CATARACT
A cataract is a condition of the eye that alters the dog’s vision. It could lead to blindness but there is surgery that may reduce the blurred vision, but doing it earlier rather than later is advised. The bluish-gray that you might see in a dog’s eye is not cataract. Older dogs get a hardening of the lens called Nuclear Sclerosis that produce this color but usually it does not bother their vision. Most cataracts are genetic. Cataract can develop in weeks or slowly over years. It can be in one or both eyes. Older dogs as in humans develop cataract usually after 8 years of life. There is an increased chance of cataract among dogs that have had trauma, with diabetes mellitus or puppies that were left orphaned and are on a milk replacement diet.
Signs to watch out for are bluish, gray, or white color change inside the eye. Inflammation or redness or pain due to squinting from an underlying cause. Hesitancy to climb stairs or jump onto furniture or tendency to bump into objects.
All Havanese should to be examined by a dog ophthalmologist every year. This is often called a CERF examination. The results can be registered with CERF. Since heredity plays a big part in cataract, it is important to check to see if both parents are current with the CERF exams. You can check yourself by going to www.vmdb.org. the CERF web site.