is it normal for a 4 yr old small breed dog to get cataracts?

Question

she's a mini schnauzer/dauschund mix, otherwise completely healthy.

Answer 1

It is never "normal" to have cataracts. However, many small breeds (and larger breed dogs) are prone to developing cataracts, and these are usually genetic at such a young age. Also, some medical conditions can cause cataracts as well, such as diabetes. Therefore, you should ask your vet to check bloodwork and a urine sample to rule things like that out.

If she truly is otherwise healthy, you may consider asking your regular vet for a referral to a veterinary ophthalmology specialist. Veterinary ophthalmologists can perform cataract surgery on dogs and cats to restore vision, if the patient is a good candidate for this.

Answer 2

Juvenile cataracts are a problem in a number of breeds. No, it's not normal, but it is hereditary. A veterinary ophthalmologist may be able to perform cataract surgery to restore your dog's eyesight.

Answer 3

there are a lot of "throw away" canines at animal shelters. canines who's vendors bypass away etc. incredibly candy cute canines. have been given to "Petfinders" on line. you put in the records at this manner of dogs you p.c., length, breed, male, lady, age....and that they detect a dogs on your section. no longer in trouble-free terms that yet they inform you if the dogs gets alongside with cats! blended breed canines have fewer well-being matters and are as cute as organic breeds. besides you're appearing a noble deed in saving an animal's existence. I truthfully have had 3 canines from shelters, all blended, all cat friendly- or cat intimidated! sturdy success, yet provide Petfinders a huge gamble. you will get a sweetie who'll love your cat and gets exhilaration from a sturdy homestead.

Answer 4

Fortunately (and unfortunately), it's not hereditary but believed to be, despite what many eye doctors say. Read on even if you think I'm wrong. Cataracts can be normal in dogs during old age; however, I can see how a dog's personality can also cause cataracts at a young age. Yes I know you're probably raising your eyebrows, thinking "That's a strange guy, talking about personality causing cataracts", but please read this whole thing first before jumping to conclusions. In fact, what I'm about to say has a scientific relevance. Read on...

Our optometry and ophthalmology researchers have been making fatal research errors for over 150 years... they have been misled by Helmholtz's Theory of Accommodation--which dates back to 1855. This theory hasn't been challenged in about 140 years, according to Wikipedia (but I know this is not true because it was challenged much earlier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmholtz shows this sentence "His theory of accommodation went unchallenged until the final decade of the 20th century.") This theory changes nearly everything regarding what causes refractive errors and diseases of the eye, so researchers can very easily come to flawed conclusions. It's a very long story for me to go into, but too many things are not understood about the eye in context of refractive errors and diseases due to how so many of our eye doctors have been misled...this includes even presbyopia. Let me show you an example of how our researchers can distort the facts.

It says at http://www.us.cibavision.com/for_your_eyes/vision_library.shtml that "exactly why eyeball shape varies is not known, but the tendency for farsightedness is inherited." Inherited? Yet they cannot tell you how the eyeball changes shape. This has to be considered first, because it can do away with the presbyopia myth.

In fact, new scientific findings as recent as 2000 supported by half a dozen institutes in the U.S. and Canada have found a link between glaucoma and the mind; think about this: "Thoughts and emotions can create or destroy healthy tissue." Think of it this way: depressing thoughts (depression) can physically manifest itself by weakening the immune system and causing chronic tension in the muscles, leading to a myriad of diseases. Negative nerve impulses tense the muscles (leading to sympathic nervous system diseases), while positive nerve impulses relax the muscles. The mind controls what diseases physically manifest in the body this way. What's to say that perhaps it isn't true for cataracts as well? Small dogs seem to appear nervous and scared a lot. People who are relaxed don't get sick easily, and diseases are much less prevalent in those people... think of how this can also apply to your dog in a negative sense.

William Bates was the leading (and most respected) optometrist at the top school of optometry in the U.S. during his time (1900s-1920s), teaching optometrists himself, and also the founder of adrenaline. He found the mind caused diseases to physically manifest in the eye, and to a new field has recently emerged in neuroscience called neuroplasticity that will eventually prove this is true. In the meantime, Bates' ideas are being treated as quackery, but it's a story for another time how all this happened to him. I've tried his method and obtained results from using my mind to visualize something better than it was previously, and it altered my eyesight by too great a degree to regard. I'd go from 4/20 to 20/20 in an instant - and the eye doctors cannot explain this. I'm sure it freaks out a lot of people to hear me say that, but I'm a scientist at heart and I do not conclude things without enough evidence. I've had those 20/20 'clear flashes' occur at least 1,000 times. My most recent 'clear flash' today was measurable at 20/10 on a Snellen chart. The Australian aboriginals can see 80/20, which is enough to see the moons of Jupiter with the naked eye.

Bates did a demonstration of how cataracts were formed, which you can read about at Better Eyesight Magazine - June 1926 - http://www.central-fixation.com/bem/bettereyesight_1926_06.htm#cataract :

"Some years ago, I performed an experiment on a rabbit which had just been killed by chloroform. By dragging upon the muscles on the outside of the eyeball, it was possible to obtain pressure on the lens and produce a temporary cataract. When pressure on the eyeball was released, the cataract disappeared. By advancing the muscles and fastening them permanently to the back part of the eyeball with the aid of sutures, the cataract which appeared in the pupil was permanent so long as the pressure was maintained by the advancement of the muscles. The facts demonstrated very conclusively that cataract in the rabbit's eye can be produced by pressure on the eyeball with the aid of the muscles on the outside of the globe."

Currently, the eye doctors are focusing too much on the 'lens' rather than understanding how the muscles of the eyeball can form cataracts by applying chronic pressure on the eyeball by squeezing it out of proportion. The eyeball has 4 recti and 2 oblique muscles. The oblique muscles form a nearly complete belt wrapping around the eyeball (think of how tensing them could alter the shape of the eyeball); same goes for the recti muscles, which can shorten and pull backward if they get tense.

This can lead to all kinds of vision problems and eventually diseases like cataracts (as shown by rabbit example above). But all the eye doctors are stuck in their beliefs due to Helmholtz's Theory of Accommodation being the very foundation of what they know. Thus, they think the lens or intrinsic eyeball is where the problem starts, not the mind as the triggering cause in the sense that mind --> chronic tension of extrinsic eyeball muscles --> pressure on crystalline lens --> cataract. This is what Bates discovered, but our eye doctors/researchers are making inconclusive statements due to groupthink influence. Nevertheless, they are there to fulfill a role needed by society, misconception-based or not. Make sense? Hope this helped to arrive at an understanding that maybe your dog needs to relax or something needs to be done that will not stress her out so much.

Answer 5

alot of small dogs get catracts for some reason.