Cataracts

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Skhosu

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Bit concerned as my 6yr old lab fell up a set of steps yesterday, ones that she goes up everyday and she just seemed to miss. I have wondered about her eyesight before but she seems happy enough. Parents suggestes cataracts and we had a look in her eyes and hers are completely different to our other 3 dogs. Think I will pop her to the vets with the cat getting his stitches out, anyone experienced cataracts/eye problems in dogs?
 
My Tina has a cataract in one eye (her left one)...you can see it is this piccie below:

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She is now pretty much totally blind in it. I believe it began to develop when she was about 5 years old. She's now comnig 8. She stills goes out shooting every week without any trouble but has been known to misjudge and run into trees. If I'm in crowds I'm always very careful to keep her good eye to the outside so she doesn't get scared by things she can't see touching her.

You can get them removed but the vet told us it had only a 50% chance of success and we didn't want to put her through it for it not to work.

it is a bit freaky looking and bulges out more than the other but as long as it's causing her no pain/discomfort it will remain there. If it gets to be causing her pain or bother we will consider getting it removed, but only in an extreme case.
 
Yep....my mam has just paid £1900 to have cataracts removed from a rescue dog that had to stay in her care due to diabetes
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he was practically blind and now his sight has improves phenominally...he no longer walks into doors and can see who he is looking at now
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He is only 12 months old....so she thought for quality of life he needed to be done...before he wen completely blind
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DIESEL....u can see his funny eyes in this picci..b4 the op...I will have to take some after piccies.

I have also heard that there is a new eye drop med on the market to help with cataract problems...not to sure though
 
I'd heard it was about £1,000 an eye. See if your insurance will cover it (if you're insured).

Other than that, don't move furniture around, and take special care that your dog doesn't get run over or anything through poor vision.
 
She is insured, she doesn't seem to have any difficulty re: seeing things but falling up steps is just not normal! What sort of signs did you see to suggest something was wrong?
 
Look at her eyes in the dark with a torch (not too strong or for too long), or take a picture with a flash camera. Do the same for one of your 'normal' dogs . This is the easiest way to tell. Vets will use an opthalmascope or something though.

Bumping into things/falling at steps is another sign. Painting the edge of the steps white can help unless she's totally blind. You can get white concrete paint (use the special undercoat for this first).

Basically if you're insured I'd go for it, as dogs with cataracts are more prone to eye ulcers/other damage, and the problem is that even if it's only one eye now the other eye could go later when your dog's too old to operate on. Also your insurance policy may only cover the condition for the first year after it's diagnosed (- check your policy).

Normally vets only do one eye at a time but if you have a policy that only covers one year then it could be best to go for both at once if they both have cataracts. I do know somebody who had her dogs two eyes done at the same time for this reason.

There could be other causes of bumping into things but sight problems are the likely cause.
 
Also behaviour changes such as spending more time in her basket, staying closer to you on walks than normal, reluctance to do normal things (including walks) or following the wrong person can be a sign.

You may well find surprisingly few signs though and falling up steps may be the only sympton until things are pretty advanced.
 
Have looked with a doctors eye seeing thing (mum is a doctor!) and father(doctor) thinks she might have some, her eyes look completely different to the others, the other dogs are all red at the back, clear detail. Her eyes are kind of green and a bit white, will take her to the vets and a get a look for peace of mind/diganosis I think!
 
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