Mucin deficiency (non-sticking tears)

First off -- when you do the drops don't come zooming straight into the eye - that's REALLY scarey for them.  So try coming in from other angles - the top of the head putting it in the corner of the eye.  With Tink I have to come in from way to the side and back with ANY sort of a dropper (those bulgy eyes see further peripherally)

My holistic vet has Billy on Black Current See Oil (Standard Process) which has helped his eyes a LOT.  It's just a supplement and it helps him make better (and more in his case) tears.   I still do some eye gel but not nearly what I used to have to do and NO cyclosporine eye drops

 Meg - That's what I do - get him all happy and excited for them so he knows that he's going to get his cookie afterwards, and then do the drops.

Callie -  Out of curiosity, why do you say no cyclosphorie drops (I know I spelled that wrong, I've never been able to remember that spelling!)? That IS one of the drops that the optho. put him on, and it's a very, very reputable vet so I'm a bit hesitant to question him.

SatelliteEars

Callie -  Out of curiosity, why do you say no cyclosphorie drops (I know I spelled that wrong, I've never been able to remember that spelling!)? That IS one of the drops that the optho. put him on, and it's a very, very reputable vet so I'm a bit hesitant to question him.

cyclosporine is a huge "super steroid" (it's not a steroid -- it's a heavy-duty steroid wannabe that actually is used for immune suppression -- think of when someone gets an organ transplant and they have to go on "anti-rejection drugs" -- usually it's cyclosporine!)

Billy took tons of it when he had IMHA (immune-mediated hemolytic anemia) -- and one of the nasty side effects was it messed a lot with any of the facial membranes like the nose, the eyelids, etc.

BUT at the same time they also use cylosporine as the eyedrop-drug of choice for dry eye.  It's almost like they are using a side effect of the drug -- using it as a topical in the eye as opposed to the oral drug. 

Billy took so much of it orally and it had such huge mega nasty side effects that I just can't bring myself to put it in his eyes.  It IS typically the drug of choice for dry eye.  But some of the side effects from the oral drug had a HUGE amount to do with his eyelids (his eyelids and jowls lost their elasticity and he lost the ability to blink AT ALL).  he could close his eyes to sleep --but he literally lost his blink reflex totally.  Now that was from the ORAL drug -- but trust me, if you had the history with the drug I do you'd understand why I don't want to use it for dry eye.

The black current seed extract is a supplement -- this is not something your "regular" vet is going to use.  This is something you'd get from an alternative vet --

 Oh, I certainly know the side affects of the drug, I was just curious as to your opinion as I also value it. I was on it at one point and would never want to subject that to any living thing if it weren't completely necessary! Being that CsA is a t-cell inhibitor (I also work in the med field so I do know a bit about this drug aside from the fact that I was on the human form for two-ish years) and works to do what the eye isn't doing naturally without the possibility of those negative side affects in other parts of the body, I think I'm going to wait to see how he reacts to it short-term and then consider just switching to the two time a day eye lube under vet supervision. Wow that was one big run-on sentence, this whole thing is giving me quite a headache - at least it's all figured out now! He's also "head surfing" after receiving his eye drops (dragging his head on the rug) so I've also got to work on getting him to quit that!

And I'd also WAY Rather see a dog take the drops than suffer without them.  But given that you understand the side effects of cycosporine you understand my drive to not use it.  Billy had SO many side effects on it that for him I'm willing to do it the harder way of supplements and other drops.