The 'eyes' have it: Cougar gets sight restored at VHUP

Thanks to the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, a cougar named Aurora is alive and well today. Seth Koch, an ophthalmologist at VHUP, performed eye surgery on the 22-week-old cougar cub Tuesday morning in hopes of restoring her sight. The cougar was diagnosed with congenital cataracts in both eyes a few weeks ago, but doctors at VHUP expect she will regain 90 percent of her vision after surgery, which they deemed successful. According to Veterinary School spokesperson Helma Weeks, while the hospital often performs this surgery on dogs, and sometimes cats, it is a very rare procedure for cougars and a first for Koch. Weeks explained that Aurora, who lives in the Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown, Pa., was lucky to have been in captivity. "If this [condition] happened in the wild, she would have died," Weeks said. Koch described the procedure in a press conference prior to the surgery. The cougar is anaesthetized and given a paralyzing agent to prevent her eyes from moving. Then a three-millimeter incision is made in each eye and the cataracts are disintegrated using a tool called a phaco emulsifier. A phaco emulsifier acts as a jackhammer, using ultrasonic waves pulsating at 40,000 cycles per second to break up a cataract. Cataract debris is removed by suction and each incision is closed up with a single stitch. The lenses are also removed during the surgery. The procedure lasted about an hour. Koch opted against replacing the lenses with implants because they would require too much post-operative care. But the cougar's vision should be fine without lenses, he said, although she may have a slight impairment seeing close objects. The doctor said he would not have performed the surgery had the cougar's retinas been unhealthy. An amino acid deficiency in cats, called taurine deficiency, can destroy retinas. A previous visual examination was unable to determine the state of the cougar's retinas because her cataracts obstructed the view. An ultrasound at that time showed that her retinas were not detached. Prior to surgery Tuesday, Koch said he would verify that the cougar's retinas were healthy by performing an electroretinogram, a test that measures the electrical impulses normally generated by cells of the retina in response to light. Aside from clouded eyes, the cub displayed no obvious signs of her affliction before the operation, navigating the room without much trouble. Steven Marks, executive director of the Elmwood Park Zoo, explained that cats can compensate for vision loss well by using their whiskers and keen sense of smell to maneuver. But cats in the wild can die from cataracts due to an impaired ability to hunt. Marks will provide post-operative care for Aurora. After returning home to the zoo, she will recover for a few weeks and then be introduced into a new exhibit. The zoo has established a cougar fund to help finance the surgery. Marks said that response to the fund from the community has thus far been great.