Abrasions around Dogs Eye

[Woollman99]

Had a great and sucessful day on Sunday chasing MN roosters. My new 18 month old Lab did very well....he hunted his heart out. We hunted most of the day in some pretty thick and rough areas. The weeds were deep, thick and dusty.

During the course of the day, my lab received many skin abrasions around his eyes from crashing through the weeds, cane and cattails. At the end of the day, this skin area was very raw looking (even bleeding). My question, is there a product on the market to help/aid in the healing of abrasions around the eye? Most healing ointments/products say "do not come in contact with eyes".

His eyes were red this morning and leaking very heavily from all the dust and debris. But he skin around his eyes were very tender and raw. Is there anything special to put on/around dogs eyes after the hunt to aid them in healing? Or, do you just let it go? Thanks for any insight.

[deerhuntr8]

I have 2 GSP's and they get pretty raw around the eyes, mouth, belly and knees. My dogs were bleeding also. They will toughen up the more you go. I'm sure the eyes seeping is just there body's way of cleaning the dump out of the eyes. If it were me, I would leave the dog alone. They go through this every year, and after abbout the 2nd time out they are fine. Hope this helps.

[LABS4ME]

Go to your vet and buy some eye wash or opti creme. There are only certain ones you can use... they have to be non-steroid cremes or wash. I generally use some in my dogs eyes each evening before they bed down. Helps relieve the eyes and promote healing from minor scratches on the eye ball itself. It will also help flush any debris out at night. For the raw skin around the eyes, a little petroleum jelly helps. Make sure there is none left on the fur before starting a new hunt as this will just become a debris magnet.

Good Luck!

Ken

[verg]

I agree with deer hunter. Your dog's eyes are just watering to get out dust etc. Mine do so as well for a day or two then they clear. Abrasions will heal too but if it has one that seems to have trouble healing, i put neosporin on them and that seems to work pretty well.

[bergie]

Deerhunter has it about right, I bring some bag balm with for scrapes and such but if you are going to hunt the way it should be done it is hard on dog and hunter, sure is fun though. After a week hunting pheasants my Britt looked like I had drug her down a gravel road for ten miles, when we got home she would sleep for two days straight but she loved every minute of it, of all the hunting I have done I can't think of anything that is more work than pheasant hunting.

[stretch]

i have the same problem and i call my vet and asked her and she said take a warm was cloth and wipe in one direction around the eyes to get the dump away and then it's safe to use neosporan. just done leave a big goop of it, rub it in a little. i also asked her about putting it on my dog's nose and she said it is safe. even though it's is a small amout your dog won't get sick. also she said if it doesn't get better in a few days you should bring her in. so far it has been working for my lab.

[Powerstroke]

One thing that I heard to help prevent injuries like this is to put some petroleum jelly around and under the dogs eyes BEFORE you go into the field. This helps keep things out of their eyes and protects that skin from damage. WHen junk starts to collect on the jelly you can wipe it off and re-apply.

[Snag]

I don't know what type of grass it is, but every time I hunt the stuff my dog looks like Rocky the next day. I always check to make sure seeds aren't stuck in his eyes now. I can usually find the problem right away.