My vet recommende canned pumpkin for firming up the stool. Just add about a tablespoon or two to dry food and mix it in really well. It adds fiber and hardens up the stool, and helps the digestion. You should definitely NOT be feeding your dog nuts. Good luck.

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Shih Tzu’s often have food allergies, and paw chewing is the number one symptom of that. The only way to truly find out is to talk to your vet. He or she will want you go to on a hypoallergenic diet for about 90 days. Within that time, you can slip up and give them treats or people food b/c you will be back to day one again.

In general, try getting rid of all beef, chicken, wheat (gluten), and corn products. Be sure you read ingredients--lots of products say that they are lamb and rice but are filled with chicken/beef byproducts. Stay away from rawhide--which is beef, instead try nylla(?)-bones--duck or veggie flavored. The gamer meats tend to me less disruptive. Hope this helps......mine's paw chewing has noticeably decreased since I took out the list of items in the first line of this paragraph.
As for the expense…4lbs of dog food last me three months, so it’s not really a problem ;)

I

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I also have a shih tzu, and think that he would like a playmate. If you still have the dog I's be interested. I live north of Minneapolis. JDJKur@msn.com

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I constantly have problems with my pug's eyes, as they are notorious for problems since they stick out so much. Is your dog kind of squinty with the bad eye? Sounds like it could be a scratch on the eye, since it's just one eye, rather than both. Other things to watch out for...if you actually see anything visibly wrong with the eye, I'd bring him in to a vet, for example abnormal redness or cloudiness, as these things could certainly be the symptoms of something worse.

If it's a scratch, I've brought my dog in at least twice now for the same squintiness, and the first time, I was given a prescription for an antibiotic steroidal opthmalic ointment, called Neo Poly Dex. The second tme, he checked her eyes and told me to use the ointment again. Everytime I use it, she gets better within 24 hours, so now I recognize the symptoms enough to know when to just use it. Maybe for this time, if you've tried washing his eye out and it doesn't help, you could bring him in to see the vet and confirm the diagnosis. If it's something like this, once you get the prescription and you have it around, if it happens again, you can probably just handle it with the medication on your own, if you become familiar with the symptoms.

Certainly if you see him getting worse, you should bring him in right away!

Hope he's better!

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Did she have surgery on both eyes? If so the tear ducts could be larger now from the stretching of the skin? I am simply guessing but hoping I may make sense. Also if her hair on her feet is changing and chin 1)Yes,it could be age or 2) have you noticed her wiping her eyes a lot with her paws? Also when her eyes run,it goes right down to their little mouth so that could explain the chin discolor. Maybe tear stains? I hope this helps because I Am taking a wild guess but I am like you it seems, I would probably lose sleep over it. Let me know how she does . Try some Opticlear you can get it at Petsmart,that way if theres anything bothering her eye it will come out AND it should help her color a bit. It, like the rest of the tear meds,don't clear it all. Good Luck.
Christy

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We have a Shih Tzu also and created a website to celebrate <a href="http://www.theshihtzustore.com"> Shih Tzu's </a>

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