Eye cataract + kidney problems
 

Hi, I have a 13 yr old yorkie..Six months back we had to hospitalize her for a week because of her high creatine and BUN levels..Since then her health has improved but there are days when she throws up and does not eat...We have been managing with some carefully chosen diet and seems doing well for now..

For the last 3 weeks, she has developed a white spot in her left eye and we think it is cataract...Before this, we did discuss her eye with our vet, but the vet informed us that they are hesistant to do any operation because of her kidney issues...We wanted to check with friends here in this website to see if we can do anything else..Are there eye drops we can give to slow down this process? Do you know of any other treatment or alternate treatment. I know our baby is getting old but we want to try out all the options...she is even now very active and wants to always go out for a walk or go on a drive...Thanks in advance for your help.

By the way, I know there are yorkies here with kidney issues...For us, Royal canin mature small dry dog food (the cover will say it is meant for kidney issues) and Castor and pollux beef tripe canned food seems to be working..she is a very picky eater and we spend quite a bit before converging on this...

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear about the failing health of your lil baby. I have had dogs with eye problems. Shih Tzu's are notorious for developing them. I will share a story but only to give you something to think about. I just lost my little angel...he was 15, but also had cataracts in both eyes...and a serious deterioation of the cornea in his right eye. They did first surgery in Nov and from then, things just went from bad to worse:(. He wound up losing the eye and very limited sight in the other one. I'm convinced that the surgery was so traumatic for him at his age..the anesthesia etc, that he didn't come out of it very well at all. He had dementia when he got home. It was a rapid decline from there. I lost him on January 3. I wish I had not done the surgery and just let him have peaceful days at the end. Instead of recovering from the horrible surgery living with that cone on his little head. I regret going ahead with it. If he were younger and had a chance to relearn how to live with the situation it would have been different. I am only sharing my story because its so fresh and recent. He was on eye drops for years for so many different things. I cant even remember now if he had drops for his cataracts or not..but I do think so.
I will definitely be thinking of you and your little one and sending prayers. Best of luck and good wishes.

Yes...any dog w/ cataracts should absolutely be on eye drops called Flurbiprofen -- these drops prevent inflammation which can lead to glaucoma, which is what you truly need to avoid/prevent now. So, you need to get those drops from your vet asap if this is a cataract.

MissSunni, I am so deeply sorry for the loss of your loved little baby. Your story is heart wrenching. I teared up reading it. But I wanted to sincerely thank you for sharing it. My baby's vision is getting cloudy. I have often wondered if surgery was available that could fix it, if I would do it. I am having a very hard time accepting that my babies are aging and starting to have health issues. But reading your story has helped me to realize that maybe sometimes it is better to let life take its course and enjoy what time we have with our babies and make their lives as wonderful as we can.

I am really sorry that the surgery didn't work out because I know that you loved your baby so much that you wanted to make his life the best it could be. You had no way of knowing the outcome so please don't look back and kick yourself for doing it. You were a great, loving mommy.

Shiva, I hope you can find what your baby needs. You are a great puppy mommy too.

As well ask about adding a Vitamin into his food. I do that for Magic - well actually a couple but some are for different medical conditions. I can't remember which is for which... Vitamins won't cure a cataract but might help to slow the progression down.

misssunni, thanks very much for sharing your story...sad to hear this and RIP ur baby.....I have not really pushed for any eye operation mainly afraid of the experience you have talked about..I can clearly see my babys health deteriorate slowly as she is getting older...a year back, she weighed 16 pounds...after the hospitalization and kidney issues, she was 11 pounds...now, she is hovering around that range and we are very careful about her diet..for now, we are happy that she is eating and drinking well..

I will contact the vet for the eye drops...

Cataracts
 

Hello.
I am sorry your baby is not feeling so good and hope she feels better soon.
I am also sorry that she has cataracts, and I hope that the drops suggested by Ann above and your vet will help her and prevent the painful Glaucoma. That should be possible.
I would avoid the surgery if at all possible, as like MissSuni described, it can be traumatic and hard on the dog and us! My boy had juvenile cataracts at just over a year old and as he was so young the specialist eye vet suggested we get the surgery. The main fear was pain due to Glaucoma. (But it seems drops can control that) The surgery went well technically and now he has perfect sight:) However he had acid reflux during/after the surgery (he was fasted but the time between his last meal and surgery was long), and had GI issues afterwards that needed lengthy treatment. The GI issue was not caught early as it was thought to be due to the meds! My poor baby had to endure many eye and oral meds and the hard cone for nearly 2 months! The follow up visits were many and the whole experience was not one I would ever care to do again. I guess we were unlucky as some here have had the survey with no issues. The GI issue only made the eye post-op recovery more difficult!
For an older dog I would not wish to put her through the risk of a tedious and uncomfortable outcome. The only reason I would do it would be Glaucoma and pain if it could not be controlled.
So praying that drops can control the cataract problem and that your baby will not be too badly affected by the eye issues.

Thanks very much for sharing your experience....Will stick with drops for now...over the last year, we have grown more closer to our baby and in the process learnt some things about how human kidneys work also...

That sounds a good idea, and praying the eye pressures remain normal with the drops.
Kidney disease is not a good diagnosis, but it seems you have it managed quite well with diet etc having caught it early. Hoping she does not have many bad days.
My previous baby had kidney disease, but unfortunately we did not catch it early enough to treat. One does learn a lot about kidneys and their (dis) function!

Actually, her kidney issues according to our vet is pretty advanced and for this reason, he is worried about doing any eye operation. This happened in December for us and I thought of posting here to get some advice but things happened so fast that I didnt have any time...I took her to the emergency room in the morning around 3 am because her stool was full of blood...I did not have any dog before so this was all new to me....Immediately, the doctors in the vet hospital diagnosed it to be related to kidney...She was on IV for around 8 hrs and then I transferred her to our vet where she was for about a week..She was on fluids and gradually recovered with no vomiting and diarrhoea...

Since then, we have completed avoided canned chicken (she used to love it) and have avoided any food with more salt, phosporous etc...the problem we have with her is that she is very picky with her food..most of the times, we just wanted her to eat and would give her the food she loves but she usually
vomits them after few hours....So, after a lot of trial and error we have figured out the food which she can eat and also her stool is good and everything...

She has actually been doing better for the last month and eating well..Everyday we just pray that she eats the food that is also good for her health also...

I can see more now that your vet and you do not want to risk the eye surgery.
Your poor baby having such a sudden and severe attack, and for you it must have been very scary and stressful. A week in the vet for treatment must have been hard for you, but it seems that the acute disease was overcome and she is now doing well. So sorry about all the food issues and I am so happy to hear you now have found a food that she will tolerate. Praying she continues to eat and thrive and that the kidney issues are kept under control.
Having had this experience of sudden kidney disease onset and symptoms, I know that it is very worrying.

You might want to ask your vet about Mirtazapine. I had a pup with renal failure who was quite anorexic. That medicine really helped him. It is an antidepressant...in dogs it helps with nausea and increases the appetite. It does not work for all dogs, but for many it does. For my Cody it was amazing!

I am so sorry for your loss. I hate to hear when people have regrets like you do...you loved him so much and you did what you thought was best. Try not to beat yourself up for that! Very nice of you to share your story with the OP.

Thanks very much for your prayers. We have an appointment at the vet on saturday, so we will find out what he suggests....

Vet visit
 

Hope you have a successful vet visit on Saturday and helpful suggestions for the eye and kidney issues. Please keep posted on how she is doing:)