Boo Boo is home from his dental procedure. Karen Kow went to pick him up. He was whining away when she got there, and later refused to look at her. Karen thinks he is upset with her. But he must be all right now because he immediately responded to a treat. The dental procedure went very well, and there appears to be no after effects from the anesthetics.
And this morning, when my sister dropped him off, the vet told my sister that Boo Boo may possibly be developing cataracts! It appears that he is 7 years of age, going on 100!
My friend once had a silky terrier with cataracts, and it just kept falling down the stairs because it couldn’t see! It later developed into glaucoma. This is really quite saddening.
Cataracts are an opacity of the eye (the lense gets cloudy, either bluish-gray or milky-white) causing vision impairment. Could this possibly be why Boo Boo looks like he is squinting all the time? Or is that just his ‘i-am-einstein-look’?
Cataract formation is actually a common eye disease in dogs either caused by old age, or it could be hereditary. I just found out that breeds with the highest cataract prevalence are as follows – Smooth Fox Terrier, Havanese, Bichon Frise, Boston Terrier, all Poodles, Silky Terrier, American Cocker Spaniel, and (would you believe it?!) MINIATURE SCHNAUZERS!
This obviously has put me in a frenzy, and I am now researching prevention methods for cataracts in dogs.
Apparently, nutrition plays an important role in preventing or delaying cataracts. Foods that are high in natural anti oxidants should help. Some of the vitamins, botanicals or nutrients that may be helpful include vitamins ACE, bilberry (my sister and I take this for our eyes, and it’s really good for dry eyes!), zinc, lutein, selenium, quercetin, ALA, carotenoids and grape seed extract. (Info source: http://www.holisticpetinfo.com/Conditions/eyes_cataracts.htm). I also read that lots of vitamin C would be helpful too, and the easiest way to administer vitamin C would be to give one cup of tomato juice to the pooch, daily.
Since bilberry is working for me and my favourite sister, I think I will start Boo Boo on bilberry too. He’s quite tiny, only 6.7kgs, so I will give him one capsule, every other day. And if I am eating tomatoes, he will get some too.