Surveying veterinary ophthalmologists to assess the advice given to owners of pets with irreversible blindness.

Vet Rec. August 2020;187(4):e30.

André Tavares Somma¹, Fabiano Montiani-Ferreira², Ana Isabella Schafaschek³, Luisa Gatti⁴, Heidi Featherstone⁵

¹ Department of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.; ² Department of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil montiani@ufpr.br.; ³ Department of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.; ⁴ Department of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.; ⁵ Ophthalmology, The Ralph Veterinary Referral Centre, Marlow, UK.

© British Veterinary Association 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:The primary purpose of this survey was to determine how veterinary ophthalmologists manage cases of irreversible blindness and to report the most common causes of blindness.

METHODS:Respondents completed a questionnaire sent by email with the cooperation of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists, the European College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists and the Latin American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. The questionnaire was developed containing 12 questions with both open and closed multiple-choice response options.

RESULTS:One hundred and eight veterinary ophthalmologists answered the questionnaire. Of the respondents, 83 per cent had graduated for more than 10 years. Glaucoma (63.56 per cent) was the main cited cause of blindness, followed by progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) (17.80 per cent) and retinal detachment (6.78 per cent). The major concerns of owners refer to the impact of blindness on quality-of-life, (39.31 per cent), followed by depression and anxiety (20 per cent), and environment adaptation (11.72 per cent). General recommendations include avoidance of changes in the domestic environment (18.45 per cent), use of auditory stimulation (14.09 per cent) and avoidance of dangerous areas (12.75 per cent). Almost 31 per cent of professionals do not recommend the use of literature on how to deal with blind pets.

CONCLUSIONS:The survey determined glaucoma and PRA as the most common causes of irreversible blindness in pets. Several recommendations that are frequently given to owners of blind pets are presented.

Keywords

QoL; blind; eyes; ophthalmology; survey; veterinarian;

Article Tools:

Medline

Email to me

Archives Highlights:

Prevalence of Encephalitozoon hellem among companion and exhibition birds in Japan.
Although microsporidia can rarely cause severe systemic infections, including hepatitis, nephritis, and enteritis in young birds, most infected birds are subclinical and thought to recover spontaneously after a period of temporary spore shedding if they do not have immunosuppression. Microsporidia can cause self-limiting infection in immunocompetent humans and life-threatening chronic diarrhea in immunocompromised individuals.

Cryptorchidism in dogs and cats presented for elective gonadectomy: A descriptive cohort study of 306 animals treated between 2018 and 2023.
5,476 dogs and 11,559 cats were presented to the same facility for elective surgical castration, suggesting a cryptorchid incidence of 3.21 % for dogs and 1.12 % for cats. Cryptorchid testes were more commonly observed in the inguinal area than in the abdomen, and were more frequently located unilaterally on the right side in both dogs and cats.

Companion animal veterinary personnel have occupational risk for tularemia and One Health role for tularemia prevention in Kansas.
Forty-three percent (47 of 109) of veterinarians reported diagnosing tularemia in cats and 13% (14 of 109) in dogs. Seven percent (8 of 109) of veterinarians reported having had tularemia. When performing procedures with a high risk of exposure, such as lancing abscesses in tularemia suspects, glove use was 100% but additional personal protective equipment was inconsistent, including eye protection (70%) and surgical face mask (59%).

Case series of maggot debridement therapy demonstrates safety and efficacy for treating problematic wounds in cats and dogs in Mexico.
Treatment was administered by applying 8-10 larvae per square cm surface area directly on the wound bed and covering the wound with a sterile polyester mesh, sutured to the skin. These were left on the wound for cycles of approximately 48 hours (24-72 hours); the cycles were repeated if more than 20% necrotic tissue remained after treatment. Review of these cases revealed that 80% of treated wounds achieved 100% debridement within 48-96 hours of treatment.

Limb amputation for feline appendicular bone tumors results in excellent recovery outcomes and high owner satisfaction with a low incidence of complications.
Time to return to walking without support was < 3 days in 69.7% of cats and 3 to 7 days in 16.7%. Activity level changes were reported as no change in 75.8% of cats. There were no behavioral changes in 92.3% of cats. Quality of life following amputation was recorded as excellent in 82.4% of cats. Owner satisfaction was reported as very satisfied, moderately satisfied, or satisfied in 98.5% of cats.