Antibiotic Overkill and Your Dog

by Mary Haight on August 3, 2009

Angel Eyes, a product administered daily to dogs and cats (especially the white coated) who have eye tearing that stains their faces, contains antibiotics. Call me crazy, but hasn’t there been a global push to stop excessive/routine use of antibiotics to relieve the problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics for many years now? Doctors have even voiced their opposition to the sale and overuse of antibacterial agents instead of soap. Every time we turn around it seems we are creating superbugs and mutating diseases. Now we are inflicting these problems on our dogs, perhaps unknowingly, with products like Angel Eyes.

Dr. Patricia Khuly brought up this product and the topic on Dolittler, a vet blog. She points out that flowing tears on a dog means something medically. Treating symptoms, and with an antibiotic without benefit of a diagnosis and prescription from a vet should be criminal. But it isn’t. Why? Because Angel Eyes is described by its maker as a “supplement”, and we know supplements are unregulated. In her own words:

“Never mind that tears can run down faces because eyes are misshapen. Never mind that the presence of excessive lacrimation is often evidence of disease. We have a cure for what ails you, suggests Angel Eyes, the look of sickliness is all but erased by our magic pixie dust.

God forbid we should actually explore the problem behind excessive tearing and its indelible staining…lest we find that our pets are afflicted by the genetic anomalies, ophthalmic diseases and/or poor hygiene that too often lead to a feline and canine “raccoon-eyed” appearance.

But the worst part is NOT that Angel Eyes is a quick fix to a basic problem of poor ocular conformation or a variety of other ophthalmic diseases. And it’s NOT that the presence of a product like Angel Eyes allows for breeders of Maltese dogs and Persian cats, among others, to continue to breed for unhealthy deformities and disease.

The real problem? Most users of Angel Eyes have no idea what they’re offering their pets by way of aesthetic maintenance.”

The next time you take your pet to the vet, if they don’t ask, tell them about all the different products and supplements you are giving your dog and/or cat. That way they know what questions to ask, and you’ll be sure about your furry one’s true state of health.

Never mind that tears can run down faces because eyes are misshapen. Never mind that the presence of excessive lacrimation is often evidence of disease. We have a cure for what ails you, suggests Angel Eyes, the look of sickliness is all but erased by our magic pixie dust.

God forbid we should actually explore the problem behind excessive tearing and its indelible staining…lest we find that our pets are afflicted by the genetic anomalies, ophthalmic diseases and/or poor hygiene that too often lead to a feline and canine “raccoon-eyed” appearance.

But the worst part is NOT that Angel Eyes is a quick fix to a basic problem of poor ocular conformation or a variety of other ophthalmic diseases. And it’s NOT that the presence of a product like Angel Eyes allows for breeders of Maltese dogs and Persian cats, among others, to continue to breed for unhealthy deformities and disease.

The real problem? Most users of Angel Eyes have no idea what they’re offering their pets by way of aesthetic maintenance.