Nutritional cataracts in timber wolves
Vainisi, S.J.; Edelhauser, H.F.; Wolf, E.D.; Cotlier, E.; Reeser, F.
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 179(11): 1175-1180
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-1488 PMID: 7328000 Document Number: 70
When fed to orphan dog pups, the milk replacement diet is not generally meant to be the complete diet beyond 2 or 3 weeks of age. At this time a semisolid diet usually is fed so that pups can start eating on their own. Thus, for most canids, artificial milk replacement is seldom used beyond 2 or 3 weeks of age. If the wolf pups in our study also received supplement at 2 weeks of age, the opacities probably would have been minimal. If the milk replacement formula were fed to orphan wolf pups, we suspect the animals would all have had severe lens opacities. We have seen litters of dogs that have been raised on the commercial diet, and all littermates have had lens opacities similar to those seen in the wolf pups. However, in a study on Beagle pups raised on the commercial diet from day 1 to 6 weeks of age, lens opacities were not seen. In another study involving several litters of newborn pups, half the pups was left with the dams while the other half was fed the commercial diet. When examined at weaning age, 60% of the pups fed the commercial diet had some form of lens opacity, whereas those left with the dams were normal.
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