Dog eye irritation and gunk

by Fred
(Seattle, WA)

Left eye shown twice

I am concerned about my dog’s eye(s). About a week ago, for the first time I started noticing gunk in both of his eyes and more seemed to be in his left eye. I cleaned it out about twice a day with a tissue.

Normally his eyes are very clean. He hasn’t seemed to pay attention to his eyes before this morning. He actually seems less affected by irritations than other dogs I have owned, and much less than the 7 lb poodle we have. So I probably need to pay more attention for him.

Yesterday it was starting to get more gunk. I kept it clean.

This morning his left eye was held closed by the gunk in his hair and he was rubbing his eye with his foreleg occasionally and licking his leg. I carefully washed his eye with a damp cloth and trimmed the hair with scissors so it would be easier to keep clean and inspect.

His left eye is red and the tissue is swollen and it is draining a lot. He lets me inspect but I can tell it is more sensitive than normal. He still doesn’t try to open his eye very much on his own (he squints it and keeps it closed).

We went for our morning walk with no incident. He ran as he always does.

Back at home he will occasionally rub it, but not excessively. I washed the surrounding area with warm water and then put in a couple of drops of very diluted tea tree oil (diluted with clean water).

He has seemed to be squinting less and maybe slightly less swelling. It is still very red.

I wonder if I can continue cleaning it myself and maybe find some other types of drops that would be good to use?

I wonder how to tell when I should take him to a vet for a prescription?

The picture combines two pictures taken back-to-back – about an hour after I put the drops in his eyes. When I first open his eye, the flap on the inside is visible and is red, then recedes.

He is a 4 year old Yorkie, about 15 lbs. We have owned him for about a year. He is a strong and energetic dog.