# my dog is squinting after grooming session



## KintaroLove (May 21, 2008)

Hi everyone.

I was wondering if you could help me.

I took my little poodle to get groomed this morning. When i brought him back i noticed that they shaved too close between his eyes to get the tear stains out. There is a pink area that looks like they skimmed his skin a little but it isn't quite at a point where its bleeding. Or maybe it could have been bleeding earlier. There are no scabs.

Ever since hes been squinting, pawing at it and whined once which he barely does. His squinting hasn't stopped since but his attitude is the same. He will still eat and play etc. but he looks incredibly uncomfortable and i don't want to touch it.

does anyone have any ideas what this could be? Did they hurt his actual eye? Will there be an infection?

The vet is closed tomorrow and the only one open 24 hours is terrible...


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## Lolas_Dad (Apr 28, 2008)

I would take the dog to the vet when he or she is open. It might be an allergic reaction to something that the groomer used. Had he been to the same groomer before?.

If it can be tracked to something the groomer did or used then I would present them with the vet bill.


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## LittleFr0g (Jun 11, 2007)

He could also have soap in his eyes. That could cause the squinting and pawing. I'd take him to the vet in the morning, and try not to let him paw at it, you don't want him damaging his eye with his claws.


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

Poor little guy.
It could be soap, like Lola said, but I would say 95% of groomers only use tearless shampoo on the whole head of the dog. It could also be a little hair. 

I don't see how clipping the tear stains would effect his actual eye, though. 

I would bring him to the vet.

If the vet finds that the eye injury is a _direct result_ of the grooming, then and only then you can ask the groomer to cover it, and if it is, your groomer should be happy to do so. However, if the vet cannot conclude that, then it is not the groomer's responsibility.

My guess is a hair, but that's just me. Call your groomer and (calmly) let him/her know the situation. He/she will tell you their policy about vet bills.

Best of luck, I hope your pup is well soon.


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## BobSD (Feb 1, 2008)

I agree with calling the groomer, but would not come right out and say you will pay the vet bill, Would try to be more tactful, other wise the groomer may go on the defensive and not be very truthful. First wait to see what the Vet has to say.

Also would be interested to know if this is your regular groomer or one of these petgo wonders.. I have a excellant relationship with our groomer and feel confident she would let us know if there was a problem during a grooming session. 

Hope you dog feels better by now, would not be surprised it is just a temp eye irritation, but it should not happen at all and I would never go back to that groomer unless this is discussed with said groomer.


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## KintaroLove (May 21, 2008)

thank you all for your responses.

Unfortunately it wasn't a little hair which i was hoping it would be. I don't know what happend in the grooming place but it turns out he has conjunctivitis in both eyes and an ulcer on his right eye.

the vet isn't sure what came 1st, the conjunctivitis or the ulcer but she gave me an aggressive treatment for his eye problem.

She also stated that If I waited a day or more, he could have ruptured his eye and become painfully blind. 

The bill was $133, does anyone know if a follow up exam is an extra fee as well? 

I called the grooming salon and they have different people grooming different dogs, so the person on the phone didn't really point out who it was, although I asked nicely. 

I wouldn't know how to ask them to pay the vet bill.. Although I know my dog was perfectly fine before i took him in and I noticed it immediately when I brought him home.

he's wearing a cone right now and looks miserable. I know it is to prevent him from pawing at his eye, are there times when people take it off for a little break other than feeding?
He refuses to pee because he cant sniff the ground. 


Thank you for all your advice.


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## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

You can take it off as long as you'll be _right _there with him and will be able to prevent him from getting at his eye.


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## Thracian (Dec 24, 2008)

> You can take it off as long as you'll be right there with him and will be able to prevent him from getting at his eye.


Yes, I did this with my boy post-surgery. If I was right there, I took off the cone. He kept it on at night and when I was away from home.

I'm so glad you took him in before the worst happened! Does the vet think both problems occurred because of the grooming?

My guess is that you might have to pay a vet visit fee for follow-up, but not anything else unless additional medicine/etc. is needed.

Healing wishes to your boy! I'm so sorry this happened.


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## KintaroLove (May 21, 2008)

thank you miss mutt and thracian. 

I took off his ecollar cone. it makes me happy that he looks a lot more comfortable

He did swat at his eye as soon as I took it off. poor guy.

does anyone have experience with their dog ( or cat) having corneal ulcers? I heard sometimes they come back often. In his case however, I think it was due to an abrasion and not genetics. hopefully it'll heal quickly.


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

What did the vet say caused the ulcer and conjunct? I would be really shocked that a dog could get conjunctivitis from a grooming session, I'm not sure how that would be possible. Did your vet clarify for you?


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## KintaroLove (May 21, 2008)

the vet told me that she wasn't sure what could be the exact cause of conjunctivitis or a corneal ulcer. It could be a range of things to cause conjunctivitis such as pollutants in the air, smoke, bacteria etc.. His ulcer could have been after the conjunctivitis because it gets very itchy and irritated, and his scratching at it would aggravate it. or it could have been the groomers negligence, accidentally putting shampoo in his eye and burning it. who knows?

I just know that when i took him to the groomer, he was very wide eyed and when he came back he could even open his eyes. His attitude was noticeably different.

That night he let out a little groan and I let him sleep with me. He sort of fell into a bear hug on my leg (lol) and slept there. I woke up a couple times during the night to see if he was okay and his eyes were watering tremendously.

I called the groomer and asked who groomed my dog but the person on the phone didn't know. I don't know what to say to them except the vet bill was $280 dollars when we were all done and told them to be more careful, but i'm not going back. I couldn't tell them to pay it. But i know for sure kintaro was in pain when he came home.

It took 3 days for the ulcer to heal but he needs to be on the tobramycin for another week.

Just to add...


















My Little man in his cone.


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## Macky (Feb 12, 2007)

The last time I took my poodle mix to the groomer, the exact same thing happened to him. He was fine when I brought him in and when I picked him up I noticed him squinting. I thought it might have been from maybe getting shampoo in his eye. This was the day before Christmas Eve. I rinsed his eye with eye wash and he seemed to be a little better. Then it got worse again so I brought him to the vet 2 days later and he said he has seen several dogs develop an ulcer from getting shampoo in their eye. I could actually see a perfect tiny circle on his eye that looked like a thin piece of plastic. The vet said it was superficial unlike a deeper ulcer that could have come from a poke in the eye. His eye cleared up quickly. 
By the way, he had been shaved around his eye and there were scrape marks that developed into scabs from shaving too closely also. I'm not very happy with his grooming and decided I'm going to find another groomer or do it myself from now on.


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## KintaroLove (May 21, 2008)

Macky, did you bring this to the groomers attention? Do they have policies or refunds when they injure your dog? I don't want this to happen in the future.

I thought groomers were supposed to use tearless shampoo on the dogs faces, even though that could still burn too.

My dog opened his eyes the way he normally would after a day or two of treatment, his ulcer wasn't deep as well.


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## Thracian (Dec 24, 2008)

Oh, he's a cute boy. Hope he heals very quickly.


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

Also send my best wishes and hope your boy heals soon.

I use tearless on any dog's ENTIRE head - and I would think most other groomers would too.

That's really a shame that your grooming salon wouldn't own up to who groomed the dog. And if for one second they let you think that they don't keep records of who groomed your dog - that is a lie. 

I suggest you find a groomer in a one-on-one atmosphere, a little more personalized. Or if not available, at least always ask for the same groomer when you book your appointments. Even at Petsmarts/cos, you can request the same groomer to groom your dog each time, and develop a trust and relationship with them.


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