Tear Stains

Question
Hello Marjorie.  I have two questions.
 1, My Bulldogs are developing red stains down their face and I have been told to use white vinegar in their water, is this a good idea or not and if so do I use ordinary malt vinegar or a special type of vinegar.
2. Also my 4 1/2 month old bulldog ran in the house from playing in the garden and slipped on the floor tiles, his body going one way and his right leg the other way, he did not yelp or cry but got up straight away and started to limp.  We took him to the vet who put him on Remydel tablets for one week, but his limping appeared to get worse and the vet told us we will have to get him operated on sooner rather than later as he had a luxating patella and it will just get worse if we leave it, no X-rays were done on him, he then said for his condition his bone would have to be ground to stop his knee from jumping out. So we consulted the breeder who advised us to get the vet to give the pup metacalm so we asked the vet and after a lot of persuasion the vet said ok, and within 5 days a significant improvement was noticed and now after 10 days our little bullie is still improving every day.  Is the vet wrong, should we let him operate on our little dog.

Answer
1. Give your puppy one TUMS tablet a day and his stains will disappear. Disguise it in cheese or something he likes. It's harmless to the puppy. YOu have to do this forever or the stains will eventually come back.

2. Do NOT let the vet operate on your puppy at this stage of the game. Keep him as quite as possible, crate rest, leash walking only, no rough housing, no jumping until all his symptoms are gone. It may take weeks, but it's worth it. Chances are he'll be fine. Your vet isn't necessarily wrong, but he's over zealous. Give this time to heal and see how it goes. I can't believe he would suggest an operation without any diagnostics. You might seek out another vet.