Acute onset blindness

RE: Acute onset blindness

shahzaib syed — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 21:50:44 GMT

if you are thinking of vit.A deficiency then at start night blindness should be there

RE: Acute onset blindness

mariette asselbergs — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 17:08:19 GMT

Please keep us informed!

Mariette

RE: Acute onset blindness

Marie Kubiak — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 13:30:48 GMT

Thanks all.

The tentative plan based on your collective wisdom is to sedate him for full eye exam (plus IOP if I can get hold of a tonometer), collect bloods for haem/biochem/minerals/lead/vit A and see what that throws up!

Marie

RE: Acute onset blindness

mariette asselbergs — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 12:48:14 GMT

Vit A deficiency: Well known problem in West Africa Sahel region in small ruminants and cattle.

Mariette

RE: Acute onset blindness

Mark Rowland — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 12:43:09 GMT

In my large animal days I had cows with lead go blind

And cows with Vit A go blind

Gov Lab checked and diagnosed the Vit A

Goodluck

RE: Acute onset blindness

grumpyoldman — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 11:40:24 GMT

It maybe worth just repeating the plr in the dark with red and blue lights ,it does distinguish between photo receptor and ganglion cell damage, in dogs anyway, does not sound like the kind of creature that will let you ERG it ,and if you do interpretation will not be easy. Ultrasound with a 12.5 mhz probe will eliminate structural eye disease. it may let you do that after proxymetacaine admin. The strabismus does suggest elevated ICP if its a setting sun thing, so your answer may lie in the cavernous sinus, increased ICP often causes dilated pupils before miosis. Something about parasympathetic fibres being on the outside of the nerve bundles as they travel through the space and being affected first springs to mind . After that its advanced imaging if funds are available.

RE: Acute onset blindness

Emily Rainbow — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 10:40:28 GMT

No PLR, menace or dazzle would suggest retinal, optic nerve/chiasm or brain stem disease according to the blindness flow chart I got from Clinician's Brief. Also fits with the mydriasis rather than an inflammatory/painful cause as usually miotic pupils. (Happy to send to you if you give me your email address, written for smallies but still applicable).

Need to do retinal exam to examine optic nerve/lens etc and see if peripheral or central blindness. Have an iPhone handy and some tape to take photos!

Could it be PRA? is there a history of worse signs at dawn/dusk leading to now? Can he hear? Normal facial feeling, swallowing etc etc?

Is blindness a component of Cervid Wasting Disease?

RE: Acute onset blindness

Michael Woodhouse — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 00:34:17 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]Doing anything to avoid revising for my synoptic exam[/quote]

Talking of synoptic exams (and relevancy to this question), in mine I was asked about vitamin A deficiency, that could fit.

If otherwise reasonably well then I'd be thinking something like a brain abscess. CCN would be more rapidly progressive. I don't think lead fits either with my limited experience. I think the answer will be in the head, not the eyes.

It might be an interesting PM.

RE: Acute onset blindness

grumpyoldman — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 13:34:18 GMT

+1 good idea I would be thinking Abcess /TB/ space occupying mass/parasitic cyst/ focal CCN,/ HE.,/ Copper deficiency Lead toxicity/Something anomalous eg Arachnoid cyst.

RE: Acute onset blindness

Anthony Dennison — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 11:44:44 GMT

Can you measure the blood pressure of an antelope? I think the retinal exam will give you a lot more information as to whether it's an ocular or systemic problem (though fact it's bilateral would point more to a systemic one). The girls he's with are fine? Have they had a new batch of hay/haylage in? Could it be something like listeriosis? (Sorry, all a bit random. Doing anything to avoid revising for my synoptic exam!)