health, dogs eyes

Question
My dog has gooey eyes.  The wetness dries and gets crusty.  What might this be and how serious is this?

Answer
Hi Linda, those are called dog tear stains, and basically can be caused by dust, hair, and other irritants.  You can purchase over the counter medication that can be put in their eyes to remove dog tear stains.  Check with local groomers as they deal with it all the time due to hair.  Most of them can tell you the products locally to buy to put in the eyes to help keep that down.  I know of one called Eye Clear that helps.  Hope this helps,

Dawn