Blindness in an old drake

[GardenerGal]

I have a 12 year old drake who started getting cloudiness in his right pupil some months ago. Today I could see that the cloudiness has filled that eye and he is blind in it. The other eye seems normal and he can see through that.

My "Raising Ducks" book only says that blindness can happen as a result of inbreeding, and sometimes takes years to happen. It doesn't provide any other information.

Does anyone here have any knowledge about causes of blindness in ducks. It doesn't look like there is anything I can do to treat this, but is there any way to prevent it from happening in the other eye?

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

I don't know about ducks, but I have a 2 year-old bantam Brahma who all of a sudden developed very poor depth perception, and I think she will eventually go blind.

I would assume that since he is so old that could be the cause, just like when dogs get cataracts as they age.

 

[70%cocoa]

I agree that it is cataracts developing as a result of age. The lens in his eye has just become cloudy with time. Can he still see well enough to find food and water? It will probably help him if the food and water containers contrast a lot with the background (like white on black does) so he can detect them more easily.

You must have given him a wonderful home and cared for him very well to have helped him reach that age.

 

[GardenerGal]

Thanks so much for the replies.

He is an old duffer! I got him in 2002, but he was fully grown then and I'm guessing he was around 2. My first thought was that he has a cataract, but it's strange that the other eye doesn't seem to have it, and his brother, same age which I got from the same farm the same year, has no signs of any problems.

The other thing that is odd, is that it was very slow starting, but the advancement of the cloudiness was very fast. I just noticed he was blind in his right eye, last night, and when I looked at it this morning I saw that the strange milky color seems to be inside his eye -- the retina, but a "stream: of that cloudiness seems to be coming from the inside, out toward the lense. Does that sound coherent? lol

I'll hope he doesn't develop a problem in the other eye. He can't see anything in the cloudy one but the left eye is okay and he can see food and water. He enjoyed a swim in the pool today and doesn't seem confused or disabled.

 

[70%cocoa]

That is interesting. Cataracts can affect one eye only, and are not always regular in shape - that is, they don't always uniformly cloud the lens, maybe just one part of it in a 'clumpy' kind of way. Cataracts can also affect the front, back or middle of the lens, so they can appear to be at different depths in the eye. So, even though it sounds a bit irregular looking, it could still be a cataract. I guess that on;y a vet can make an accurate judgement though. It's great that his other eye is unaffected and that he can still see well. He can probably still detect light and dark through the cloudy eye.

It's nice to think of your two ducky brothers having grown old together. How lovely

 

[GardenerGal]

Thanks, 70%cocoa. That's helpful to know. I didn't realize that cataracts can be irregular in their appearance; I always thought it was a more uniform hardening and clouding of the cornea, but it certainly would explain a lot that the process is not always so even and uniform.

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I have a barn full of geriatric ducks, chickens and geese. A couple of old doves live in the house with me. And I'm no spring chicken myself!! We are growing old together, I suppose. Sometimes I let the broodies hatch babies so we have some young 'uns, though!

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I'm grateful that my feathered friends seem to mostly have long lives. I try to keep their home clean, and give them wholesome, fresh, nutritious food and fresh, clean water, plenty of room to move and roost, proper ventilation and protection from the weather, etc. They reward me by living full lives. When they have an issue, as my old drake has, I want to do what's best by them.

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[70%cocoa]

Well, what a wonderful home you have for your animals. The fact that they live such long and happy lives is a real credit to you.

 

[GardenerGal]

Thank you.

 

[desertdarlene]

We had an old drake at the lake who had cataracts in both eyes at the time he died. But, he got around and took care of himself perfectly until he died. He could see a little, but very poorly. What he saw was probably very blurry. Someone said that having a bad diet over a long period could cause that. But, this duck had the same diet for over a decade and the eye thing didn't show up until his last year to 18 months of life. So, I think it was an age thing.

 

[GardenerGal]

That's good to know, desertdarlene. Thank you for sharing that. As far as diet, your guy probably had a perfectly good one. Not just what you fed him but the goodies he most probably found in and around the lake!

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Cataracts seem pretty typical in older animals (humans too) but everyone manages to get by I guess. Ducks have sensitive bills, too, and they always dabble around and duck (lol!) under water to grub around for tidbits, even in murky water. And they always seem to find water even in the pitch dark. So, they don't always need to use vision to find what they need. My drake is doing his thing just fine and is his old ducky self, so I'll just check daily as always to see how he's doing.