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Just like most maltese owners, my maltese has a bad tearstaining problem. My vet told me that there is a type of surgery which can be done on her tear ducts, but I would never consider surgery simply for cosmetic reasons. I've used many products, but none seem to work. Does anyone have any recommendations?

• Direct causes of tearstaining can usually be attributed to blockage of the tear ducts, an allergy or growth of hair on the inner corner of the eye. There are also some indirect factors for tearstaining such as poor physical condition, inadequate diet, a low grade infection such as chronic tonsillitis, lack of sunshine and fresh air and lack of proper exercise or maybe matting of hair on the eyeball. If infection is present, only cleansing the eye with eye washes and antibiotics such as tetracycline will improve the condition. Often times, surgery is the only method giving any relief from this ailment. To get rid of the brown stain once the condition is cleared up: Keep the hair clipped close to the face. Carefully wash the skin and hair with a hydrogen peroxide solution, being careful none gets in the eye. After the hair is dry, although some people put boric acid in the corner of the eye, I WOULD NOT as it is so toxic when ingested, Destin ointment or zinc oxide ointment is safer.

• As a breeder first of Maltese now of Persian cats, eyestain has always been a problem. For the cats I am using a very natural product that has corrected the problem 90% of the time Since most eye stain is bacteria related I use Colloidal Silver which kills bacteria. There is also a product on the market by Halo that will clean up the discolouration on the fur.-Beverley Abramson