Cloudy lens in eyes of a senior dog

[Mari]

I have noticed lately that my dogs eyes are not as clear as they used to be, the pupils are getting slightly foggy. I also feel like her vision is a tiny bit worsened, but that could be my imagination. She is due for an old-lady-checkup at the vets soon and this is one of the things I'll have the vet look at. But in the meantime I just wanted to ask your experiences with this sort of thing.  I am hoping it is just lenticular sclerosis (normal ageing of the eye that does not affect vision too badly) and not cataract, but please feel free to share any experience, good or bad.
Do your older dogs have hazy eyes, and has it affected their vision?

[Finvarra]

Milo went deaf when he was 11, he lived til 15. In the last year or two,his eyes became cloudy, but the vet said he wouldn't go blind, which thankfully he didn't. He didn't bump into things, but as he was slowing down anyway it didn't,affect him too badly, he didn't,bump into,things. Hope,you're,old,girl is,OK.

Lesley and Dylan

L

[elaine.e]

William is almost 13 and has his eyes checked every 6 months by an ophthalmologist because he has Dry Eye and cataracts. Luckily the Dry Eye hasn't progressed since diagnosis several years ago and neither have his cataracts. I'd noticed both his eyes had started to look a little bit cloudy in recent months so mentioned that to the vet when he had his check up a few weeks ago. She said it's just normal, age related sclerosis and hasn't really affected his eyesight.

Hopefully it's the same for your girl. How old is she? William's cataracts were diagnosed when he was about 9 and after worsening slightly in the first year after diagnosis haven't developed further at all. Apparently they're unlikely to now. The ophthalmologist describes William's eyesight as being like that of somebody wearing scratched sunglasses day and night but it doesn't bother him. I know he can't distinguish objects at a distance and at night he prefers to stay in the range of the outside light when he goes in the garden. But it hasn't affected his confidence in any way.

[revis]

Maggie is 13.4 yrs and has dry eyes and very cloudy eyes-age related. She cannot see well but doesnt bump into things.she is now completely deaf. This causes a problem to her. If she can't see me she starts a very sad cry which turns into a bark until I come. Hard to get upstairs to get any thing done. Like having a small child! So sad to see them as the years go on -I haven't had this before as my previous Cockers all passed away when they were I'll about 11 years. All rescue ones so they never had the best start in early life. Hopefully your girls eyes won't worry her.

[Joules]

Coco is 12 in August and her eyes are quite cloudy now.

The vet says she has the start of cataracts but no need to do anything about them now.  So far her eyesight does not seem to be affected much - she can still see a cat at the bottom of the garden  - so I am hoping that I can leave well alone and they will not deteriorate too quickly.  Tbh, she tends to find things with her nose, so I think her eyesight would have to be pretty bad to have a major effect on her life.

At the moment, I am just keeping an eye on her to see if she starts to struggle and getting the vet to check them regularly for any major changes 

[Mari]

Thanks for sharing your stories! Glad to hear that it can turn out OK as with Milo an William.

My girl will be 11 this summer, so I'm really hoping it's just sclerosis due to her age. She is a nervous dog around people she doesn't know so I am worried about how she would handle loosing vision. I feel like she has had enough obstacles. When I got her she was under 4 months old, but she was already so fearful of people it was heartbreaking. Took me a lot of time and training to teach her that most people are kind to small floppy eared dogs. She's had a few health issues too, so I think she deserves a healthy retirement. But of course they all do and we all love them to bits and want the best for them.

I'm so sorry to hear that your Maggie is struggling revis. It must be so hard for you to see her like that, and very difficult to get things done I can imagine. I hope she can adjust to the situation!

Coco sounds like a happy dog, hope she can spot cats for a long time yet Cats are still spotted here as well, and a hint of arthrosis is not stopping Laurië from chasing them

[PennyB]

Lady's eyes are like that (she's 12) - when I mentioned it to John Mould when he was seeing Bosley (Lady wasn't with me) he said as much that while they may look like cataracts to some they're not but to be honest I said even if they were I wouldn't do anything about it )her insurance would cover it easily but I don't think it would be fair on her to go trhough this op)

She can't always catch a treat any more but she has no problem with finding her way anywhere even at night