Cataract
Clouding of the lens that scatters or blocks light, causing sight loss that ranges from mild to total. Can be inherited, age-related or diabetic (common and fast in diabetic dogs). Surgery (phacoemulsification) is the only way to restore vision; an untreated cataract is watched for painful complications.
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Is Cataract Surgery Right for My Pet? A Decision Guide
Most owners reach this page pulled in two directions. On one side are the websites with a stock photo of a bright-eyed dog and a headline promising to restore your pet's sight, with a price quietly bolted on. On the other are the forums, where for every "best money I ever spent" there's a "wish...
Diabetic Cataracts: Why Most Diabetic Dogs Go Cloudy, and Why Speed Matters
There's a particular phone call I've taken many times over the years, and it almost always opens the same way. A dog was diagnosed with diabetes a few months ago, the owner has worked hard at the injections and the feeding times, and now the eyes are going cloudy. Underneath the worry, nearly every time,...
Questions to Ask Your Ophthalmologist About Cataract Surgery
A cataract consult is a big appointment. It's expensive, it's emotional, and a lot of owners walk out wishing they'd asked the thing that only occurred to them in the car park. I've sent a lot of owners to these consults over the years, and the ones who get the most out of them arrive...
Cataracts in Cats: Less Common, Usually Secondary
If someone has used the word "cataract" about your cat, your mind has probably jumped to the picture you carry from people, or from a dog you once knew: a clouding eye, creeping blindness, an operation. I'd like to take that picture apart, because the feline story is genuinely different, and once you see how,...
If You Don't Operate: Living With a Pet With Cataracts
Plenty of owners arrive at this decision quietly, and often with a flicker of guilt. The surgery is specialist, it isn't cheap, your pet may be older or not the ideal candidate, and somewhere in the back of your mind sits the worry that by not operating you're "letting them go blind". That worry deserves...
What Cataract Surgery Involves, and Recovery Week by Week
If you've reached this page, you've probably already done the hard part. The agonising over whether to operate, the cost, the "is it the right thing for my dog", that all belongs to the decision, and if you're still weighing it up, the operate-or-not piece is the place for it. What I want to do...
Cataracts in Dogs and Cats: What They Are and Why They Form
When I tell an owner their dog has a cataract, I can usually see two things happen at once. There's the worry, of course, the word carries a lot of weight. But there's often relief too, because they'd been peering into that cloudy eye for weeks fearing the worst, and now at least it has...
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