Pet Owners

All pets receive a comprehensive ophthalmic exam including certain diagnostic testing like the Schirmer tear test, fluorescein staining, and tonometry. Some additional diagnostic tests can be performed during your initial visit, while other tests may require general anesthesia or sedation. Sedation or General Anesthesia will be scheduled based on availability, which is often on a different day. Surgery is almost always performed on a scheduled surgery day, with the exception of emergency procedures.

Our hospital is open Monday-Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. If you have an emergency outside of our normal hours, please contact your pet’s primary care veterinarian. If they are also unavailable, Animal Emergency & Referral Associates (AERA) is open 24/7, 365 days a year for veterinary emergencies. Your pet will later be seamlessly transferred to our care as soon as we open.

Yes, pets are admitted to the Animal Eye Center of NJ at 7:30 AM to prepare for the procedure. They will then be discharged later that day to go home with you.

It is difficult to give a definitive estimation of costs as cataract diagnosis, surgery, and treatment options are tailored to fit your pet’s unique needs. We will always review costs with you at your pet’s initial consultation prior to any procedures. Costs for cataract surgery include the initial consultation, an electroretinogram (ERG) to determine retinal function, an ocular ultrasound, gonioscopy, medications, general anesthesia, hospitalization for the day, and the surgery. The entire process will be explained to you in detail during your first visit to the Animal Eye Center of NJ. There are never any surprises with regards to costs or tests performed.

Our board-certified ophthalmologist has years of focused experience and training in the field of veterinary ophthalmology. Since most family veterinarians don’t have this level of specialized training, your follow-up visits need to be performed by us at our clinic.

Your pet’s first appointment will take at least 30 minutes as we obtain and review medical history as well as examine his or her eyes. After the examination, we will come up with a comprehensive treatment plan and provide you with a finalized report of our findings. In certain cases, and only with your consent, additional testing may be performed on the day of the initial examination, but this takes additional time. Extra testing will often have to be scheduled for a separate day.

Many health symptoms involving the eye can point to a variety of conditions or diseases, so your pet needs to be examined in order to provide a proper diagnosis and treatment plan. It is also both unethical and illegal to write prescriptions for a pet with which we have not developed a proper client-veterinarian-patient relationship. However, after our thorough examination of your pet, we will be able to follow through with treatment and prescribe any necessary medications.

It is always important to bring along all recent tests and any medications that your pet is currently taking, but there may be times where tests need to be repeated, especially if an abnormality was found, the tests are not recent, or if you have noticed any changes in your pet since the tests were taken.

While we know that many pets do not enjoy wearing an E-collar, they are necessary for a successful outcome following delicate eye surgery. Eyes are extremely fragile, especially after a surgical procedure. If your pet is not restricted from coming in contact with the incision site, they could cause severe or permanent damage to the eye.

If your pet has surgery at the Animal Eye Center of NJ, one to four re-check examinations will be performed postoperatively at no charge. Minor surgical procedures that are completed at the same time as the exam (such as a grid keratotomy or diamond burr keratectomy for an indolent corneal ulcer) do not qualify for a no-charge re-check exam. We will discuss the cost of your re-check appointment if you are unsure.