Study of Occurrence of Cataract and their Surgical Management in Dogs

Abstract

Background: Present study investigated the occurrence of cataract in dogs presented to the Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex (TVCC) and Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology under Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar during a period of four months. During the study period, a total number of 3847 canine cases were registered at TVCC, out of which 23 cases registered under the RKVY project for different types of ophthalmic affections. There were only eight canine cataract cases with overall prevalence of 0.2% among total canines presented to TVCC and 34.78% of total canines presented with some sorts of ophthalmic affections. Methods: Menace reflex, pupillary light reflex, maze test, obstacle test, catoptrics test, Schirmer’s tear test (STT), Schiotz tonometry, Slit lamp bio microscopy and fundus examination -using indirect ophthalmoscope (IO) and fundus camera, were carried out in all the cases studied. Result: Occurrence of cataract was higher in Spitz (50%). Males had more incidences (62.5%) of cataract. The ages of the dogs were less than 10 years. B mode ultra-sonographic (USG) examination revealed increased echogenecity of lens in all cataract affected dogs while corneal opacification was found in two cases. Cataract was extracted by phaco-emulsification in three dogs and by small incision cataract surgery (SICS) technique in one dog.