Cataracts in juvenile dogs - some aspects of clinical examinations

The research covered 125 dogs of different breeds with cataract symptoms. Within this group 12 dogs were diagnosed as having juvenile cataracts. The dogs were from 4 months to 3 years of age, of both sexes, full breed as well as mixed breed. All the animals underwent full clinical and opthamology examination. These clinical examinations confirmed in-bred hereditary cataracts, juvenile hereditary cataracts and cataracts complicating other eye diseases. The opthamology examination gave a detailed description of the changes occurring in the lens in the different types of cataract. The most frequent cataracts found in this study were: cataracts occurring as a result of post uveitis complications (50%), hereditary cataracts (33.3%) and, finally, inbred cataracts (16.6%) which occurred most frequently in Golden Retrievers. Routine clinical and opthamological methods of examination are sufficient to diagose different types of cataracts occurring in young dogs.