Understanding the difference between conditions which can affect your dog’s eyesight is very important as some of them require more urgent attention than others. Glaucoma and cataract can be presented with some similarities and the eyes of your dog might appear “opaque” in both conditions.
What is glaucoma in dogs?
Glaucoma describes the increase in pressure in your dog’s eye, which can lead to marked opacification of the surface of the eye (called cornea) and make the eye appear white, clouded or “blue”.
What are cataracts in dogs?
Cataract is a change affecting the lens in a dog’s eye. The lens is a transparent structure located at the centre of the eye with the primary function of allowing light transmission to the back of the eye and focusing these light rays to the retina (the structure responsible for creating images of our surrounding world).
Certain conditions like diabetes in dogs, trauma or injury to the eye, hereditary predisposition or long-standing inflammation of the eye will lead to development of opacification of the lens, which effectively is the formation of cataract. The extent of cataract can range from incipient (effectively insignificant degree of cataract that rarely causes problems) to immature or mature cataract which will affect your dog’s eyesight and cause potential problems and complications.
4 differences between glaucoma and cataracts
Glaucoma and cataract present with some differences. Namely:
- Glaucoma is almost always a painful condition, while uncomplicated cataract is not.
- Glaucoma will cause, in most cases, redness to the surrounding white part of the eye while uncomplicated cataract does not cause redness to the eye.
- Glaucoma will almost always cause pain and discomfort while uncomplicated cataract is non-painful.
- Glaucoma will almost always cause enlargement of the pupil, while uncomplicated cataract does not affect the size of the pupil.
Can dogs have both glaucoma and cataracts?
Dogs suffering from long-standing cataract can develop complications. The longer the cataract remains present in the eye, the more likely it is to cause secondary complications such as inflammation, instability of the lens and luxation of the lens, retinal detachment or glaucoma.
One of the most common complications of cataract is development of secondary glaucoma, which develops due to the uncontrolled long-standing inflammation caused by the cataract.
Once glaucoma develops, management of both cataract and glaucoma is very challenging and, in most cases, end-stage glaucoma develops quickly with devastating complications for both vision and the eye. On the other hand, glaucoma is unlikely to cause cataract
When to see a veterinary ophthalmologist
If you are concerned about your dog’s eyesight and their eyes are showing signs of clouding or opaque changes (white or “blue”) we would recommend a review with an ophthalmologist as soon as possible.
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