My 8-year-old dog has cataracts. Are there any eye drops or medicine?

Unfortunately there are no such drops effective for treating cataracts. Surgery is the only option to remove those cloudy spots. Differentials for cataracts are nuclear sclerosis and vitreal degeneration as well. A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and discuss appropriate treatment. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Currently there are no eye medications that can effectively correct a cataract, the only option to have it cleared is surgery. As you mentioned, some dogs are not good candidates for eye surgery and so they need to be medically managed, which is what you are currently doing. The flurbiprofen is an anti inflammatory and the neomycin is an antibiotic to help prevent infection. Helen may need to be on these medications for the rest of her life. It is also important to have her eye pressure checked at least every 6 months because cataracts can lead to glaucoma (swelling/increased pressure in the eye that can be very painful). Congratulations on your new addition. Best of luck!

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Cataracts in dogs can be caused by diabetes, so if the cataracts are new you should have Lulu checked for this. Otherwise, cataracts cannot be fixed with drops, but would require a surgery to the eye. Also, cloudiness in the eyes isn't always cataracts, but can be something called 'nuclear sclerosis' which causes a cloudy appearance but the animals can still see. No human drops should be applied, and no drops will help with this. There are lots of medications to treat various conditions that occur along with cataracts (uveitis, glaucoma, etc). I recommend having her seen by your vet before any medications are given. Best of luck with Lulu.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Unfortunately there is no treatment for cataracts other than cataract surgery to remove the diseased lens, and this costs thousands of dollars (around $7000 for both eyes). There are eye drops that you can try called Ocluvet, but there has been little research on these drops to suggest they actually "dissolve" the cataracts. For the hip arthritis, I would recommend the following below. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. 1. Dasuquin joint supplement for dogs 2. Adequan injections from your veterinarian 3. Anti-inflammatory medication such as Rimadyl or Galliprant 4. Cold laser therapy 5. Welactin omega 3 fish oil

I'm sorry to hear that! The only treatment for cataracts is surgery to remove the diseased lens and replace it with an artificial one - just like what is done in humans for this problem. If this is something you're interested in doing with Alex, you can ask your veterinarian for a referral to a veterinary ophthalmologist who can evaluate him to see if he would be a good candidate for surgery. There are no eye drops or other treatment options that will help with cataracts, unfortunately.

I'm sorry to hear that Cami is having this problem. Unfortunately, the only treatment option for cataracts is surgery - so if this isn't an option for you due to cost, then there's really nothing you can do to make them go away. But, cataracts should not cause any drainage or watering of the eyes, so I would be concerned that Cami has some other eye problem causing this - possibly an eye infection, or allergies. These can often be treated with prescription eye drops from your veterinarian, so I would recommend taking her in for an eye exam to discuss what can be done to make her more comfortable.

Hello and thank you very much for your question. Unfortunately, there are no products over the counter that can treat cataracts. But, before you decide to do anything or put anything in the eyes, it is imperative that a veterinarian perform a complete ophthalmic examination on your dog. There are so many different conditions that can look like cataracts or cause blindness that are not cataracts. And the good news is that a lot of our diseases in a dog are completely treatable; even sometimes with over-the-counter drugs. So my first piece of advice is to go to a veterinarian and find out exactly what is causing your pets blindness. Thanks a lot for your question. I hope I have helped.