cataracts in dogs?? Update: Really is a cataract!!!

[ladybugred]

My JRT, yes the same one who got into MTG, was squinting and had swollen tissue inside his left eye Sat night. He didn’t seem to be in pain, nor did it seem to annoy him, so I figured on wait and see. Sun morn it was better, by eve, squinting again, at this point I also noticed his eye was REALL Y cloudy. The eye hadn’t been cloudy the previous day, and I hadn’t noticed any cloudiness before. I figured I’d wait til Mon for reg vet.

This morning he woke up fine, squinting by the end of morn walk, appprox 20 min. I called the vet, set up an appt for 5pm.

So the vet looks in his eye with a light, takes the dog to dye his cornea. Vet comes back and tells me my 5.5 yo JRT has. Fully mature cataract!!! The vet aslo did a blood glucose test, the result was 86, vet said that was good but didn’t ask when the dog had last eaten.

This dog was at the same vet office, saw a diff vet, a few weeks ago because he got into MTG. I called the vet because of swollen interior eye tissue, I did not notice ANY cloudiness then. That vet looked in his eyes and didn’t notice any, I assume since it wasn’t mentioned.

Is this normal for cataracts? My only other experiance with them was an old dog and those matured very slowly

Has anyone had the surgery??

I’m going to contact an opthamologist in the morning to set up an appt.

TIA

LBR

[MeghanDACVA]

See what the ophthomologist has to say.
Yes, it could be a cataract but somethings don’t ring true.
Eye shouldn’t be painful, ie no squinting, etc.
JRTs are a breed that can luxate their lens too. Meaning the lens breaks loose from its attachments and falls either into the back of the eye, behind the pupil (best place for it) or in front of it (bad place for it). This can be painful. And looks really wierd if you haven’t seen one before.

Let us know what the ophtholomologist finds.

[Mara]

Did your vet check the ocular pressure? I’d be worried about glaucoma.

[ladybugred]

I’m not entirely sure hoow a vet would check for OP, but he said that he palpitated it and it seemed normal.

Meghan- I don’t think he is in pain, he’s a total wuss and would be all over me if he didn’t feel good;). He’s not. But something doesn’t ring for me either.

This is the same eye that he presented symptoms in with the MTG. Other than the cloudiness, the sympptoms are pretty much the same.

Thanx

LBR

[Pancakes]

You need a special device (tono-pen) to check the intraocular pressures (tonometry) so palpating alone is NOT sufficient. I will ONLY believe what the tono-pen tells me as far as pressures. The ophthalmologist will be able to do this.

I’m with Meghan. Acute onset mature cataract are not generally painful or causing squinting/redness unless something else is going on. Uveitis (inflammation inside the eye), infectious diseases, glaucoma, lens luxation…the list goes on. The BG was checked to make sure he wasn’t diabetic – another cause of acute onset cataracts.

He IS in pain, by the way, if he’s squinting. May not be bad enough to cause him to stop eating or anything, but you squint when your eye is uncomfortable.

You definitely need to get to the ophthalmologist ASAP. If there is a cataract, finding the cause will be crucial to making sure the other eye isn’t affected and treatment can be started. There is cataract surgery available, as well – but best to get to the root cause first.

[Mara]

[QUOTE=ladybugred;5610648]
I’m not entirely sure hoow a vet would check for OP, but he said that he palpitated it and it seemed normal.

Meghan- I don’t think he is in pain, he’s a total wuss and would be all over me if he didn’t feel good;). He’s not. But something doesn’t ring for me either.

This is the same eye that he presented symptoms in with the MTG. Other than the cloudiness, the sympptoms are pretty much the same.

Thanx

LBR[/QUOTE]

There are instruments used to check ocular pressure - one is a little gauge held against the eyeball. It has a fair margin of error depending on the user and the animal. The ophthalmologist has more advanced technology to get a more accurate reading.

My cocker had an autoimmune disorder (can’t remember what it’s called) that would cause one eye at a time (usually) to bulge and get red and weepy. It was pretty scary looking, but was managed with drops just fine.

[ladybugred]

We have an appt @ 8am tomorrow. It was supposed to be 4:15 thurs, but the receptioist described his symptoms to the VO, who thinks it sounds like lens luxation. So we are seeing the VO before her surgery day.

I asked the vet yesterday about LL, he said it wasn’t. AARRRGGHHHH:mad:

LBR

[LauraKY]

I really dislike vets who 1) won’t admit they don’t know and 2) won’t admit they might be wrong. I’m on small animal vet number three and equine vet number two. Both say they don’t know if they don’t know and either refer to a specialist or find the answer from associates. My current vets are awesome! Just took a while to find them.

Good luck with your boy.

[ladybugred]

Thanx

This practice has 5 vets, the owner and 4 others, I’ve seen all the others and they are ppretty good. This was first time seeing the owner, who I think is semi retired. I had an appt on Thurs for shots, so I was going to get a second opinion then.

I should have known when I asked about LL, and he told me that was when the lens disolves:rolleyes:

LBR

[ladybugred]

We saw the VO this morning, turns out it is a rapidly maturing cataract with lens induced uveitis

She did a Schirmer tear test:16mm/min right. 18mm/min left
Tonometry 13mm Hg right. 8mm Hg left

He’s getting Prednisolone Acetate 3x/day, annd Atropine 2x/day.

Check up in 2 weeks

LBR

[Pancakes]

That sounds right. Lower pressures are a tell-tale sign of uveitis.

You should see great improvement with the steroid drop and the atropine!

Good luck

[ladybugred]

Could this have all begun in early April when I thought he was having a reaction to ingesting MTG? He had inflamed tissue isde the eye, and had trouble keeping hiis eye (same one) open, not squinting tho. The vet gave him a steroid shot, which seemed to clear it up.

No cloudiness then tho.

LBR

[ladybugred]

[ladybugred]

:whackadoo:

[tradewind]

Just FYI, they are now able to do cataract surgery on dogs quite successfully.

[ladybugred]

We’re going to discuss whether or not to have the surgery once the infllamation is down and the spasming iris is calmed.

The VO touched on it lightly, said that the surgery brings with it an increased rick of Glaucoma and Detached Retina. Since this is assumed to be resessive genetic, there’s the genetic lottery to hit;), and the other lens looks odd for his age, visible deliniation between nucleus and cortex, I’m going to have to give surgery a lot of thought!

Thanx!

LBR

[Kiwayu]

My 2 year old Airedale Terrier just had cataract surgery in December. She went from bumping into things all the time to seeing totally normally now. I highly recommend the surgery, expensive, but worth it. Insurance covered it. The aftercare was a bitch though, especially the first month. Medications every 1-2 hours around the clock and I became the ophthalmologist’s best friend!

[Kryswyn]

Sorry to hear about your dog. Jack Russells do have a problem with juvenile cataracts, which are any non-punctate cataracts that develop before or around the age of 5.

If you know that your cataract is NOT the result of an eye injury, given your dog’s age it is likely to be a genetic case of juvenile cataracts. The other eye can/will likely develop one also.

check out www.therealjackrussell.com for LOTS of information about this and PLL.

[ladybugred]

Kryswyn- Def NOT a result of injury. VO stated other eye was atypical for age, but DID NOT see any cataract formation as yet. She did say it would most likely be bilateral eventually.

I had read about LL before buying a JRT. I specifically asked about his C being caught in a CERF test, she said that his type would only be caught genetic testing. Both parents would have to carry the resessive gene, and he “won” the genetic lottery. Parents were tested and the breeder had had no problems when I bought Dra, who was the last breeding for bitch and dog. I am going to contact breeder to give her a head’s up on this.

We did touch on surgery, VO said 100% optional, but we would visit the topic fully once inflamation and spasms are controlled.Aprox 2 weeks.

I have had total info overload in the past couple of days, on LL & cataracts

LBR

Forgot to say Thanx for the info K, thanx!