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Is it safe to use Visine eye drops for my dog's dry or red eyes?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Shih Tzu | Female | spayed | 12 years and 3 months old | 13 lbs

Is it OK to use Visine for dry eye for a dog.

4 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr Stafford, BVetMed, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on August 15th, 2018

No do not put visine in your dog's eye. The active ingredient in visine has not been approved for use in dogs. Furthermore it works by constricting blood vessels to reduce redness and will do little for dry eye. If you have a diagnosis of dry eye from your vet you should use their treatment recconendation which will likely be remind dry eye drops or optimune. If you are yet to go to the vet you could use a product such as visco tears to lubricate the eyes in the mean time but a thorough ophthalmic exam is imperative in case there is a serious ocular condition present.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Vanessa Yeager DVM MPH

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    No, generally over the counter eye drops should not be used on dogs. They often contain Tetrahydrozoline which helps restrict blood vessels in the eye causing the redness to dissipate but can mask any underlying problems of the eye such as an eye infection or Glaucoma which may instead require antibiotics and other necessarily medications from your veterinarian. I hope this helps!

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on November 16th, 2016

    No, I would not give this to Toby. It is not safe at all to use in dogs. It works by constricting the blood vessels in the eye, and has not been tested for use in dogs, so you could accidentally do serious harm to Toby by giving this to him. I would take him into the vet now. He could have a foreign body in his eye he's trying to get out, or it's irritating him due to allergies. Any eye condition should be considered an emergency, as leaving them untreated can lead to vision loss. The vet can determine what is causing him to itch his eye, and can give him medication for relief and treatment of the itchiness.

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on March 4th, 2017

    It's ok! I did wonder, as there's no medicine named cosine :-) No, visine is not safe to use on Chopper. It works by constricting the blood vessels of the eye, and it does not treat the cause of the redness of the dog's eye. You may accidentally do harm to his eye by giving him this. He needs to see a vet for safe eye medication asap. I will post this answer in your other posts if they haven't been answered yet :-)

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