My Experience with Canine Cataract Surgery

Being a dog owner, I generally would say that I would do anything within my means for my dog. She truly is a part of my family. So when I noticed she started walking along walls and her left eye seemed fairly cloudy I decided to see the vet about this very concerned that at 5 ½ years old, my little Yorkie who has a life expectancy of approximately 12-14 years seemed to be losing her vision.

After a visit to my vet, I was referred to an animal ophthalmologist with my vet feeling that she had a cataract causing her loss of sight. Until that point I had no idea there was even such a thing as a doggie ophthalmologist but I was confident that this was not going to be a cheap venture.

Luckily since I happened to be on vacation that day, they were able to fit me in that same afternoon. Her ophthalmologist ran some tests and confirmed that she did indeed have cataracts. At that point she was completely blind in her left eye and had a cataract forming in her right. He advised me that her right eye was not quite ready to be operated on yet and advised I wait for two reasons: 1) he wanted to put her to sleep only once for the surgery and 2) the cost was just an additional $300 for doing both eyes at 1 time.

Cost you might be asking: $90 for visit to her regular vet to refer me, $180 for first visit to the ophthalmologist, $600 for the testing to be sure she was healthy enough to have the surgery and $3,600 for the surgery on both eyes. The results: Priceless.

The surgery and the 8 weeks that followed were hard. With visits to the Dr. every week for the first 2 and then every other week after until the 8 weeks were up. With a cone on her head and drops every 4-6 hours for the first 2 weeks and then drops every 6 hours or so for the remaining 6 weeks there is definitely a commitment required. Lucky for me I had help in this endeavor.

My dog could immediately see after the surgery that was clear and once the cone was removed it was even more evident how much she could see. No longer walking along walls and wanting to play fetch with her toys again I would say with ease that I would do it all over again.

That being said of course the decision should be yours and the vets. Not everyone can afford the surgery (I can say that most vets offer a payment plan if that helps) but even more important sometimes dogs are not healthy enough or are too old to consider the surgery. In this case it made sense my dog is still young for a small dog with hopefully a lot of life ahead of her. Make the decision that works best for you and know that if you cannot afford the surgery or it is not advised due to age or health of your dog they will adapt.