Ok, so this a dog-related post. Why post here? Because I find that water people also seem to have dogs and cats, and the dog breeds tend towards the retriever types. I also know that Rick and Mary are fond of Goldens, so here's something to look out for.

I also find that some people take exception to other people that try to do for their pets, so if you're one of those, save your comments about dog owners and putting dogs down for some other thread. This is for info purposes.

There is an eye disease unique to Golden Retrievers called Anterior Uveitis. This seems to be a genetic disease, specifically a non-disease related inflammation of the eyes, and it causes a range of problems, the more serious being glaucoma and secondary cataracs. Left unchecked, the glaucoma will render the dog blind due to damage to the optic nerve. This whole thing tends to appear in Goldens when they are around 8 years old. We have also found that regular veterinarians, even though they are starting to perform the tonometry tests (tests for pressure in the eye to detect glaucoma), don't know how to interpret the results well, and are unaware of such diseases. The breeders are abuzz about this now, but the problem is that many litters will have been born by the time the condition appears in the breeding pairs.

So, one of many things veterinary we have learned through this holiday season is that if you have a golden retriever at or beyond 8 years of age, and you suspect anything about his eyes, get the dog checked immediately by a specialist, and mention this syndrome.

Our dog-buddy Austin got diagnosed by our regular vet as having some cataracs building up that we might want to get fixed when they get worse. When we checked at the specialist, we found out about the anterior uveitis, found out the poor guy was in pain from the pressure in his eyes, and found that he was irreparably blind in one eye with very little vision left in the other. When glaucoma is in the picture things happen fast. For Christmas, he got one eye removed and a laser procedure to fix the pressure in the other eye, and he has very little vision left. If we had known more about what to look for when the cataracs were first noticed, this could have been averted.

And, of course, get your own eyes checked as well!

G.zeus, that sucks. When it rains it rains...

on a somewhat similar note: my 18-20 Y.O. cat, Ancient Mau, began to wheeze a few weeks ago. Took him to the vet, who suggested asthma and prescribed for it. Couple weeks passes, no relief. Saw a different vet (same hospital, it's a group gig) who investigated more closely, sending Xrays in to a consult.

Turns out, get this... Ancient Mau has COPD, as in emphysema-like COPD. He was my Mama's cat, and she smoked heavily. Poor critter is now paying the price of Mama's smoking habit... He'll be on these meds for the rest of his life, and periodic trips in for breathing treatments. This sucks, because he's a surprisingly healthy cat otherwise, and he certainly deserves a peaceful old age.

Lesson? If you just have to smoke, at least be decent enough to do it somewhere it won't affect others.

[/soapbox]

Thanks for the warning, Keith. I printed out your post and put it in Cody's file to mention the next time he goes to the vet for a checkup.

I have always worried about cataracts developing in dogs who spend a lot of time in the bright sun and on or in the water, with all that reflected glare, since dogs don't wear sunglasses to protect their eyes. But I did not know about this genetic problem -- and glaucoma had never occurred to me as something that happens to dogs. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I'm very sorry to hear about Austin's problems, but thank you so much for passing on the information.

At least goldens seem to be able to find their way around as much by smell and sound as by sight. Cody would be able to find his food even if he were totally blind <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> And he can hear a FedEx truck or a UPS truck coming from a half mile away, because the drivers always bring treats. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the info Keith.

It's a terrible thing for your animal to be in pain and not know why. Our GR Rex was diagnosed with cataracts and the vet said at the time (10 years ago?) this was a trait of AKC regsitered Goldens. Having the costs of three humans to raise resulted in the cataracts remaining with him through the rest of his life. Don't think he was ever totally blind and he got around OK.

Consequesntly, no more pure breds for us. Current doggy Esther is half Border Collie and something else. My wife says she really is "something else!!!"

anerior uveitis is an inflammation in the front part of the eye usually caused by auto-immune diseases, ifnections, or trauma. The inflammation can cause elevated intraocular pressure (glaucoma) by damage to the fluid outflow from the anterior part of the eye. I can understand anterior uveitis causing cataracts and possibly causing glaucoma but glaucoma usually doesn't cause cataracts as far as I know. Glaucoma does cause loss of vision as you said through damage to the optic nerve. The anterior uveitis is treated differently than glaucoma or cataracts. I had a siberian husky that had cataracts from a relatively early age but they never seemed to develop to the point of serious vision problems.
My 2 cents, -figure I would chime in considering all the engineers around here always expound on issues- which is good, I just felt the need to throw my profession into the mix too <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Wish things had been different for your dog. Our 8 y/o german shepherd died suddenly 2 3 weeks ago from what was likely a tumor bleeding in his abd.

Really sorry to hear about pets in pain as well.

On a bright side, I am really glad now that I started a web page for Cody.., it has been a fun to sort keep a scrap book of him that we can see a lot easier than having to pull a scrap book out of the dusty closet.
If interested, his website it
www.catsailor.com/Cody.html

Rick

Yeah, the anterior uveitis is usually a result of trauma or some other root cause. The thing that's turning up in goldens is that there is no apparent root cause for it other than genetics. The glaucoma seems to be a result of anterior uveitis going on for awhile, with the iris and other stuff starting to break down and getting in the eye drains, and the cataracs may or may not be related.

Sorry to hear about your shepherd, that sucks for sure, probably was still a puppy at heart!

It's been a veterinary holiday season for us - we just went through the tumor thing with our yellow lab - day before Thanksgiving we found out she had a tumor in the back of her mouth, by thanksgiving evening it was all over. She had a good 14 year run, but the eerie things is she was also born on Thanksgiving.

Tami - know that cat thing too, don't get me started on my dad with his cat... I guess the second-hand smoke thing applies to our furry friends as well!

Keith,
I'm sorry to hear that,
but please alow me to give you my view on this,
all my life I was with dogs, quite few I gave birth to with my own hands and lived with them until I had to bury them with my own hands.
My family is my wife, 2 boys and 7 dogs,
so I can tell you that dogs are not like humans,
they will adopt to any situation very quick and have a great life,
give him love, cheer up and every thing is going to be ok

Erez,
Thanks for the thoughts. Yes, I've sometimes wished people were as adaptable (and as sociable) as animals! I've had animals all my life as well, and for awhile we donated our time to an organization that teamed assistance dogs with people with disabilities - it's amazing what dogs can do for and with people in need. In fact, we were raising Austin to be such a dog, but he failed his physical due to loose hips - the fear that arthritis and dysplasia might set in meant he failed out. Ironicly he was going to be a hearing assistance dog! He then became our pet and fortunately none of those other issues have appeared.

He was doing quite fine with the vision loss (to the point that we were largely unaware), initially mostly due to the other dog acting as his guide. He's adapted pretty well to his situation, but the big thing we can see now is that he is no longer in pain - every day he returns a little more to his puppy-like self - happy to be feeling better even if it is a little dark out! I just need to come up with a tennis ball that beeps, he misses fetch as it is real tough to see where the tennis balls go!

The bummer is not catching it earlier. Hopefully the info about this gets out so others can catch it earlier.

Keith,

Thanks for posting this. I've got two beautiful, but aging Goldens downstairs (they're actually in the garage because they were bad and ran off into the creek and aren't allowed inside because creek mud STINKS) that I adore and love.

Also, as someone sufferring from an eye issue himself, I can relate how scary it is to have your sense of vision threatened - I could only imagine how it would be for an animal who isn't intelligent enough to realize whats going on.

I've got a 2,000 year old poodle/las opso mix who's got heavy cataracts in both eyes. Probably can only see light and dark. We play fetch with a racketball on tile so she can hear the bounces. Yes, it does take her a while to find the ball, but boy is she proud when she does find it.

Yes, she has adapted to life without sight quite well, and aside from bumping into things occasionally (she gave up running full tilt anymore), she doesn't seem to have any issues...

Little things help. For instance, she likes walking on wide sidewalks so she doesn't fall off too much. She's on a leash, so she can feel (and hear) where she is with respect to us.

We don't change the furniture around much, so once she gets the idea of where stuff is, she doesn't bump into it.

Because of her age (she's 15) the vet said she may not wake up from the anesthesia, so we're risking $5,000 ($2500 per eye) on something that COULD improve her vision, but COULD kill her.

Always a tough choice, but my opinion is that if her quality of life isn't affected that much, why risk it?

Friend of mine lost a Dobie that way, nearly killed him.