What You Can Do for Your Pet if they have Glaucoma

Optimal treatment for your pet requires a combination of home and professional veterinary care. Follow-up will be critical. You should:

·  Understand the symptoms of glaucoma so that you can catch an increase of pressure in the eye right away. Frequently this applies most to a pet on medical therapy, in which you are trying to maintain some vision in a diseased eye.

It also applies when the first eye lost vision very quickly due to glaucoma and you are trying to protect the second eye. Saving vision in an eye with high pressure can be a race against the clock so the symptoms to look out for listed above are very important.

·  Because time is of the essence with this disease, YOU are  the front line of defense when there is a problem until you can get to your veterinarian or veterinary ophthalmologist. If you wouldn’t delay in seeking treatment for glaucoma for yourself, don’t let your pet wait, because it could cost him or her its vision.

·  Understand what medications your pet is on and why, and administer them as prescribed by your vet.

·  Be certain to alert your veterinarian if you are experiencing problems treating your pet. Frequent trips to your veterinarian may be necessary.

Medications are frequently adjusted to maintain comfort and/or protect the vision of your pet, or to monitor a visual eye if the other eye has gone blind from glaucoma.

·  Despite treatment, most dogs with glaucoma will be blind in that eye within 36 to 48 months and, if predisposed to glaucoma, will likely fall victim to the condition in their other eye as well.

 

Medications may delay that process, but they must be strictly adhered to. Surgical removal of a blind eye is recommended once all treatment has ended.