Get Eye checks on Shibas
Over the holiday we were informed that our adopted rescue boy is going blind due to Progress Renal Atrophy PRA. http://www.animaleyecare.net/diseases/pra.htm
I have had my older girls rechecked recently and at 7 one is developing signs of cateracts. (Shibas do have a propensity to get cateracts and glaucoma.)
I recommend that anyone that has Shibas have their dog's eyes checked with pressure reading while the dog is young at 15 months or so in order to have a background record of typical scores for your animal while it is healthy. (The procedure is painless.) Later down the road comparisons can be made against the background scores to determine if your dog is developing a slow onset to eye disease.
Keep a watch out for squinting in light, excessive tearing, or cloudy pupils where there were non before. Glaucoma can develop very quickly and is very painful. If caught in time a vet may be able to prevent full blindness.
Snf
I have had my older girls rechecked recently and at 7 one is developing signs of cateracts. (Shibas do have a propensity to get cateracts and glaucoma.)
I recommend that anyone that has Shibas have their dog's eyes checked with pressure reading while the dog is young at 15 months or so in order to have a background record of typical scores for your animal while it is healthy. (The procedure is painless.) Later down the road comparisons can be made against the background scores to determine if your dog is developing a slow onset to eye disease.
Keep a watch out for squinting in light, excessive tearing, or cloudy pupils where there were non before. Glaucoma can develop very quickly and is very painful. If caught in time a vet may be able to prevent full blindness.
Snf
Comments
I recently read about a 5 year old shiba girl that is losing her 2nd eye to glaucoma, and now she will be blind at 5 years old. So incredibly sad.
Thank you for the info, I like it when people give advice on things to be checked on. Like this and the microchip thread. I keep a list and ask the vet next time I go. It makes me feel like Im getting more information out of my vet visits.