Canine Cataracts

Dog Cataracts or Nuclear Sclerosis?

What happens is that the eye lens fibers get thicker and they start to lose liquid. Some of the light that reaches the pupil is reflected back and it gives the dog’s eyes the appearance of having canine cataracts.

If your veterinarian examines your dog’s eyes closely, he will be able to tell if your dog has nuclear sclerosis (which does not affect your dog’s vision) or true dog cataracts.

Nuclear sclerosis does change the look of your pet’s eyes, but it does not affect his vision.

True Canine Cataracts

The lens of your dog’s eye is located behind its pupil. The lens does not have a blood supply and it must remain clear in order for your dog to see. When the lens loses its clarity or transparency, the condition is called a cataract.

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Causes of Cataracts in Dogs

If your dog injures his eyes, is exposed to radiation, or has an eye infection, he can develop cataracts.

Older dogs can develop senile cataracts and a dog with diabetes can develop canine cataracts as a secondary condition--caused by his diabetes.

Treatment of Cataracts in Dogs

• Do NothingIn years past, most people just chose to do nothing. The only available treatment was surgery and it was prohibitively expensive.

  You can still choose to do nothing, and, in some cases, that might be the best choice. Many dogs get along just fine with dog cataracts and they retain a good deal of peripheral vision (The lens is used for focusing on objects that are close.) For example, your dog might be able to see the mailman down the street clearly, but not the stairs right in front of him.

  Occasionally a dog who has actually become blind due to cataracts will have a return of his vision if the lens cracks and light can again enter the eye. This is called “second sight”.

  If you decide to leave the cataracts alone, you will have to monitor your pet’s eyes carefully. Cataracts can cause inflammation and as they worsen, protein can leak from the dog’s eyes. On and off, for the rest of your pet’s life, you may have to treat his eyes, periodically, for inflammation.

• SurgeryThe second option, surgery, has been around for quite awhile. Surgery is most successful when the condition is discovered early and the cataract is still immature.

  And, if your dog is going blind, surgical removal of the lens is the only widely accepted treatment that will restore his vision.

  Recent developments have been made in veterinary surgery for dog cataracts. The Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Illinois uses the very same kind of machine for dog surgery that is used for removal of human cataracts. It uses ultrasound waves to break up and remove the lens from the eye.

  Synthetic lenses are implanted after the above procedure, to replace the damaged lenses in the dog's eyes. Doctors claim that, with this method, your dog will see much better than a dog with advanced or mature canine cataracts.
  
  

  

  Photo by Toad Huffman
  
  

  Following surgery, your dog’s eye will be bandaged to prevent anything from coming into contact with it. You dog may also have to wear a collar to keep her from scratching or rubbing her eye.

  I would suggest that, if you decide to have the surgery done for canine cataracts, that you contact a specialist, a veterinary ophthalmologist. And don’t forget to get a second opinion!

• Eye DropsThere is also a new, non-invasive (not surgical) method. This sounds really interesting, and the doctors using it claim that it has been clinically tested for safety and effectiveness.

  Over a period of weeks or months, you simply use N-Acetylcarnosine eye drops in your dog’s eyes. Within a few weeks, the clarity of the lens should improve, the eye will become less sensitive to light and your dog’s vision will improve.

  The manufacturers claim that the N-Acetylcarnosine eye drops were found to be so safe for animals that they are now being used on people with success.

  The research was done in Russia and China over the last 10 years. These eye drops have not yet been approved in the US by the FDA, so make sure you understand this before you make a decision.

  Most pet owners simply put 3-4 drops a day in each eye. Simple and perhaps worth a try. In any case, please discuss this with your vet before using them on your dog.

Dog eye problems can develop gradually or rather quickly. If you know the symptoms to look for, it will help your veterinarian immensely when he diagnoses canine eye problems.

And, most importantly, if you catch conditions like canine cataracts early, you have a much better chance of having your pet recover fully!

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