One of the most important things that make living things different from non-living things is the sense of feeling. Although, humans feel the most among all animals also have feelings. As a pet owner, have you ever wondered that do dogs cry? Or what do they do when they are sad? How do they show their grief? Well, the basic answer to your query is “no”. Dogs do not cry as humans do. In fact, humans are the only animals on planet earth that shed tears in order to show their emotional grief.
Dogs are empathetic animals. They are active and they howl, bark, and whine at different times. But it cannot be said that a dog is crying because dogs do not cry the way humans do. However, dogs have some specific body language to show their grief and happiness such as waging their tails and pinning the ears at back.
What is that water coming out of my dog’s eye?
Contents
The eye of the dog produces tears as a general function to keep the eye wet. Dogs have tear ducts in their eyes. This helps in keeping eyes clean and clear of debris. This material is drained back in the nasal cavity rather than flowing from the eyes. If the eyes of your dog are leaking tears, there is some trouble. The issue can be:
- The dog is developing an eye infection
- Epiphora (the tear duct is blocked)
- Any kind of allergy
- The eye is somehow damaged
Issues that cause teary eyes:
If you find any of the above-mentioned signs in the eye of your dog, consult a vet as soon as possible. Following is the detailed account of reasons behind the flow of water from the eyes of a dog.
Allergies
Allergies can cause the eyes of the dog to the water. Such allergy can be caused by a number of things such as food, smoke, dust, or pollens. The vet will identify and tell you the precautions for this situation.
Infection:
If you notice that the eyes of your dog are bloody, mucusy, and yellow than most probably your dog has caught an eye infection. Moreover, if the eye is swollen and has an irritated area around it, it means the dog has eye infection for sure. Get the dog to the vet and bring the medicine as soon as possible.
Scratched Cornea:
Active dogs can usually cause themselves scratched cornea, playing at a rough and bushy place can cause scratched cornea in the dogs. If the dog is pawing at the eye a lot, blinking more than usual, and has inflamed eyes and surrounding area. Your dog needs proper treatment for this. Consult a vet.
Speck of dirt:
If tears are continuously flowing from the eyes of your dog, there might be an eyelash or a speck of dirt in the eye of your dog. This situation gets over after a little period of tearing in the eyes. If the situation prolongs then the chances of other serious issues arise, get the pet checked by a vet.
Blocked tear ducts:
The dog also has tear ducts in their eyes, just like humans. These tear ducts help in draining this excessive liquid from the eyes of the dog. Due to any possible reason, if this tear duct gets blocked, tears start dripping outward and it seems like the dog is crying. This eye discharge is called epiphora. If this continues for multiple days, get your dog’s eyes checked by a vet.
Then why do dogs cry, whine, and howl?
Animals have interesting ways to communicate with each other such as flicking their tails, vocalization, and raised hackles along the back. Howling, whining, and crying are also one of their means of communication. Followings are some reasons behind crying, howling, and whining of dogs:
Stress:
The most important reason behind such kind of voice sand behavior is stress. This happens usually during the practice and training session of your dogs. The dog begins pacing, cowering, panting, dropping the tail, and acts indifferent to the cues to show that they are stressed out because of the practice or training.
Pain:
Dogs usually don’t cry because of chronic pains but they do cry due to acute sharp pain such as pain caused during arthritis. Their voice clearly shows discomfort, if the dogs are feeling any kind of pain. If the dog is whining and there is no noticeable reason for any kind of pain, consult a vet.
Invitation:
Wild dogs have this practice of howling to gather their fellows in the pack. Domestic dogs also do this, and they sometimes howl in your absence as if they are calling you back.
Separation anxiety:
Many dogs have anxiety issues when they are left alone. Once they are left alone, they cry, whine, and howl for hours. After returning from work, spend more and more time with your dog to make them feel comfortable and it will help in lessening their anxiety issues.
Attention:
As a pet owner, if you are raising the dog since it was a puppy, you must have noticed that the first thing puppies learn is to grab attention by crying. Older dogs also do that. They do this trick of crying to gain attention whenever they feel ignored.
Discovery:
Hunting breeds do that when they find the dead bird. They alert the owner about the fact that they have found the hunted bird or something. They bring attention to them by howling. This habit is present in these dogs by birth and some others are trained also.
Conclusion:
Dogs have feelings, just like any other living being, but they do not depict them in the way as humans do. Don’t think that your dog is crying if you see tears flowing out of their eyes. The reason behind that phenomenon can be different eye issues and diseases such as infections and allergies. Moreover, the dogs cry, whine, howl, produce other interesting sounds in order to show feelings like attention-seeking, pain, fear, stress, anxiety, discovery, and invitation.
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