Hi all,

I have a 15-year old wire-hair dachshund -- Max. He's healthy, in great
shape and active for his age. Over the past couple of years he has
developed cataracts in both eyes. In addition, one of his eyes recently
became inflamed and irritated. My regular vet gave me some eye drops
that did not clear up the redness, and Max definitely cannot see out of
this eye. He seems to be able to see minimally out of his other eye
which is not inflamed, but which has gotten more opaque in the past few
months.

I recently had the chance to consult with an out-of-town canine eye
specialist. He advised me that the inflamed eye is not operable because
of another, unrelated condition. He gave me several different eye drops
which have cleared up this eye and relived Max's obvious discomfort.
The other eye, however, is operable for cataracts. The eye specialist
feels Max is healthy enough for the procedure.

I have weighed the various pros and cons: the cost, Max's age, and the
15% failure rate. I would like to give the operation a chance. Max is
a happy guy and I know blind dogs can do just fine. Nevertheless, I am
beginning to see some frustration on his part -- he can't play with the
other dogs like he used to or chase his ball. Yes, he could live with
blindness, but if I can help to restore his sight, then why not? But I
wonder if I am leaving anything out of the equation e.g. the risk of
general anesthesia. Any and all comments, heads up or advice would be
much appreciated. Thanks.

Hundefreund, Max, Penny, Freddy and Sam

Thanks -- I'll check that out. Apparently, the clinic is big, but it's
a couple of hours away and I've never been there.

"DK" wrote in message
:

In article , "Hundefreund"
wrote:

Hi all,

I have a 15-year old wire-hair dachshund -- Max. He's healthy, in
great
shape and active for his age. Over the past couple of years he has
developed cataracts in both eyes. In addition, one of his eyes
recently
became inflamed and irritated. My regular vet gave me some eye drops
that did not clear up the redness, and Max definitely cannot see out of

this eye. He seems to be able to see minimally out of his other eye
which is not inflamed, but which has gotten more opaque in the past few

months.

I recently had the chance to consult with an out-of-town canine eye
specialist. He advised me that the inflamed eye is not operable
because
of another, unrelated condition. He gave me several different eye
drops
which have cleared up this eye and relived Max's obvious discomfort.
The other eye, however, is operable for cataracts. The eye specialist
feels Max is healthy enough for the procedure.

I have weighed the various pros and cons: the cost, Max's age, and the
15% failure rate. I would like to give the operation a chance. Max is

a happy guy and I know blind dogs can do just fine. Nevertheless, I am

beginning to see some frustration on his part -- he can't play with the

other dogs like he used to or chase his ball. Yes, he could live with
blindness, but if I can help to restore his sight, then why not? But I

wonder if I am leaving anything out of the equation e.g. the risk of
general anesthesia. Any and all comments, heads up or advice would be
much appreciated. Thanks.


If the pre-op tests show nothing that makes general anesthesia
particularly more dangerous and if the place where operation would
be performed has anesthesiologist assisting every operation, I would
go ahead if I were you.

DK

I have a 15 yr old poodle that is actually a candidate for cataract
surgery. I just don't have that much disposable income. They use the
same equipment on the animals that they do humans. Where i live it is
$2900-3100 I'm not sure if that is for one or both. He also has dry
eyes that i've had to treat the last few years.



I have a 15-year old wire-hair dachshund -- Max. He's healthy, in great
shape and active for his age. Over the past couple of years he has
developed cataracts in both eyes. In addition, one of his eyes
recently became inflamed and irritated. My regular
vet gave me some eye drops that did not clear up the redness, and Max
definitely cannot see out of this eye.
He seems to be able to see minimally out of his other eye which is not
inflamed, but which has gotten more opaque in the past few months.

I recently had the chance to consult with an out-of-town
canine eye specialist.
He advised me that the inflamed eye is not operable because of another,
unrelated condition. He gave me several different eye drops which have
cleared up this eye and relived Max's obvious discomfort.
The other eye, however, is operable for cataracts. The
eye specialist feels Max is healthy enough for the procedure.

I have weighed the various pros and cons: the cost,
Max's age, and the 15% failure rate. I would like
to give the operation a chance. Max is a happy guy and I know blind dogs
can do just fine.
Nevertheless, I am beginning to see some frustration
on his part -- he can't play with the other dogs like he

In article ,
says...
I have weighed the various pros and cons: the cost, Max's age, and the
15% failure rate. I would like to give the operation a chance. Max is
a happy guy and I know blind dogs can do just fine. Nevertheless, I am
beginning to see some frustration on his part -- he can't play with the
other dogs like he used to or chase his ball. Yes, he could live with
blindness, but if I can help to restore his sight, then why not? But I
wonder if I am leaving anything out of the equation e.g. the risk of
general anesthesia. Any and all comments, heads up or advice would be
much appreciated. Thanks.

I had a 15 year old deaf toy poodle in the same position - he developed
eye issues, one eye inoperable, the other an operable cateract, with no
health issues to suggest general anesthesia would be a bigger risk than
usual. I used my income tax refund that year to get the surgery. He
came through it beautifully, and it gave him a new lease on life. He was
back to his old preblindness self within a few hours of waking up after
the surgery. He lived for 2 more years, and I've never regretted
getting him the surgery.

--
Debbie the Dogged das at spamcop dot net
http://web.newsguy.com/debbiethedogged/
"Poodles are space aliens who think they've disguised
themselves as dogs." - Paghat the Ratgirl