It's estimated that nearly one in every four dogs will develop cataracts at some point in their lives. Cataracts can cause a loss of vision and can make it difficult for your dog in everyday activities like walking, playing, and simply being a dog. If your dog has been diagnosed with cataracts, there are a few things you can do to help make their (and your) life easier.
1) Light
This is the biggest thing to pay attention to. Notice what types of lighting conditions your dog seems to get mixed up in or do best in. Some things I have noticed with my girl:
a) Walking/looking directly toward the sun pretty much makes a dog with cataracts blind. This is the most important thing to watch. Before I knew better, my dog ran right into streetlight poles, street sign poles, snow banks, etc. Once it happens, you won’t forget it! Generally, sunny days with the sun above aren’t quite as bad but still affect their vision. Think about how your vision is affected when you are facing the sun with (non-polarized) sunglasses. Everything gets washed out, right?
This also applies if your dog is looking towards the door if the sun is shining in - they won’t be able to tell if the door is open or not. And they may not see that you have opened the door.
b) Light in your house will affect their vision. Again, just pay attention to what conditions cause certain responses.
I have a plant light in the corner of my apartment near my desk chair. Most of the time when my dog looks at my desk chair with the light behind it, she can’t tell if I’m sitting in the chair or not. Most of the time she thinks I am and will sit looking at the chair waiting for me to play. It’s super sad, but I have other ways to get her attention so she knows where I am.
Think of a time when you were looking at someone who was sitting in front of a window with the sunlight behind them. They will basically be a black silhouette and most features will be lost. Same thing. .
c) If you are outdoors, shade is your friend. When we camp, I notice an immediate improvement in her vision when we are sitting under the awning.
2) In the home:
a) It’s helpful to keep things in the same place. Their food/water, your furniture, etc. Consider padding corners of lower things like coffee tables (especially if they are glass. Tbh I wouldn’t have a glass coffee table in this circumstance because it’s just so hard to see from a low angle.)
b) They will trip over things. Shoes, grocery bags, toys, everything. Usually, my dog can catch herself, but if your dog has limited mobility, this may mean a faceplant into the floor which isn’t fun, to say the least! I try to make sure my floor isn’t too cluttered.
3) On walks and outdoors:
a) Your dog may struggle to be off-leash. They may not be able to find you when you recall them. They may run into things, trip or hurt their leg from gopher holes, etc. You may have to use a leash more often.
Walking in an open field on-leash could be ok depending on how much awareness your dog has of where you are. My dog has heeled on my right her whole life so she knows where to look for me on-leash. It’s not 100% these days but she knows which direction to look for my shadow which is still quite helpful in most cases.
b) I have succumbed to sidewalk walks these days. The most reliable thing (aside from walking towards direct light,) is that I know she can see the difference between sidewalk and grass. Of course in the winter, this is a little harder since the sidewalk AND grass are white. But we walk the same block every day now, and she is on my right, so she can see the contrast between the white sidewalk and the dark grass.
4) Depth perception:
a) Walking the same route seems to benefit my dog a lot for multiple reasons - the most important being curbs. Their depth perception is affected. They won’t realize that they need to hop up or walk down with curbs. We have exactly 3 streets to cross, and when slowed down, she now knows ‘you go down, then you go up!’ I’m sure you can have more variability in your walks and just slow down at each curb/obstacle so they don’t faceplant. A harness is especially useful here, so you can support them with your leash via the body vs the neck.
b) Your dog will likely [eventually] walk directly into snowbanks and/or trip over various things. I imagine everything in front of them is a blob and they can’t tell at what height it is. Assume they will trip and direct them around anything higher than a few inches.
When I first noticed my dogs’ vision was deteriorating, I was devastated. It changed so many parts of our life immediately and has progressively gotten worse. Luckily, keeping these 4 things in mind has made a huge difference. Cataracts are quite manageable with some minor lifestyle changes and maintaining awareness of your dogs’ behaviours in certain situations. Please send me a message on Instagram (@yycpetphotographer) if there is anything that has helped you that I can add here.
Take good care,
Crystal