Keeping Your Maltipoo's Eyes Clean
HOW TO KEEP YOUR MALTIPOO'S EYE AREA CLEAN
While the Maltipoo is not a particularly high maintenance dog, there are many useful grooming elements that should be done on a regular basis to keep a puppy or dog healthy, clean, and hygienic. This includes bathing, brushing, nail trimming, brushing the teeth, cleaning the ears, and cleaning the eye area.
Keeping the eye area clean will help to keep eye staining away.
Maltipoos are prone to tear stains where the hair around the eyes can become discolored. This is most obvious on lighter coated dogs. The red or brown hair surrounding the eyes that develops over time is not normal.
If you don’t know if the coloring is natural or not, touch the hairs. You may notice that they feel crisp and have a different texture than the rest of the hair. What you are feeling is an accumulation of dirt and fine particles of debris that have accumulated to the hairs overtime.
6 Things You Can Do To Keep Your Maltipoo’s Eyes Clean:
1) Clean the eye area on a daily basis. It is recommended to wipe your Maltipoo’s eye area each morning and again after each meal. It only takes about 10 seconds. Use a quality eye wipe that will not only clean the area but also work to prevent staining the coat around the eye. You can choose to use a damp cloth, but be sure to go over the area again with a dry cloth so that the tiny hairs around the eyes are dried.
Note:If there are already stains, you will want to use wipes that contain a stain removing agent.
2) Only use ceramic or stainless steels bowls when feed your Maltipoo. Colored, plastic bowls can leak into the food and the chemicals can cause staining over time.
3) Do not allow your Maltipoo to drink straight tap water. In many towns across the United States, there is lead, chlorine, arsenic, radon, and even rocket fuel in the water. In fact, there are over 100 toxins that are currently regulated, meaning allowed in low amounts, and many more that are not. There is also a high mineral content in some towns that can cause discoloration and tear staining to the hairs around the eyes of your Maltipoo.
It is suggested to place a filter on the kitchen tap, use a filtered water pitcher, or use spring/filtered water by the gallon.
4) Take your Maltipoo in for annual wellness checks. A yearly eye examine will be part of this, which can catch issues that are causing teary eyes, excess discharge, etc. Many eye diseases and disorders can be treated with great results if caught early.
5) Notice your Maltipoo's eyes! While you are brushing your dog's teeth or brushing the coat, take time to inspect the eyes. Look for any signs of a problem: redness, cloudiness, swelling.
6) Keep long hairs trimmed away from the eyes. Dogs that have long hairs around the eyes are more prone to eye infections. It is very common for dogs with curly or wavy hair (Like the Maltipoo) to get infections from the hair curling in towards the eyes.