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Treatment

Your veterinarian will separate the puppy's eyelids by moistening them and pulling them gently apart. Once the eyes have been opened, your veterinarian will be able to wash the eye and the eyelids to get the infected cellular matter out. To prevent the eyelids from sticking together again, warm compresses will be applied, and will be recommended for home treatment as well. Your veterinarian will also prescribe a topical antibiotic ointment to be applied to the eye.

Living and Management

Apply warm (not hot) compresses to the eyes of affected puppies after returning home to prevent the eyelids from sticking together again, and follow through with the full course of the prescribed antibiotic medication. If it appears that the infection is limited to only one or a couple of the puppies in the litter, you will still need to be watchful for signs of eye infection in the litter-mates that appear healthy, so that you can act quickly if symptoms do appear.

Some bacterial infections of the eye are highly contagious, and you will want to keep the uninfected newborns from contracting an infection. Have your veterinarian advise you on whether you will need to isolate the infected, or uninfected, newborns. (Do not isolate unless it is necessary, since it is important for the social and physical  development of the newborn puppy to be close to its mother and litter-mates.) Be sure to keep the eating and sleeping areas in which the newborns and mother occupy clean and hygienic, and wash the mother's nipples often, using only warm water -- no soap, as soap can lead to cracking and bleeding of the nipples -- or as your veterinarian advises.