Cataracts in the Brightest Cocker Spaniel

[laptopps]

My wife and I have an 11 y.o. Cocker Spaniel, Buddy, who was born c/ small bilateral juvenile cataracts that never progressed. About a year ago, we noticed his sight start to diminish and what appeared to be bilateral cataracts forming. Assuming that they were cataracts and not having the $3,000+ to perform the cataract surgery, we started a regiment of N-Acetyl-Carnosine 2 gtts qid and after about 6 months, I still see no difference.

The cloudiness, however, appears posterior to the juvenile cataract (which I can still see) and appears in more the vitreous humor as opposed to the cornea. Could that still be a cataract or would it more likely be something different?? Maybe something that can be treated with medication?? He does not have diabetes

He is the most intelligent dog that I have ever seen. He'll put away 10 toys in his wicker toy basket being told only once, puts dirty laundry in the laundry basket, he'll run a note downstairs to my wife who will answer and then send him back upstairs to deliver it to me. A million and one things he does, but if he can't see the shirt on the ground, he has no way of putting it in the laundry basket.

I even taught him sign language for all his tricks "In case he goes deaf." Well, I didn't expect him to go blind first.

Any ideas or thoughts on the matter??

[laptopps]

Hopefully, this post is not in the wrong category...hope somebody might be able to give some insight for our only "son". :-)

[hazelrunpack]

What does your vet say about his eyes?

[MaxaLisa]

I haven't experienced cataracts or that type of eye problem, but carnosine eye drops are supposed to help with this. I know that LEF has Brite Eyes III that are this type of drops, but I don't know if there are others out there.

[laptopps]

Thank you for the comments! Our vet said that they are caratacts, but the odd thing is that his juvenile cataracts are in front of the cloudiness...seems like the entire inside of the eye is cloudy.

Does anyone know if cataracts can be at different depths within the eye??

[hazelrunpack]

I think that the two main places for cataracts to occur are in the lens capsule and (more commonly) in the lens itself, so it could well be that the juvenile cataracts formed in a different place than the subsequent ones. We have a dog with a congenital cataract caused by a malformed lens--he has cloudiness at different levels within the lens due to that abnormal shape.

We get his cataract checked out by a veterinary ophthalmologist. The cost was very reasonable (only about $100 for the first consultation and ~$50 for each followup) and he's able to do surgery right there if it ever becomes necessary. If you haven't been referred to an ophthalmologist yet, you might want to talk to your vet about it. The specialists see so many more cataract cases than general vets do and can tell you exactly what's going on.