Do you have to clean your dog’s eyes three times a day and despite all the cleaning, he still has some greenish-yellow hair around his eyes? Of course, you don’t need to clean your eyes three times a day, but I’m sure you know that yellow stuff can get quite smelly as it’s a breeding ground for bacteria.
The question is what can we do about it? Let’s be honest with each other. Shih Tzu are prone to eye infections due to their bulging eyes. But that’s no reason to give up!
In this article, I’ll discuss the first thing to look for: hair that irritates your Shih Tzu’s eyes. Imagine this. You walk around with your hands tied behind your back and every now and then a hair sticks in your eye. I am sure you will find it very uncomfortable and that you will do anything to remove the irritation. This is exactly the situation that a Shih Tzu faces with the only difference that he cannot do anything about it, it is up to you, his mommy.
A good start to tackling the problem is to keep most of your hair out of your eyes with a bun. Just make sure you don’t pull the bun too tight, otherwise it can damage your hair. Also get a puppy used to a bun as soon as his hair is long enough, otherwise you could run into trouble later.
The next step is to care for the hair around the eye area. Puppies especially go through a stage where their hair is very spiky. They grow at this stage, but the problem will never completely go away, it will only get better. Use petroleum jelly to keep hair out of eyes. Petroleum jelly is generally safe for a dog as it does not irritate the eyes and is also safe if consumed.
Another option is to cut the hair around the eyes. Just be very careful, as you don’t want to hurt the dog’s eyes. It is best to use a scissors with a rounded tip or if you are not comfortable doing it yourself, take your dog to a professional groomer. In many cases, mats have formed around the eyes and it is not so easy to cut the hair.
However, let me warn you: once you have cut the hair around the eyes, it is a nightmare to get it to grow back the way you want it to. If you want a particular look for your Shih Tzu, think about it long and hard before doing it.