Cataracts

[Annette4]

Jack is booked in for a check up when Fizz goes for her spay next week but I wanted to see if anyone had experience with cataracts in older dogs.

I suspect he may be beginning to show early signs as he takes a little bit longer to register things and his eyes are duller and showing a slight cloudyness. He's booked in so I'll get a proper diagnosis but I wanted to see if that is the case, how people have coped on a practical level.

He's 11yo this year and to be honest, I cannot afford surgery so it's not an option but if he can have a decent quality of life with them then that will be a weight off my mind at least.

 

[nianya]

My husky had cataracts his entire life (legacy of bad genetics) but when he hit about 11 one eye had to be completely removed due to a tumor, and immediately after the cataract in his other eye got much worse. We determined he could see light/dark and maybe shadows but was otherwise blind.

It changed what we did, he couldn't go riding or off leash anymore but he was otherwise a reasonably happy dog. Most of the time cataracts take a lot longer than his did to develop and they learn to cope just fine. As he became blind we were careful not to change where things were in the house or yard, same as you would with a blind person. And on walks I was his seeing-eye human. He lived until he was 15.

 

[JillA]

I had a cocker spaniel whose eyes increased in cloudiness from the age of about 9 - not sure whether it was cataracts or just degeneration of the cornea. He lived to 14, and coped fine - dogs don't have the most brilliant eyesight anyway, if you don't move they often don't see you. It was important not to move the furniture or change his world in any way, but he was absolutely fine with minimal sight.

 

[Bellasophia]

I think in an older dog they do just fine.Dont change your routine,keep the furniture in its place and the dog will take its lead from you and the other dogs in the house.
I'd not even contemplate surgery in a dog of this age.