Cataracts in deer

[andreas1980]

Hi

Has anyone had any experience with cataracts in wild deer. We have culled a couple of deer now with a cloudiness in the eye. I have looked online and believe that it is cataracts. The animals are otherwise healthy feeding normal and behaving as they should.

I just wondered how common this is.

 

[Apache]

Any pictures? Cataracts are clouding of the lens - not the front of the eye (cornea).

 

[Ranger22]

i have shot a few deer over the years that appear to be blind! Joking aside i have seen a good few deer with cloudy eyes. I can remember a roe kid, weeks old, that was totally blind. Was told it was New Forest disease.

 

[andreas1980]

This is a hind I shot where the eye had completely rotted away. The socket was pretty much hollow an a lot of pus. I believe that the cloudy eye we see eventually ends up like this in extreme cases.

 

[Willie]

Shot this roe buck a while back. It had one "cloudy" eye, otherwise quite normal.



Willie

 

[andreas1980]

Yeah that's what it looked like in what we shot apart from the above.

 

[Timney]

Here's an unusual one I shot a few years ago with similar clouding in the eye. Not a great photo but you can see the coloration on the right eye as you look at it.

 

[Buchan]

As Apache says, it's tricky to say if this is cataract (lens) or corneal (surface). The roe from Willie looks like cataract, but I can't be sure. If you look at it side on you should due able to tell if it is internal or external. Regardless, you can get new forest eye type infection in deer which lead to ulceration and potential rupture of the eyeball

 

[martijn]

Hi all, in theory cataract would be quite rare I would say. Eye damage or infections can lead to conditions that would look quite similar and those are a lot more common, and indeed you see this in farmed deer on a fairly regular basis.

 

[Double four]

I have shot a number of red deer suffering with blindness mostly affecting both eyes, I was led to believe that it was a genetic problem in our local herd.

 

[jimmy milnes]

Doesn't eating rapeseed cause problems with blindness? Could this be a possibility?
Regards
Jimmy

 

[martijn]

rapeseed can give blindness yes but that would not give any visible eye changes. also salt intoxication, lead poisoning(car batteries that are dumped) and other poisons can induce blindness without any other visible signs.

 

[roestalker]

Over the years I have had three cases of new forest disease here in Northumberland, the eye becomes cloudy but this is on the external part of the eye. I see it occasionally with the sheep and cattle stock too. Farm stock of course can be treated quite easily if spotted early. I have been told if left the parasite will eventually get I. To the eye.
any of the helpful vets on here will be able to put me right if I am mistaken.

 

[FISMA]

Deer have no UV filters in their eyes. I wonder if this could be causing cataracts at early ages.

BTW, this is also why you do not wash your clothes in regular soap/powder. Aside from the scent, detergents have a UV dye that makes clothes look brighter to us and probably really weird to deer.