Lisa Burns - Founder of Eye Envy

Sasha Levine reports
Photo courtesy of Eye Envy

Lisa Burns started her company - which created, markets, and distributes a tearstain remover called Eye Envy - in 2001, when she decided to resolve the seemingly endless battle to keep the stained areas around her own Himalayan and Persian cats' eyes clean. The reddish-brown tearstains distracted from their beauty and made Lisa feel like she wasn't a good owner, even though she gave them the best food, vitamins, water, medical care, and grooming. Her cats still had horrible stains.

Little Squishy, her Himalayan, was the worse culprit. She tried everything from tear duct flushing to injections of antibiotics, to ointments and home remedies. Nothing worked. After researching many options, Lisa and others created Eye Envy from four main ingredients that not only cleans the stains but also addresses the root of the problem.

This externally applied solution contains a flora-derived herbal antibiotic, an antibacterial, a cleanser, and astringent. Eye Envy is not an aggressive product and does not contain any bleach, peroxide, or steroids. "We only use the best ingredients," Lisa states, "with no chemicals or preservatives."

Eye Envy had its initial debut at the CFA Santa Monica Cat Show on September 15, 2001. That year, they took several 2-ounce bottles to the CFA show as a trial. What they didn't sell, Lisa's group gave away. "Some people came up to our table and said that we were ridiculous and that there would never be anything to solve this problem; others said we were stupid to even try to convince people that something would work," says Lisa. "Well, later that week, orders started flowing. I guess our invention wasn't so stupid afterwards."

Lisa and company initially thought they had developed a product to help only the cat owners, but they later realized that dogs also suffered from tearing. The next year, at the same annual CFA show in Santa Monica, Jay Leno sent a crew to do a spoof on "Cat Show People."

Eye Envy was featured during the last few seconds. When it aired, the spoof caught the attention of dog owner Sheila Brey in Ohio. Sheila was desperate to find something to combat the stains on her little Maltese, Sassy. When she tried Eye Envy, she was quick to let her friends and Lisa's company know that Eye Envy worked extremely well. Hence, this was the start of Eye Envy for Dogs. They quickly adapted their product to accommodate the variety of dog breeds with this inherent problem. Ironically, today nearly 85% of Eye Envy's sales are in the dog market, servicing over 25 dog breeds that have tearstains.

"We've worked really hard to create and maintain a great product, and I'm proud to say that we've been extremely successful." Lisa says. "We always want what is best for our pets and will never lose that focus. Eye Envy is a passion; it's not a job." For more information or to contact: www.eyeenvy.com - 310-530-5341