# Blocked Tear Ducts



## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

There are surgical fixes but I would not think you'd want your regular vet to attempt them. Let him flush and if that doesn't work, see an ACVO diplomat (ophthalmologist) and get it fixed properly.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

Denver has had the same problem, except his is just one eye. We are seeing the Vet Ophthalmologist today actually, to talk about the options. I will post after our appointment to let you know what she says. 

Here is a photo of Denver, it is his right eye that has always been clogged. The left eye has no tearing.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

jes325 said:


> My amazing Golden (Winnie) has blocked tear ducts. She has had them from the day we got her...from a reputable breeder. She is 10 months old and has not been spayed yet. I am wondering if anyone has had an issue with blocked tear ducts with a golden. My thought was that I could possibly have it repaired while she is under anesthesia for the spay. My vet is telling me that they can flush the tear ducts but there is no guarantee. Has anyone else had this experience? Is it unreasonable to think that I can have this repaired while she is already under anesthesia for her spay? We love her the way she is and we are ok with this being a lifelong thing. Just thought I would pose the question in case anyone else has experienced this with their golden. Thank you!!


So we are back from the Ophthalmologist. Denver has what is called "imperforate lacrimal puncta" which is basically absence of the tear duct opening. Meaning that there is no opening or hole leading to his tear duct, which obviously causes the tears to overflow onto his cheek. This will require surgery (if we want to fix it), as she will need to construct the opening and make sure it functions as a drain for the tears. Only his lower tear duct in his right eye is affected. She said it is about a 30 minute procedure, under anesthesia with a 2 week recovery time (cone of shame and some antibiotics). She had said that when dogs don't outgrow tearing/staining this is often the reason. The procedure is about $1,200, wondering if insurance will cover any of it...

You can do it while they are being spayed/neutered but we are not neutering until he is 18 months...so we have to also decide if we want to wait until then or just do it now. 

I would definitely suggest taking your girl to an ophthalmologist, as sometimes it is as simple as flushing the ducts and opening the "drain" quickly in the office. Best of luck!!


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## jes325 (Mar 26, 2018)

Thank you so much. I appreciate your response to my post! I will definitely make an appointment with the opthomologist to see what they recommend. My hope was to have the procedure done at the time of the spay to only have to put her under anesthesia once. In other words have the opthomologist present at the time of the spay to repair her tear ducts. That didn’t seem like an option with our vet. I will start with the opthomologist and go from there. Thanks again for responding!


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

jes325 said:


> Thank you so much. I appreciate your response to my post! I will definitely make an appointment with the opthomologist to see what they recommend. My hope was to have the procedure done at the time of the spay to only have to put her under anesthesia once. In other words have the opthomologist present at the time of the spay to repair her tear ducts. That didn’t seem like an option with our vet. I will start with the opthomologist and go from there. Thanks again for responding!


I am under the impression that if we chose to do the tear duct at the same time as the neuter, they would perform the neuter at the specialist vet hospital (where the ophthalmologist operates out of) and not our normal vet. Definitely ask though, I did not think to ask her that specific question, that is just what she made it sound like!


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## Golden sunset (Jul 1, 2020)

Emmdenn said:


> Denver has had the same problem, except his is just one eye. We are seeing the Vet Ophthalmologist today actually, to talk about the options. I will post after our appointment to let you know what she says.
> 
> Here is a photo of Denver, it is his right eye that has always been clogged. The left eye has no tearing.


so what was dogs diagnosis? I'm getting a light colored golden retriever, & I noted it had more drainage from ! eye than the other..


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## Golden sunset (Jul 1, 2020)

Emmdenn said:


> I am under the impression that if we chose to do the tear duct at the same time as the neuter, they would perform the neuter at the specialist vet hospital (where the ophthalmologist operates out of) and not our normal vet. Definitely ask though, I did not think to ask her that specific question, that is just what she made it sound like!


how did this go. & what caused her tear duct to be blocked. I'm getting a gr pup with 1 eye having more tears stained


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## Golden sunset (Jul 1, 2020)

jes325 said:


> My amazing Golden (Winnie) has blocked tear ducts. She has had them from the day we got her...from a reputable breeder. She is 10 months old and has not been spayed yet. I am wondering if anyone has had an issue with blocked tear ducts with a golden. My thought was that I could possibly have it repaired while she is under anesthesia for the spay. My vet is telling me that they can flush the tear ducts but there is no guarantee. Has anyone else had this experience? Is it unreasonable to think that I can have this repaired while she is already under anesthesia for her spay? We love her the way she is and we are ok with this being a lifelong thing. Just thought I would pose the question in case anyone else has experienced this with their golden. Thank you!!


does this damage their eyes? im getting a gr pup that has more drainage from 1 eye


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## Golden sunset (Jul 1, 2020)

Emmdenn said:


> Denver has had the same problem, except his is just one eye. We are seeing the Vet Ophthalmologist today actually, to talk about the options. I will post after our appointment to let you know what she says.
> 
> Here is a photo of Denver, it is his right eye that has always been clogged. The left eye has no tearing.


what was his diagnosis. & does it eventually affect vision? im getting a gr pup with 1 eye tearing more than other


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## jes325 (Mar 26, 2018)

Golden sunset said:


> does this damage their eyes? im getting a gr pup that has more drainage from 1 eye


We ended up taking Winnie to a vet opthamologist. She was diagnosed with having no openings in both of her lower tear ducts. Similar to what another person posted we could have it surgically repaired, however the vet couldn't guarantee that the procedure would work. I think it was going to cost around $1500. Since it is strictly cosmetic, we decided not to go through with the procedure. She is not bothered by her tears at all and her vision seems to be fine (she is 2 years old). I just wipe her tears daily with a wet cotton ball and sometimes I use contact solution. Hope this helps!


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

Golden sunset said:


> what was his diagnosis. & does it eventually affect vision? im getting a gr pup with 1 eye tearing more than other


His official diagnosis was “imperforate puncta” in the right eye. What that means is essentially his tear duct in that eye did not form all the way and was missing the opening. His tears were just draining out of his eye instead of the tear duct.

He had to have surgery to open up the duct and place stent tubing through the duct, stitched to the outside of his eye so that the duct would form around it, creating a functioning duct. We saw our primary vet and then moved on to a canine ophthalmologist when Denver did not grow out of it (some puppies have clogged tear ducts that they grow out of).

He recovered well and we haven’t had a problem since. Here is a before and after. He had the surgery at 6 months. He’s 21 months now.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

jes325 said:


> We ended up taking Winnie to a vet opthamologist. She was diagnosed with having no openings in both of her lower tear ducts. Similar to what another person posted we could have it surgically repaired, however the vet couldn't guarantee that the procedure would work. I think it was going to cost around $1500. Since it is strictly cosmetic, we decided not to go through with the procedure. She is not bothered by her tears at all and her vision seems to be fine (she is 2 years old). I just wipe her tears daily with a wet cotton ball and sometimes I use contact solution. Hope this helps!


That is how much we paid as well. Our pet insurance covered 80% and though it was mostly cosmetic, we decided to go for it so that his tears would drain properly and the tears wouldn’t continue to stain. Maybe because he’s quite light colored it bothered me more than it would have if he were darker.


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