If your dog suffers from allergies, you might notice they are squeezing their eyes shut, have discharge from their eyes, or keeping their eyes closed even when they are not dozing. Benji has allergies that act up in the spring and summer months and his biggest symptom is a rashy, itchy body.
It is currently early spring and we are starting to bloom. The other day we noticed Benji was squeezing his eyes shut and when he tried to open them, they appeared to be painful or itchy. He could only keep his eyes open for a second or two before he squeezed them shut again. He did not have any noticeable discharge but he was definitely uncomfortable.
We gave him some allergy meds but that didn’t seem to do the trick so with a quick search, we found that you could use a sterile saline solution to rinse his eyes. This one is specially formulated for dogs but we had some eye rinse on hand for humans that did the trick.
It is definitely a two person job. One person to hold the dog and one to squirt the solution into their eyes. We used a good amount to make sure we rinsed away whatever debris was irritating his eyes. After a few seconds, he was blinking normally and back to his usual self. So if your dog is suffering from itchy, irritated eyes and allergy meds aren’t cutting it, a saline rinse might do the trick. As always, consult with your vet. We are speaking from experience as dog owners for 10+ years with 3 rescue dogs.
