Eye "crud" on adult dogs should be attended to properly
While this isn't as big of a problem as parasites are, it is common enough that we end up treating fairly regularly. I know many people that look after dogs that when something like this does happen, more often than not they will just grab a tissue and wipe it away. This is nice of you to do, but honestly, more needs to be done than this.
Dogs are experts at not complaining, and that was the case with this little lovely guy. Despite the rather clear problem with his eyes his tail was wagging into overdrive when we approached. This is one of the dogs from the house that the old woman suddenly found herself with a bunch of pups as 3 dogs became 12 over a short period of time. This might be the father. who knows?
Often, this buildup is caused simply by a piece of fur irritating the eye socket and just like your eyes would do if the same thing happened, the eye produces some "goop" to deal with the irritation. However, just like with most things, the dog doesn't have the tools (or thumbs) necessary to remove the irritant and it is much more likely for it to turn into an infection as well, which was the case here.
This problem is easily dealt with, but not always the easiest to treat with medication. The medicated drops you need to use are extremely inexpensive and are essentially the same thing that you would use on your eyes that is likely in your medicine chest right now.
The eyes just need a bit of cleaning and in countries like Thailand, the local water supply simply isn't clean enough to do it on its own. After a couple of treatments from a couple days in a row the eye discharge started to fade and in another couple of days it will likely be gone completely.
While handling the extremely friendly male who has clearly got a "thing" for human connection, we also noticed rather advanced mange, which we will also treat with a chewable medication. Both of these problems end up being solvable for under $5 and a little bit of TLC. That may sound really low to most of us but it is important to understand that in this situation and a lot of other people's situations around the world, spending $5 on a dog is a crazy idea. My father, when I was young, used to joke about the farm dogs that he had as a child when he would say that "if the medication cost more than a bullet, we knew what choice to make."
Now I know my father was only joking and a lot more went into it than that, but for many of these very poor people living in the jungle in lean-to huts, they can't just be buying up whatever medication that is recommended. So that is what organizations like our own are for. To as much of a degree as we can, we will administer these medications to dogs and cats at no charge to the person who is their caretaker.
here i go again, advertising Bravecto!
With the eye issue, it is something that on most dogs will sort itself out over time but if you have a few dollars and a bit of trust between you and dog, why not help it along the way. With these infections it is very annoying and uncomfortable for the dog because they do not have the ability to deal with it on their own. They tend to get more lethargic and lazy when this happen and this can end up causing more problems for them especially if they have a parasite problem just like this friendly guy did.
I wan't to be very clear that it is NEVER a good idea to try to administer eye drops or really any sort of external care or medication to a dog that you do not know. While we love dogs, we realize that a scared dog is capable of great violence. So just be careful ok? If you see a dog like this maybe ask around for who the caretaker is and then offer a solution for them to administer and if they are too poor to afford the eye drops themselves, maybe offer to spend the 50 cents or so that it costs to purchase them.
If you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
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