This post was on another Forum, but it seems so promising, I copied it and reproduce it here for interest.

******* Copied post
Hi to all of you who have doggies suffering from dry eye.

We have tried everything, and still use optimmune plus other things.

My husband recently came back from the chemist with a new Optrex product called Optrex ActiMist (Eye spray). I have to say that I complained that he had wasted money, because it has to be sprayed onto closed eyes. Anyway, we held Freya's lids closed and sprayed.........this was 4 days ago.

I am so delighted with the results. Her eye condition has honestly improved. It has reduced the gunk considerably.

It states that it penetrates the lid to form a protective film over the eye. The manufacturers say that if it is sprayed onto the eye itself, no harm is done, it just stings a bit.

If anyone is at the stage of despair.....just try it. I feel really delighted. And, I am not imagining things.....friends have commented too, on the difference in Freya's eyes.

It is expensive....but, it is good.
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I have not tried it, but will do if I get desperate. It is a human product and the web details sound very promising indeed.

I used this product myself as I suffer from dry eye occasionally and it is really great. Would check with a vet before I would use it on a dog though.

The optimmune may have 1 or more ingredients that the actimist doesn't.As most dry eye conditions are caused by the dogs own immune system,optimmune is designed to combat this(hence the name)No doubt the actimist, if passed by the vet,would certainly relieve the discomfort but I'm not sure it has the added benefit of optimmune. Well worth finding out though, added bonus that its actually a spray!!!!!

I read this post on another Forum during my random browsing (I am not a member) and it sounds very interesting indeed.

I post it on this thread in case it may be helpful information to others. It certainly sounds good to me and I will mention it to my Vet next time. You can read the details of this spray by Googling it on the web. It looks very attractive.

Hi
my dog ellen has got dry eye. I also had no idea what it was, when she first had the moisture test her results were 3 in her bad eye and 5 in the other. She was diagnosed last year and is now on optimune once a day. Which has now greatly improve thing nad her test are now normal. She will be on the optimune for life but I think it is great stuff and it seem to work quite well.
I was lucky as a new vet at my surgery had an interest in eye diesiase and she noticed it and check ellen as the only signs with her were slightly gunky eyes all the time.
She is now pretty much normal as long as she has her eye ointment.
I never new it could lead to eye needing to be removed so I am very happy it was found and has been improvedso that she is fine.
Ellen took quite a few weeks for the optimune to get ellen's eye up to a normal level and she now seems to be stable.

So I wouldn't worry just keep an eye on it as it cna be managed without to much trouble and can be improved as well although not cured. Ellen has a very happy lfe free from eye irritaions now. I am only sorry that she had it for around 7 years without me knowing.
She is a golden retriever so it seem to affect any breed.

Anyway hope your rottie improves as well.

Ndidi

good to hear Ellen is doing well.Your right it is easy to manage when diagnosed.

What wonderful news to hear that the Optimmune has worked so well to restore her back to normal. Your story gives me a lot of hope and encouragement - cheered me up quite a bit.

I know that the Optimmune treatment is lifelong, but if it works so well at least the dog can lead a normal life without that horrible gunk and clouded eye, probably painful, to spoil her daily happiness with you.

Optimmune is expensive. My Vet was going to charge £60 per 10 ml tube. But if you browse the web, there are lots of reputable suppliers selling it half the price.

My Vet charged me £10 for a prescription covering 6 tubes - one tube lasts about 5-6 weeks at twice per day, morning and night.
I bought 2 tubes and will buy the rest when required from my chosen supplier.

I selected Animed Direct and paid £23.45 per tube and £3.95 for express delivery - a total of £50.85 for 2 tubes. I did not do it online, but chose to make a telephone purchase using my credit card. It was delivered within 2 days.

I Emailed my prescription to them and will not need another until the 6 tubes have been supplied.

You can find all the details of Animed Direct - http://www.animeddirect.co.uk - on the web together with many other similar cheap drug suppliers. Most of these companies are well established and very reliable, no need to worry about this.

All medicines and drugs can be obtained the same way at around half the price paid to a Vet, but you have to get a prescription for many of them like I did.

Am furious with my now ex-vet. Katie has had several bouts of conjunctivitis & loads of gunk in her eyes every day, which the vet said was just pollen/dust allergy & nothing to worry about. This gunk started about a year ago. Yesterday I took her to another vet for a 2nd opinion & he diagnosed dry eye, which I had never heard of. She's now on Optimmune for life, but, of course, her eyes have deteriorated in the year without treatment. I am so angry that the vet has put her health at risk by not conducting the simple test necessary. Hope Optimmune does the trick, but we live on our own & I find it really difficult to stop her struggling & open her eye to put drops in by myself. Am giving her treats afterwards, so hope in time she associates the 2 things

Three years ago I fostered a Maltese/JRT, I was told that he had either dry eye or blocked tear ducts, I didn't have any experience of these when I took Bertie on. I am lucky, my vets has 2 consultants for eye problems and I knew both of them well so I took Bertie to Simon.

Simon had a good look at Bertie's eyes, put something in them, another good look and said that he had conjunctivitis, there was nothing else wrong and gave him something for it.

Simon then went on to explain that dogs with round eyes were they stick out a bit have problems with tears because tears take the shortest route, in this type of dog it goes down the face and not through the tear ducts, this stained the dog's hair.

Simon also said that they see more problems with the stuff that is put on to take the staining away than genuine eye problems. The foster home Bertie was with before me had used this on him, he came with some. As Simon said, this staining is cosmetic but putting that stuff on to take it away can do a lot of damage, usually conjunctivitis. If you want to stop the staining put Vaseline on the fur, the tears will then run over the fur and not stain it.

Simon and David are operating all the time on dog's, and other animals, eyes, I trust them with my dogs, in fact I have on quite a few times, David was also involved with Ellie, my little girl who had the tracheotomy in.

You are lucky if you have a vet you can trust but not all specialise in some problems like Simon and David who specialise in eyes, I trust them completely but wouldn't take a dog with a spinal problem to them, I would take him to one of the other consultants my vets have.

I hope everything goes well for you dog.

Thanks for replying Mattie. Still think vets were negligent though, as it's a very simple test to carry out and, as it seems it's a common condition, it should have occurred to them that dry eye might be the problem (even though Katie's a collie x, not a short nosed breed)