Mrs. M. was a challenging customer, no doubt about it. She was the human on the end of the leash of Precious, an adorable little Shih Tzu. Mrs. M. started every conversation with those most dreaded two words, "Last time." "Last time she was too short," or "Last time she was too long," or "Last time you didn't wash her, did you?" The flavor and tone of the "last time" complaints changed regularly. At one point, her regular complaint was, "Last time Precious got a terrible eye infection after you groomed her." Now, this alarmed me! She repeated the criticism on several subsequent visits, telling me that taking her to the vet was awfully expensive.
I was concerned about this situation and called the Veterinarian on record to ask if they had any suggestions about what I could do to prevent these recurring eye infections. To my surprise, the receptionist told me they had never seen Precious for eye problems.
When I told Mrs. M. I had talked to her Veterinarian, she unblushingly confessed. "Well, I told you a little fib. But Precious' eyes get so irritated after her haircut!" After I got over feeling angry at her "little fib," I began to ponder more about these post-grooming eye irritations.
Like many other little dogs with protruding eyes, Precious was prone to getting some trimmed hair from her face stuck on the surface of her eyes. I could certainly see where those sharp little hairs would be very irritating. I could also imagine that a dog with hair clinging to its eyes might go home and rub its face on the carpeting and furniture, causing even more irritation. So, I tried an experiment. After trimming Precious, I used sterile saline solution and gave her eyes a good rinse. I called Mrs. M. the day after I groomed Precious and asked her how the dog's eyes were. "It's a MIRACLE!" She told me. "Her eyes are FINE!" So, now I keep a bottle of saline solution near my grooming table. If I see a bit of hair in a pet's eye or suspect that they might have gotten hair in the eye from the grooming process, I give the eyes a little rinse when I am done with the groom. It only takes a moment, and I know the dogs must be much more comfortable. Ban hairy eyeballs!
By Daryl Conner, MPS, MCG
Daryl Conner has been devoted to making dogs and cats more comfortable and beautiful for almost 40 years. You can find her happily working at FairWinds Grooming Studio with her daughter and infant granddaughter, or typing away at her latest grooming-related article. Daryl was awarded both a Cardinal Crystal Award and Barkleigh Honors Award for journalism. She shares her meadow-hugged antique Maine farmhouse with her practically perfect husband and too many animals.
