Monday, April 3, 2017

Do you treat dogs with glaucoma or cataracts? Or can you help with some citizen science?

Phil has some age-related changes that impact his vision.

Do you treat dogs with glaucoma or cataracts? Do you own a dog that you'd like to enroll in a survey-based study on vision-related quality of life?

Veterinarians, veterinary ophthalmologists and researchers from the University of Sydney are conducting research into glaucoma in dogs and ways we might be able to better detect and manage this disease that typically results in a blind and painful eye or eyes. If you have a patient and client you think might help with this research, recruitment is underway for several aspects of the study including:
Examination of the eye using several imaging techniques (fundus photography, high frequency ultrasound, corneal and retinal imaging), typically under sedation (while the imaging is non-invasive, it does require the dog to be still). For this study we are looking for
  • Dogs with primary and secondary glaucoma
  • Dogs with cataracts (whether treated or not)
  • Any dogs willing and able to have a free eye examination
  • CATS with primary glaucoma

Assessment of vision-related quality of life in dogs. This study requires dog owners to complete two online questionnaires about their dog’s vision and daily activities at home. Eligibility criteria for this study includes:
  • Owners of dogs that have had a complete eye exam (regardless of diagnosis) who are willing to complete two online questionnaires about their dog.


If you, your dog or any of your clients have dogs with vision impairment, or ocular disease (or if the dog has perfect eyes and is desperate to be a part of this fascinating research, we can recruit as a control!) and might be interested in participating or finding out more about this research, please contact veterinarian and PhD candidate, Kathleen Graham on kathleen.graham@sydney.edu.au for further information or to arrange an examination.