We have several Maltese dogs in our family and a few of them unfortunately had severe Maltese eye stain problems.



At first we did not know what to do. The stains ran down their faces from the inside corner of their eyes down each side of their nose and it was unsightly and gross looking compared to the rest of their luxurious white coat.

We checked with our veterinarian and found that the Maltese breed has a predisposition towards eye stain problems as do several many other dog and cat breeds like: Maltipoos, Bichon Frise, Lhasa Apso, Papillion, Bulldogs, Cocker Spaniel, Shih Tzu and cat breeds like: Persians, Himalayans, Exotic Shorthairs, Devon Rex, and Scottish Folds.

One of the main causes of Maltese eye stain that is most commonly discussed is excess tearing.

If your Maltese has irritated eyes it can cause them to tear a lot. As the tears drain from the eyes the hair around the eyes gets wet and stained. Excess wetness around the eyes can be a breeding ground for bacteria and yeast.

Some of the causes of excess tearing are:

- a genetic predisposition to tearing as our vet explained

- allergies (these could be from the environment or from food allergies or even allergies to smoke or other irritants)

- ear infections

- teething or cutting teeth (common for Maltese puppies from 5 - 8 months old as their adult teeth are appearing)

If you can find the source of your Maltese tearing you can often keep the majority of the tear staining from even starting.

However due to the Maltese predisposition to tear staining genetically, in many cases it is very difficult to either find the source of the tear staining or to prevent it.

One way that all Maltese owners can help decrease the tear stain on their Maltese is to pay attention to the hair around the face and prevent hair from falling into the eyes. A simple top knot on your Maltese can go a long way in reducing the irritation to the eyes that causes more tear staining.

After checking with our vet we learned that our Maltese were okay health wise (thank goodness). The deep reddish-brown stains below their eyes came from the dogs normal tears that drained down the Maltese faces.

We learned that it was common for our Maltese to have tear staining because the tear ducts and bone structure are unlike other breeds and that in most the cases the cause of the color change of the hair and skin occurs when the normal bacteria on the hair and skin react with the clear tears. Even though the tear stains were not a health risk, we still wanted them to be gone so our Maltese could have a beautiful white face to go with their beautiful white coat.

We tried so many different home remedies to help the stains and leaky eyes to go away. We finally found a product that worked like a charm and all we had to was add a simple solution to our dog's food and after a short time the ugly stains were gone for good.