I have purchased tylan 40 and used it on my problem dogs. After a few weeks, I cut the stains off and they stayed away! Their breath smelled much better, and they looked much better. After 6-9 months, one dog started staining again, so I gave them both another dose, and have yet to have any more problem in about 2 years.
First of all, tear staining IS a problem contrary to what the vets say. It causes hardening of the hair around the eyes which is very uncomfortable for the dogs, and cosmetically, the dogs just don't look good, which can change the way they are treated and or their sellability, and/or the amount of pride in the owner which I believe the dogs can sense. However, what the vets don't tell you is that this staining is caused by a yeast infection, called Ptyrosporin, causing irritation and burning in the dogs eyes.
Something irritated the dogs eye to begin with. It could have been stray hairs, teething, clogged or malformed tear ducts, allergies to ingredients in their food, minerals in the water, or many other things. This irritation caused the eye to tear up. Tearing is natural. However, the tears should be clear. If the area around the eye stays wet for too long, Ptyrosporin spores floating in the air have a chance to stop there and grow. Then you get tear staining.
You need to find out what caused the excessive tearing. However, even if you fix the problem, the infection will not just go away. It has to be treated. Cleaning the area will not make it go away. It is just like when a woman gets a yeast infection. If she got a yeast infection from sleeping in a wet bathing suit, taking the bathing suit off will not make it go away, and neither will it go away if she keeps herself clean. First it must be treated. Then, once it is treated, she makes sure she never falls asleep in a wet bathing suit again. Tylosin treats the ptyrosporin infection.
The tylosin is bitter, and the dogs don't like it. In order to get it down them, I gave them some human food (I know, shame on me). I would scramble an egg, and since green beans and parsley are natural remedies, I added them to the egg with the tylan 40. I used about half a teaspoon once a day for my 6 pound toy poodles for 4-6 weeks. In my opinion it is an absolute miracle cure.
Tylosin is often packaged as tylan 40, such as acetaminophen is packaged as tylenol. Tylosin is the main ingredient in Angels' Eyes, the only other ingredient being beef liver. According to the angel eyes web site
"Angels' Eyes is a product that cosmetically eliminates unsightly tear stains, beard stains and paw stains caused by excessive licking. which eliminates any Ptyrosporin (Red Yeast), a bacterial infection.
Ingredients: 100% Pure Beef Liver and Tylosin as tartrate.
For the first 3 months Angels’ Eyes MUST be given daily. Angels’ Eyes is very safe. There are no reports of toxicity with long term use and Angels’ Eyes is safe short term even if overdosed. Widely used within the showring circuit"
Upon further research, I found that angel eyes has been around for years, and is used by numerous people on their dogs, as well as by breeders and the showring circuit. While they have a very low percent of complaints that it didn't work, they have never had any complaint filed against them for any side effects regarding a dogs health. While the FDA has not approved this drug for dogs, Their tests would not include nearly as many participants as have already used this product with no ill side effects. The absolute only bad side effect I have been able to find of this drug used on dogs is below
Tylosin may cause falsely elevated values of AST and ALT when using colormetric assay.
And here is a vet's explanation for that
It just means that if you have blood work done on the dog the medication may make a couple of the findings show a false high reading making it appear the dog has a liver problem or an inflammation when it doesn't really have one. ALT is short for alanine aminotransferase (previously known as SGPT) and this is an enzyme found in liver cells. AST is short for aspartate aminotransferase, (previously known as SGOT) and it is a similar enzyme that is found in many cells, including liver, muscle, and heart and raised levels may indicate inflammation. So the med may make these show a false positive. The implication would be you might treat for a disease that wasn't there.
If you do decide to use any form of tylosin, be sure to inform your vet if they do blood work.
Below is my findings on Tylosin, what it does, why it is safe, and why it is not precribed by vets.
Dogs produce clear tears regularly. Sometimes, dogs can have problems with excessive tearing due to a blocked tear duct or ingrown eye lash, or hair getting into the eyes. Sometimes teething can cause excessive tearing too. If the fur around the eyes or mouth stay wet for a prolonged period of time, they become a breeding ground for yeast and bacteria. One of the most common yeast infections is Ptyrosporin or Red Yeast which causes a deep reddish-brown stain. Low grade bacterial infections in the tear ducts are also common and may cause excess tearing and staining.
Once a ptyrosporin infection begins, it oftens gets into the eyes, and can eventually cause an oral infection. This can cause bad breath. The most common evidence of an oral yeast infection is red staining on areas that are not naturally wet, but are often licked, like the paws and sides of the mouth.
As you can see, having tear staining is not natural or healthy, but caused by an infection. Without any infection, the tears would exist but there would be no colored stain.
Many veterinarians will prescribe Tetracycine to treat tear staining. Unfortunately, the dog can become immune to tetracycline and make it useless in treating the dog later for other infections. Unlike Tetracycline which is a broad-spectrum antibiotic Tylosin is a macrolide antibiotic similar to erythromycin and is considered as narrow-spectrum because it is active against only a few specific bacteria, therefore it will not develop imbalance or resistance in the animal’s immune system. Since Tylosin is narrow spectrum it does not correct any recognized health problems in dogs. Tear staining and red yeast infections are not considered health problems because they do not lead to any damage to the body that the vet will need to treat, so it is treated as a mere inconvenient cosmetic problem, with disregard to how miserable the dog is from irritated and burning eyes. Yet, vet's do recognize it when it is convenient for them to charge you to get a prescription for tetracycline to treat it.
The fact that Tylosin is not used for any ailment that dogs have is a good thing if you are worried about the dog becoming immune. If the dog gets ill, the vet will not prescribe Tylosin to him. Therefore, if he became immune to it, it would not be a health problem. The only problem would be that tylosin would no longer work on tear staining.
I have spoken to 2 veteranarians that I know personally about this. They both said that any vet would be leary of recommending anything to a client if it is not approved by the fda, because if anything did happen it would fall back on them. If it was fda approved, they could use that as a legal arguement. Off the record, both of them think the FDA should approve it, and both of them do not think it would cause any harm.
After you have cleared up the tear staining, it is important to find the source. The dogs eyes were too wet for too long, attracting the yeast to them. This can be caused by many thing. To begin with, check your dog regularly for a piece of fur in the eyes. When/if you see a piece, use a saline solution for eyes, like you would use for contacts, and rinse it out of the eyes. You should check their eyes daily, it only takes a moment. You may consider trimming the hair near the eyes often between grooming appointments.
Another possible source is blocked tear ducts. Have your vet check to see if your dog's tear ducts are clear. If they are blocked, he can normally flush them. If this does not work, there is a surgery to correct this problem.
Other possible causes are allergies to food. Read the link about canine diet and try switching him to a grain free food. Corn soy and beet are all linked to tear staining. Make sure your dog food labels do not have these ingredients listed. Make sure the food and water are served in non porous bowls, such as stainless steel. You may want to consider getting a water purifier to make sure it is nothing in the water. Many people suggest adding a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar to the drinking water. Feeding the dog green beans and parsley can also help.