Cateracts - What can I expect going forward?

[Fruitarider]

My 26-year-old quarter horse was diagnosed with a cataract in his right eye last year by my vet during his annual exam. He didn’t show any vision problems at that time.

Fast forward to this year I started noticing some vision problems with him being spooky at objects and shadows, which is very unusual for him. This summer he became head shy when putting on and taking off his fly mask, and while leading him with his buddy he places himself behind his buddy (nose to tail). He has always been a little buddy sour when his left alone but would settle down after a couple minutes, that has now escalated to constant calling out and trotting up and down the fence working himself into a sweat. I had the vet out last week and she found the cataract had grown and he has a new smaller cataract in the left eye. Vet recommends keeping a fly mask with UV protection on him at all times.

This is my first time dealing with vision problems in horses. What can I expect going forward? Is there anything I can do to help him besides a fly mask?

[RMJacobs]

I don’t have good info for you; all I can do is commiserate. I had a driving pony who had always been very solid, had only spooked twice in harness in all the years I drove him. Then he suddenly started spooking at things he’d seen hundreds of times: fenceposts, shadows, bushes, etc. My vet said it was cataracts. The last time I drove him, his spooks were becoming dangerous, so I retired him.

I had just sold my horse property when I retired him and needed to board him, which was very concerning. I felt awful about putting him in a new place with compromised vision and figured I’d euthanize him if he couldn’t get around safely. Amazingly, he did great. It was a small backyard barn, owned by a very experienced woman who had two horses and wanted one boarder. He got along great there.

About nine months later, I moved from Colorado to South Carolina, and moved him halfway across the country to a barn near my new house. He did very well there, too, and lived a few more years. He enjoyed being an honorary uncle to the BO’s foals.

I was heartbroken at retiring him as I was retiring myself, and planned to spend lots of time out driving once I was no longer working my crazy job. But I was thrilled at how well he did once I was no longer driving him, and happy I could go hang out with him for hours on end.

What else does your vet suggest beyond the fly mask?

[Obsidian_Fire]

Find a vet who specializes in ocular health. I have been told, by my generalist vet, that cataracts in horses can be removed.
I don’t know anything more about it tho.

[trubandloki]

@Obsidian_Fire

Find a vet who specializes in ocular health.

This, totally this!

[OzarksRider]

@Obsidian_Fire

I have been told, by my generalist vet, that cataracts in horses can be removed.

I was wondering if this was possible. Years ago one of my cats had a subluxated lens removed (complication of uveitis) and he lived a normal and happy life for many years after that. I know he could see perfectly well out of that eye, because he was blind in his other eye. So yes, it’s definitely worthwhile to see a veterinary ophthalmologist if you can.

[Pico_Banana]

I have a 31 year old quarter horse mare with cataracts. She was 26 when I adopted her and she already had them at that time.

I will say that they definitely have worsened over time. Just a few weeks ago, I walked up to her in the paddock - kinda diagonally towards her head on the left. She had her head down eating grass. She did not see me coming at all - was totally startled once I got really close to her. So you definitely will need to be aware to make sure your horse knows you are there.

The only other thing I will mention is that my mare did have a lot of eye issues - repeated eye ulcers that took FOREVER to heal. She does have a mild case of PPID so I’m sure that played into things, as well. I don’t know if the cataracts were a factor in that at all. My guess is no, they aren’t, because now that I have a whole protocol in place to try to prevent any other ulcers, they haven’t recurred. But just FYI.

[StormyDay]

@Obsidian_Fire

Find a vet who specializes in ocular health. I have been told, by my generalist vet, that cataracts in horses can be removed.
I don’t know anything more about it tho.

I’ve been told this too. As far as I can tell there’s no age limit on having it done either; it’s a standing procedure and the horse can go home the same day. I was looking into it for a horse of mine with cataracts before she passed.

[Real_Rush]

IIRC, they can do cataract surgery very similar to how they do it for humans. They remove the lens of the eye, which while restoring sight, does take away depth perception. The biggest thing to test for is if he low or high pressure within the eyeball itself. If high pressure, that means there’s glaucoma involved. If low pressure, then the overall size of the eyeball itself will gradually shrink a little.

Back in the '90s, my gelding (Rush, my “namesake”) had a hyper-mature cataract in his right eye due to uveitis. While luckily he didn’t have glaucoma, he did have low pressure in the eye, which caused it to slowly shrink and sink into the orbital socket a little bit. It never looked untoward or obvious. I don’t remember anyone ever commenting on it, I think I just noticed it because he was my horse.

But long story short, I never had the cataract removal done, only discussed as a possibility.