Your Stories About Dogs and Ocu-GLO Rx ™

Dr. Colitz gave my treatment-weary Amos a gentle but thorough exam and determined he did, in fact, have small cataracts already forming in both eyes. She prescribed a special eye treat which I understand is antioxidant-rich and includes grape seed extract, lutein and other nutrients which have demonstrated some success in reducing the formation of cataracts. Amos even likes the taste. We give them to him as a reward following his daily injections.

Here's the best part -- so far, so good! I have continued to take Amos for exams at 3 and 6 month intervals, and to date -- almost 2 years after his initial diagnosis -- there has been no further development of his cataracts. My big, bouncing galoot of a dog continues to spot and point toward any bird foolish enough to land in our yard. (He even caught one a few weeks ago!)

Over a year ago, Dr McCalla diagnosed Grace with a pre-glaucoma condition in one eye and a small cataract in the other. She was prescribed an eye drop medication schedule for both eyes and was started on the first trial version of OcuGLO Rx. Gracie did not like the initial (soft) chewable form of the supplement and it was a big fight every day to give them to her. I had to cut them up into very small pieces and hide them in peanut butter or cream cheese, and it was very difficult and messy to give them to her. We both were relieved to be put on the study for the first GelCap version of OcuGLO Rx. Grace took her GelCaps daily and her cataract grew only slightly while on them. When we were no longer able to get the trial capsules, I could not get her to take the soft chewables again. I tried putting them in tiny pieces of ham, cream cheese, and peanut butter, but she always knew they were loaded and would spit them out. I couldn't fight with her every day to put them down her throat, so have been waiting patiently until the GelCaps come out in November.

Unfortunately, since the trial began, Grace was playing with a kitten and was scratched in the eye with glaucoma. After a heroic effort, she lost the eye. Therefore, it is vital that we keep her remaining eye with the cataract going as long as possible, and I am overjoyed that the Gelcaps will once again be available to her! Grace has a new examination coming up soon, and my hope is that the cataract is still small. However, she has been showing signs of low vision. She often misses jumping onto the sofa, and has not been playing with the other dogs as much. I am not sure if this is only because of poor depth perception because of losing the other eye, or perhaps the cataract has grown enough to cloud vision.

I highly recommend using Ocu-GLO Rx. If there is any chance of slowing the progression of vision loss, our Furbabies deserve this. Miko suffers also from epilepsy, hypothyroidism, dry eye and compromised liver function. Today though, he is still a happy, normal boy who loves life.

Dr. McCalla saved his sight. We cannot imagine how the loss of Pudge's sight would affect all his other health issues, so we thank her for all she has done for our family.

It has now been over a year, and although his left eye had become a little cloudier, it has stopped now. Pasco still has great vision in his right eye. During the day he is able to see EVERYTHING. Although he sometimes has difficulties seeing in the dark, Pasco is not completely night-blind.

It is sometimes difficult to know with certainty if a product/therapy is helping---especially with a pet family member, as sometimes the changes can be very subtle. There is also the difficulty in determining the outcome had the product/therapy not been used.

Having said this, I do believe that for my dog, the eye supplement has made a difference by sustaining my dog's vision given his circumstances.

In October 2009, my wonderful and sweet dog, Cocoa, was in a terrible accident and lost all of her vision in her right eye forever. Right after the accident, she still had fairly good vision in her left eye, but this quickly worsened due to severe inflammation of the optic nerve and retina. At Cocoa’s second eye examination, Dr. McCalla told me that Cocoa’s left eye was failing rapidly, having lost 90% of its vision. Steroid pills were not really helping, so Cocoa was put on the Ocu-GLO Rx supplement in addition to doxycycline pills in the hopes of saving the 10% vision she had left.

The results were amazing!---Cocoa has regained 50% of her vision in her left eye and she can now catch treats! Dr. McCalla says that it is hard to tell exactly how much of the recovery of vision is due to the doxycycline and how much is due to the Ocu-GLO Rx, but in her opinion Cocoa’s recovery of vision is a “minor miracle”. One thing is for sure… Cocoa will be on Ocu-GLO Rx for the rest of her life.

Her recovery of vision is about the greatest thing, as Cocoa is my heart and I would do anything to help her. I think that with Dr. McCalla’s help, Cocoa will have a good life and we will be blessed to have her for many, many years.

Thank You Dr. McCalla and Ocu-GLO Rx-- from Cocoa

Note: Cocoa’s right eye does not show any “eye shine” in this flash photo because of the severe damage to this eye.

Dr. McCalla and I have wanted for years to place my sweet little Shih Tzu, Daisy Ann, on the canine vision supplement, but Daisy Ann needed something special--- a small size gelcap—because she would not easily accept other forms of supplementation, no matter how hard I tried. Starting in December 2009, Daisy Ann has been on the new Small Dog size gelcaps of Ocu-GLO Rx and she accepts it as just another “piece of cheese” from me. The small gelcap is perfect and I am so glad that Dr. McCalla and her research partners were able to make it in the small size.

When I gave Daisy Ann antioxidant supplements in past years (buying each ingredient over the counter—and there were several---- and cutting up the pills) the amounts I tried to give her were always a guess, even if she would accept some of them. But now--- no more concerns about that! She is still on her doxycycline and a small amount of prednisone, but she is off all other medications now. I will keep Daisy Ann supplied with Ocu-GLO Rx.

Thanks again!

We had a Dachshund/Chihuahua mix, “Skipper,” who had sequentially lost the lens in each eye and had poor corneal integrity, thus requiring multiple eye surgeries. We actually moved to the Bellingham, WA area specifically because we wanted to live close to the highly recommended veterinary ophthalmologist Dr. Terri McCalla. Right from the start, Dr. McCalla recommended Skipper take the vitamins and supplements that are in OcuGLO (since OcuGLO was still in the development stage and not available yet).

I searched high and low for “pharmaceutical grade” lutein, grapeseed, etc. – and realized they were next to impossible to find, not to mention how many different capsules I had to order online (and reorder at completely different intervals). Because Skipper was a small dog, the amounts he needed meant opening and trying to “save” partial capsules - while trying not to leave any on my hands lest I stain my clothes or the dishtowels. The supplementation made mealtime preparations lengthy and messy (and probably not terribly tasty for Skipper). However, our dear old boy lived to be 16-1/2 – and after six eye surgeries and the recommended vitamins and supplements that are now available in OcuGLO – he could still SEE until his peaceful passing.

We now have a second dog with eye problems; Sheila (a Greyhound/Rhodesian mix) has PRA. Her retinas are an absolute mess. I have started her on OcuGLO and can’t believe how much easier it is! Sheila gets one capsule each meal and at bedtime, and all I have to do is buy ONE product (either online or from Dr. McCalla) instead of searching the Internet for multiple supplements from different manufacturers. The added beauty of it all is that OcuGLO is pharmaceutical grade, so I know Sheila’s getting the ingredients listed – something I couldn’t confirm in the supplements I’d ordered for Skipper. OcuGLO is just a fantastic product that I can’t recommend highly enough.

In the course of a single day in November 2007, our Jack Russell Terrier, Maxx, went from having a slight eye squint in the afternoon to being virtually blind by 10 PM. The emergency veterinarian told us that Maxx had glaucoma and that we would be lucky if she wasn’t irreversibly blind by morning. Also, that if she still had vision by morning, Maxx would need to see a veterinary ophthalmologist first thing the next day. Eight hours earlier, I didn’t know dogs could get glaucoma or that there were eye specialists for our furry family members. After 2 morning consultations with the ophthalmologist and hours of treatment, Maxx could see but her vision was in serious trouble. Within a couple of days, she had laser surgery to help control the glaucoma in her left eye. Six weeks later Maxx’s left eye underwent additional surgery due to uncontrollable glaucoma. Instead of the eye being removed, an intraocular prosthesis was surgically placed inside the eye to improve the cosmetic appearance, and it looks great! Thankfully, her right eye was still visual.

Maxx had routine recoveries from her surgeries and made a strong comeback throughout 2008. However, in late 2008 the glaucoma in her right eye was no longer controlled by medication, so we elected for Maxx to have endolaser surgery. This was performed by our wonderful ophthalmologist, Dr. Victoria Jones, with the assistance of her staff at Northwest Animal Eye Specialists, all of whom Maxx and we had come to trust and rely on to help keep her vision. Following her surgery, Dr. Jones (who knows one of the inventors of Ocu-GLO Rx), recommended that Maxx start taking the predecessor to Ocu-GLO Rx, a vision softchew “treat” that was available through a local compounding pharmacy until Ocu-GLO Rx Gelcaps were available in December 2009. Dr. Jones believed this supplement might help support Maxx’s recovery and her long-term eye health. As pet owners who embrace holistic veterinary care for our pets, we were excited to learn more and to get Maxx on this special antioxidant supplement.

A few months later our other Jack Russell, Sophie, who is now 11, was having some trouble seeing in low light (called senile retinal degeneration). Dr. Jones suggested we begin Sophie on the supplement too.

More than a year after her surgery, Maxx is doing very well and her glaucoma is under control. Both dogs’ vision remain strong due to their excellent ophthalmic care, Ocu-GLO Rx and a lot of love!

In the photo, Sophie is on the left and Maxx is on the right.

My 7 year old English Cocker Spaniel, Darcy, first showed signs of his eyes not reacting to light in August 2009. In April, 2010, Darcy was diagnosed with PRA and early stages of cataracts. The thought of Darcy losing his vision devastated me as I just imagined how he would feel as his vision slowly deteriorated. He has been our little miracle boy and has been and come through a lot. The eye specialist recommended Ocu-Glo, and I immediately went on their web site and felt so much better and more positive after reading about the product and the testimonials. I was so excited that there was something on the market that could help Darcy. Darcy was already on an allergy supplement and a multi-vitamin, and after reading the FAQs, I emailed Dr. Colitz to inquire on the dosage of Ocu-Gloso he did not get too much Vitamin E and grapeseed extract. Dr. Colitz responded promptly and was extremely helpful and advised me the best way to go.

Since Darcy has been on Ocu-GLO, there does not seem to be any indication that his PRA and his cataracts have progressed, and Darcy does not show any signs that his vision is deteriorating (touch wood!). In fact, he still sits on the top of the sofa, looking out the window, patiently waiting for people and dogs to walk by. Even at nighttime, he can see if someone is walking down/up the street or something is in the front yard. He runs around the house, our store, and walks around if something is in his way, can see right across the park when other dogs enter, and loves to hang out the car window and watch and always acknowledges when he sees a dog, a person, a cyclist, etc. Additionally, Darcy suffers from dry eyes, but since he has been on Ocu-GLO (I also give him a couple of eye drops per day as recommended by my vet), he is producing more tears and it is so nice to see that his nose is not so dry.

My vet told me that they had expected Darcy to have lost his sight by now as it has nearly been a year since his condition was detected. A huge thank you to everyone at Animal Healthquest for developing Ocu-Glo as you have given us (and Darcy too) hope that this fantastic product will slow or even stop his cataracts and PRA progressing.

We have had Taffy, our ten year old Queensland Heeler, on Ocu-Glo for about two years. We were told when her PRA was diagnosed that she would lose her sight completely within a year. It's been two years now and, although she can't see at night, she still sees during the day and you would never know she has a problem with sight. It breaks our hearts to know; that she can't see during the night but we know that if we don't move things around or change her environment, she does very well. Thanks to Ocu-Glo we truly believe that it has slowed down her PRA and, even if it only helps her see for a few extra months, it's worth it to her and to us.

Update August 11, 2011:

We have had Taffy on Ocu-Glo for at least 3 years and during that time her vision has not diminished completely. We were told that after her diagnosis with PRD she would be blind within a year. Well, happily, she has kept some of her vision; enough to see to get around, eat and play. At night, she has problems seeing and bumps into many objects, but, during daylight hours, she gets around and even spots strange dogs trying to come in to her territory. It appears that she has problems with seeing things up close but has the ability to see dogs, people and cars in the distance. It's possible that she is only seeing movement but, regardless, SHE SEES SOMETHING and for that we're grateful. Thanks to Ocu-Glo, she has been able to keep some sight that may have been destroyed without it.

Buddy, our male Newfoundland, came to us as a rescue dog at approximately 1 year of age. He had been in 3 homes before we first decided to foster him as we searched for a new and permanent home. He was a 120 pound ball of anxiety. The first few weeks were very challenging as he had not had much interaction with females and he was highly anxious that he was going to be dumped yet again. We fell in love with him and decided we would keep him and welcome him to our home. We had lost both our beloved dog and cat on the same day only a month before, and we were so grief stricken that we swore we wanted no more pets. However, Buddy was a few doors down at a farm and it was quite apparent he was not a farm type dog. So we fostered him, fell in love with him and we feel he rescued us far more than we ever did him.

I am quite sure that previous owners got rid of him when they discovered he had PRA. A giant-breed blind dog probably would scare most people. We tackled his eyes as we have most of our health issues. After we consulted an animal ophthalmologist, we also consulted our naturopath and researched homeopathics, herbs, supplements and also began a very good diet. We were using human supplements. We also took care of Buddy's emotional needs that also helped with his overall health.

By chance, I came across the website for Ocu-GLO Rx. I was so excited to find a product that had been designed by experts in animal health and was meant for dogs. As animals absorb products differently than us humans, I knew that this had to be a much better fit for Buddy. We have been using the product for over 6 months and Buddy has healthy eyes, in spite of his PRA and cataracts. Our vet doesn't understand how, but Buddy does see even though he has the big bright green glow from the PRA and the fog from the cataracts. He doesn't get eye infections anymore and there is much less brown goo from the eyes. Although both of these conditions cannot be reversed, we feel hopeful that Ocu-GLO Rx is slowing the progression and at least allowing Buddy to enjoy the world through his eyes.

In the end, Buddy rescued us in so many ways. It is now our job to keep this 160 lb Newfoundland healthy, happy and much loved. It is a job that I love to do.