Swollen tear duct

QuestionEdit

I have a English bull dog and he is 18 weeks old. He has had his tear duct swell up before and it went away after a few days, we asked the vet about it when we took him in for his last shots and was told that because it went away it was nothing to worry about. It now has come back and it seems to be a little worse. Is this a sign of cheery eye or just an irritation? It looks like it would be sore or at the very least itchy. Could this be from a switch in food, last time it happened we hadn't changed the food but this time we did switch food about 12 hours before it was noticed.

AnswerEdit

Changing his food will not irritate his eye unless he got some of it in his eye. You should not be changing food however, unless you are giving up some bad food and switching to a great food like Science Diet puppy growth. He should be on large breed puppy growth so his bones form properly. Also switching food all the time is really hard on their digestive system, which is made to eat the same stuff all the time. If you want to build a long, lived, healthy, shiney coated dog, get him on SD large breed puppy food and keep him on it until he is one year old.

Sounds like he is trying to get 'cherry eye' simply because it is that swollen. An irritated eye would be red, but not swollen like those appear. I have actually never seen one on a bulldog but any dog can get them. The fact that it went away doesn't mean it won't come back. It is not painful, but once it comes back and is inverted, it will need surgery. And the worst thing is that if they get one, they almost always get one in the other eye. No one knows why. I wouldn't do anything until it reaches that stage. They are not itchy or sore either. Unless he is pawing at it, don't worry about it until it becomes chronic.