Those Rusty Tear Stains: What Is Actually Behind Them and What Helps

On a light-colored doodle, especially the paler Maltipoos and Cockapoos, you eventually notice it: a reddish-brown streak running from the inner corner of each eye down into the fur. It looks a little like the dog has been crying rust, and it worries a lot of new owners the first time they really look closely. Almost always, it is far less alarming than it looks, and it responds well to a simple routine.

What the stain actually is

The color comes from porphyrins, iron-containing compounds naturally present in tears, saliva and urine. Dogs with lighter coats show the staining because there is no pigment in the fur to hide it, not because they produce more of it than a darker dog. Every dog tears normally to keep the eye lubricated and to flush out debris. On a doodle with excess tearing or hair that channels the moisture straight into the surrounding fur, that normal tearing becomes visible in a way it never would on, say, a black Labrador.

A face this pale and this fluffy is exactly the canvas tear stains show up on, which is why the Maltipoo Floral Face tee gets the portrait right.

The staining itself is cosmetic. What is worth paying attention to is WHY the tearing is happening in the first place, because a few of the common causes are genuinely fixable.

The usual suspects

• Hair in the eyes. Facial fur that curls or falls into the eye irritates it constantly, which increases tearing. Trimming the hair around the eyes, something a groomer can do even between full cuts, often cuts staining noticeably on its own.
• Blocked or narrow tear ducts. Some doodle mixes, particularly the smaller ones, have anatomy that does not drain tears as efficiently, so more overflows onto the face instead of draining normally.
• Allergies or mild irritation. Environmental allergens can increase tear production the same way they do in people, and often show up as staining before anything else is obvious.
• Diet and water. Some owners see improvement with a higher-quality diet or filtered water, though the evidence here is more anecdotal than for the causes above.

The daily wipe beats the whitening product

Wiping the area gently every day with a clean, damp cloth or a vet-approved eye wipe, then drying it, does more for staining than most specialty products on the shelf. The goal is keeping the fur dry and free of buildup, since moisture sitting in fur for hours is what lets the staining set in and, worse, creates a warm damp patch where yeast can take hold underneath it. A few seconds during your normal grooming routine is usually enough to keep it under control.

Be cautious with products marketed as tear stain removers. Some older formulations contained tylosin, an antibiotic not approved for this cosmetic use in the United States, and reduced staining from those products often came from an unintended antibiotic effect rather than the marketed ingredient. Ask your vet before using any tear stain product rather than picking one off a shelf based on before-and-after photos.

A dog with a clean, well wiped face carries a bit more dignity, which is the whole energy behind the Cockapoo Royal Crest tee.

When it is worth a vet visit

Most tear staining is a cosmetic nuisance rather than a medical problem, but a few signs mean it is worth a proper look rather than just more wiping. Sudden onset, especially in only one eye, squinting, visible redness or swelling, a change in the discharge from watery to thick or colored, or pawing at the eye all deserve an exam, since they can point to an actual infection, an eyelash growing the wrong direction, or a scratch on the surface of the eye that a wipe will not fix.

A cosmetic problem, treated like one

For the overwhelming majority of light-coated doodles, tear staining is simply a fact of the coat color, manageable with a daily wipe and, where the cause is hair in the eyes, a quick trim. It is one of the more visible things about doodle ownership and one of the least serious, which makes it a good one to stop worrying about once you understand it.

If your dog's face is looking sharp after the daily wipe-down, our shop is organized by breed, so you can find your exact doodle, or your exact not-a-doodle, and let the face do the talking.