must do the trial and error method(elimination method) till you find what the problem is if it is food. Jake has indoor allergies as well as environmental allergies too. So almost anything could be a trigger, like dust mites and rag weed just to name a couple. I did the elimination method and thought I had found the problem only to find out really quick I was completely wrong....

Mia, I would start with just the water change and see what happens, you should see a difference right away(week) if it is the water.....also read the food labels on everything that he eats, make sure if it is red in nature or food dyes of any kind, he doesn't eat it. After that I would go to the vet or change his food.