Picture taken from www.dogbreedinfo.com
Hi and Welcome Everyone!
This is Sharda with Boston Terrier newsletter!
Today, we will be about Boston Terrier eye problems!
Overall, the Boston Terrier is quite a healthy breed, but, this breed too like many others, is prone to specific health problems.
While some of them are congenital, others are the result of the breed’s anatomy and behaviour.
With this in mind, we endeavour here to put before you all the health problems that Boston Terriers are known to suffer from, so you are prepared for what may happen sometime in the future to your very own Boston Terrier.
MEDICAL PROBLEMS YOUR BOSTON TERRIER PETS MAY FACE
As with most other breeds and species, the Boston Terrier too suffers all kinds of medical problems in different parts of its body.
These are:
THE BOSTON TERRIER’S EYES
The large and prominent eyes of a Boston Terrier are his lures. However, they are prone to injury. Your pet can very easily contract corneal abrasions and ulcers that may be slow to heal or, at times, require surgery.
When Boston Terrier pets tries to get friendly with a cautious feline, it can result in what is commonly called cat scratch.
If your Boston Terrier pet is injured with this, it can prove very harmful to his eyes as it can puncture the cornea and bring in bacteria directly into the eye.
Though the puncture is almost invisible, yet the eye is usually very painful and will eventually turn cloudy.
If not treated immediately, the whole eye will develop a swelling and blister and later, your Boston Terrier pets may also lose vision. If a cat scratch accompanies your dog’s eye injury, have your pet treated with a combination of oral and topical antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.
Our Boston Terrier’s large and protruding eyes are prone to corneal ulcers and eye trauma, while its skull size often calls for Cesarian sections in pregnant females.
CATARACTS AND JUVENILE CATARACTS
Yes, it’s true; your Boston Terrier pets can get a cataract. Your pet can contract a cataract due to several reasons, but the commonest form is the genetic, inherited type. Here, the age of onset and severity vary from breed to breed.
However, a cataract may also develop due to trauma to the eye, relating to metabolic diseases such as diabetes, from nutritional disorders during puppy hood, or as a result of other eye diseases.
A cataract may also develop spontaneously in old age, but should not linked with nuclear or lenticular sclerosis, an aging change that is commonly seen in the canine lens but does not cause blindness.
A cataract could also result from exposure to certain drugs, toxins, concentrated microwaves, radiation or due to electrocution. It could also cause degrees of vision impairment and may eventually cause blindness in your pet.
Among cataracts, the commonest is the Juvenile Cataract that can be detected by a vet when the pup is just eight weeks old.
It can lead to total blindness by the time your Boston Terrier reaches two years of age.
This is an inherited eye disease and is autosomal recessive, meaning that both sire and dam of your pup must have been carriers of the gene, and therefore, should not be bred.
Your Boston Terrier could be afflicted by other kinds of cataracts either as a result of injury, diabetes or little-known hereditary factors.
CERF exams conducted by veterinary ophthalmologists can help screen pups and breeding animals to ascertain such abnormalities. Cataract surgery can go a long way in helping your Boston Terrier with a full-blown cataract.
SYMPTOMS
- Bluish, gray or white colour change inside the eye
- Your Boston Terrier tends to bump into things, his vision being unreliable
- Reluctant to climb stairs
- Is unsure of himself in unfamiliar environments
- Inflammation of the eye accompanied by pain
- Squinting
DIAGNOSIS
Diagnostic tests help to recognize cataracts and exclude the possibility of other diseases. These tests include:
- A complete physical examination and medical history recorded
- A complete eye examination by a vet ophthalmologist
- Complete blood picture to determine any underlying causes
- An ultrasound examination of the eye to check if the cataract is too opaque to allow examination of the retina
- Possibly an electro-retinogram to evaluate the function of the retina, especially if the cataract blocks visualization of the retina can help screen pups and breeding animals ascertain such abnormalities
- Cataract surgery can go a long way in helping your Boston Terrier with a full-blown cataract
TREATMENT
No medical treatment exists to reverse, prevent or shrink cataracts.
Hereditary cataracts, not due to or accompanied by other eye diseases, may be surgically removed.
But if your Boston Terrier’s cataract is linked with any other eye disease such as inflammation (uveitis), it can only be removed surgically after the inflammation has been reduced.
Underlying causes of a cataract such as diabetes should be treated before treating the cataract.
I hope that you learned something from today’s Boston Terrier newsletter.
All the best and take care
Warmly,
Sharda Baker