If your dog or cat’s pretty eyes aren’t shining quite as brightly as they once did, your pet may be developing a cataract. In this speedy overview on the basics of canine and feline cataracts,ย The Meowing Vetย explains the common causes, consequences, and treatment of cataracts and why you should schedule an appointment with your veterinarian.
Learn more below…ย ๐ถ๐ฑ๐๏ธ
What are cataracts, and what causes them?
If you notice that one or both of your petโs eyes appear cloudy, cataracts may be the problem. A cataract is an opaque cloudiness of the typically clear lens of the eye, blocking light from shining through. Cataracts may be focal or may affect the entirety of the lens, causing vision loss that can lead to complete blindness in the affected eye. While various culprits can induce cataract formation (including genetics, injury to the eye, other disorders of the lens, low blood calcium, and nutritional deficiencies), the most common causes of cataracts in dogs are old age (senile cataracts) and diabetes mellitus (diabetic cataracts) while cataracts in cats are typically secondary to uveitis (inflammation or infection inside the eye).
Cataracts are diagnosed upon ophthalmic examination (or eye exam) by your veterinarian. During an ophthalmic exam, your veterinarian will also be able to distinguish cataracts from lenticular sclerosis (a.k.a. nuclear sclerosis), an age-related slight cloudiness of the lens that fortunately does not significantly affect your petโs vision.
Curious why cataracts form in diabetic dogs but not diabetic cats? Find out in The Meowing Vet’s comprehensive article on diabetes mellitus in pets.
How are cataracts treated?
Unfortunately, there are no at-home treatments for cataracts (despite their claims to dissolve cataracts, no effective eye drop has yet been developed). Instead, the only current means of treating cataracts is via eye surgery (either extracapsular extraction or phacoemulsification) in which an experienced veterinarian, or ideally, a veterinary ophthalmologist specialist, removes your petโs affected cloudy lens and replaces it with an artificial lens. This procedure (which tends to yield better results in dogs rather than cats with uveitis-induced cataracts) removes the structure that was inhibiting light from shining through your petโs eye, thus restoring vision! And since the natural lens is removed, your dog or cat can never develop another cataract in that eye! (If you dog has diabetic cataracts, proper control of his or her diabetes mellitus, or โhigh blood sugarโ, is also necessary prior to such surgery.)
Why treat cataracts?
Cataracts should be treated by a veterinary ophthalmologist once they become large enough. Why? Not only will your petโs blindness be cured, but timely surgery can also help avoid lens-induced uveitis (painful inflammation inside the eye that can occur from hypermature cataracts in which the lens becomes so affected that it begins leaking proteins into the inside of the eye, causing an immune reaction).
If you have any concerns about your petโs ocular health or vision, set up an appointment with your local veterinarian. ๐
– Maranda Elswick, DVM
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This article originally appeared as a post on The Meowing Vet’s Instagram profile, @themeowingvet (January 31, 2018).
