Is cateract surgery necessary for a dog?

Question

My Cocker Spanial has a cateract in one eye and the start of one in the other, I have 2 wks to determine if I will have this done or it will be too late to give her the surgery. She is 7 yrs old and the surgery is $1600 and I really hate to say it but I just don't have the money, any suggestions.

Answer 1

I just had both cataracts taken out of my teacup poodle. She'd had them since I got her 2 1/2 years ago from a shelter--and maybe for years before that. So I'm not sure why you have only two weeks to decide...you should ask your vet why the time limit--she may have a good reason. Maybe the cataracts are growing so fast that the eyes will be damaged.

You could have just one eye done, although it's cheaper to have both done at once, than to have them each done on separate occasions.

There are lens implants available for dogs, but they aren't absolutely necessary. Dogs who just have the cataracts removed, with no implants, have "getting around vision"--blurry, but they can distinguish objects and between light and dark. Having the implants put in will increase the cost of the surgery, so you should ask what the price will be with and without implants.

If you decide not to have it done, and both cataracts become complete, you will have a young, blind dog. Cataracts left in place can luxate (or slip out of place), cause lens-induced uveitis, or other problems. So it may be that you will have to have the surgery done in the future anyway, and the eyes or your dog might not be as healthy as they are now.

Blind dogs can get around just fine with some adjustments. They don't have the same attachment to their vision as we do.
But if you can avoid having your dog go blind, that would be the best option. Maybe the clinic offers a payment plan.

And I can't emphasize this enough: HAVE THE SURGERY DONE BY A VETERINARY OPHTHALMOLOGIST!!!!!!! This surgery requires special skills, training, and equipment and the eyes are not very forgiving for poorly-performed surgeries.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I was in the same situation as you, only my dog was 2 years old. I really looked into the pros and cons and the cons outweighed the pros.

I didn't do the surgery on my dog, only because there were more cons then pros in my dogs case ( complications of complet vision loss, death during surgery, ocular infections, vision only partially restored and no garentee the cateracts will not come back).

I would consider it more seriouse if they believe its could contribute to glaucoma, but it varies from patient to patient.

You have to consider the quality of life for your pet. His vision might be slightly impared but I don't think that will dramatically effect his quality of life, esp. if you don't have 1,600 to throw into the wind, in hopes 6 to 12 moths later the cateracts don't come back.

I would research it more with the for the reasons why your dog has cateracts, if age isn't the only contributing factor.

I wish you the best of luck.

Answer 3

I don't understand why it will be too late to do surgery, but there are a lot of dogs that have cataracts and live well. It depends somewhat on how blind she is. If they totally obscure her vision, that may have more of an impact than if they are only partially obscuring her vision. Still, there are a lot of totally blind dogs. If she isn't a nervous type of dog, and you can keep her surroundings stable so she can get around, she will probably do okay. Blind dogs take extra care, though, to keep them out of trouble- for instance, if they are allowed to wander off, they can't find their way home, and sometimes people who don't know a dog is blind get scared because it looks weird and can be cruel. Of course the best thing is usually to remove them, but surgery is expensive and is not without risks. Good Luck!!

Answer 4

Just like with humans, cataracts in dogs will cause blindness. Growing up our beagle got cataracts but it wasn't until she was almost 14 years old. We decided against the surgery, feeling it was too risky at her age. As the cataracts got worse she would become more aggressive, barking at everyone until she realized who you were. Occasionally she would trip on the stairs but never got hurt.

I know the surgery is expensive, but at 7 years old your dog has a lot of years left. Perhaps you could check out other vets and find one to do the surgery cheaper. If not, maybe your vet would let you do a payment plan, mine has in the past.

Answer 5

It may not be cheap and it may not seem necessary but it is the kindest thing to do for your dog. Without the surgery your dog will go blind. I had a dog much older than yours that was not a candidate for surgery and she lead a miserable life after going blind. Don't do this to your dog she is still young.

Answer 6

I have some links to organizations that may be able to help. I'm not positive, but it's worth a try for you and your dog.

Good luck :-)

Answer 7

ummmmm, i don't think so.