Meet the animal eye doctor who has restored sight to dogs, cats, an eagle, a lion cub, even a lizard

It is not every Tuesday that I find myself dressed in surgical scrubs in a veterinary operating theatre.

In front of me lies an anaesthetised and motionless 15-year-old grey dachshund cross. And with me is animal ophthalmologist Dr Gladys Boo, her hands working ceaselessly, while both feet periodically pressed on what looks like pedals.

From the back, the eye specialist vet almost looks like an organ player performing a tune to a symphony of beeping medical devices.

But Dr Boo is not thumping keyboards – she is performing cataract surgery on one of the most delicate parts of the anatomy – the eye. Cataracts are a condition that cloud the lens of the eye, obstructing vision.

Her hands make super precise incisions of mere millimetres amidst an intricate network of the tiniest blood vessels, muscles and delicate layers that process light, colour and motion.

Her right foot simultaneously controls a machine that breaks up the cloudy lens with ultrasound energy and sucks it up, and her left foot operates a light switch for the operating microscope.

Even breathing is too much movement for such intricate work.

“I breathe every four seconds in order to keep my hands steady,” Dr Boo told me.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ANIMAL OPHTHALMOLOGIST

It is only 11am on a regular workday, and this is already Dr Boo’s second eye surgery.

The 39-year-old shared that being one of only two board-certified animal ophthalmologists in Singapore, she constantly battles critical eye emergencies including ruptured eye lens and ruptured eyeballs at her clinic, The Eye Specialist for Animals.

Her first emergency operation began at 8.30am on a 13-year-old Jack Russell cross suffering from glaucoma, a condition where fluid buildup or impaired drainage increases pressure inside the eye, damaging the optic nerve and in some cases, leading to blindness.

Unfortunately, the dog’s right eye had to be removed two weeks ago. But Dr Boo managed to control the pressure within the left eye, saving it from total blindness.

Next, came a series of eye consultations with animals of all shapes and sizes – dog, cat, rabbit, a striking red macaw, and even a white tree frog, one of the few breeds that are legal in Singapore.

Lago the macaw came with a poignant story. Born with inherited cataracts, Lago had been given up twice by the age of four. It came to its third and current owner three years ago completely blind and would remain motionless in the middle of the room, lost to the world.

After a successful cataract operation in 2022, Lago not only could see again but also bonded deeply with his owner.

Back at the clinic today for a routine check-up, Lago now perches freely on its owner’s shoulders. Soon, the inseparable pair will relocate to the Czech Republic and start a new chapter together.

Lago is one of many birds Dr Boo treats – she is the go-to ophthalmologist for Bird Paradise. If you frequent the wildlife park, you may have seen many of her colourful patients, which include king penguins, African penguins, a hawk, an eagle, a toucan and even a duck.

She began practising ophthalmology in Australia in 2014 and moved back to Singapore in 2021 to start her own practice. Over the past decade, she has also treated a lion cub, a full-grown tiger, horses and a lizard.

COMMON EYE EMERGENCIES IN ANIMALS

Most of Dr Boo’s patients are pets – dogs, cats, a fair number of rabbits, and the occasional chinchilla, hamster and gerbil.

Among the most common conditions is cataracts, which cause visible clouding of the eye lens. Symptoms include difficulty seeing, tearing or increased eye discharge, squinting and rubbing of eyes, and bumping into objects.

“Most owners do not know that cataracts are not an ageing disease in pets. They are generally inherited,” the animal eye specialist told CNA Women.

Inherited cataracts are genetically passed down and develop at a younger age. In Singapore, the youngest dog Dr Boo has treated for cataracts was only around a year old.

“It is important to treat cataracts early. When a cataract is left untreated for too long, it can cause inflammation that leads to glaucoma, and the lens may become displaced. This could lead to irreversible vision impairment or blindness,” she advised.

Unlike in human cases, there are a lot of animal cataract emergencies.

“In Singapore, I see a large number of dogs with cataracts that develop rapidly and are at a risk of rupturing, requiring emergency surgery,” she said.

For rapidly developing cataracts, in addition to cataract symptoms, the white cloudy change in the pupils may occur within 24 hours to a few weeks, and is usually accompanied by redness in the white part of the eye, she noted.

“Owners should not wait until the dogs in bumping into things before seeing the vet because this may be too late,” Dr Boo added.

“If the cataract has already ruptured, we need to clean up the lens before we lose the chance to do any surgery, and removal of the eye is the only option left.”

Another fairly common condition among Dr Boo’s patients is glaucoma, a slow-progressing disease that may be inherited, caused by other eye conditions or trauma.

Owners may miss this entirely in the early stages because a dog or cat with glaucoma may not be screaming or skipping meals, said Dr Boo. To an owner, it may simply appear more lethargic and sleep a lot. It may also squint or tear a little. Many owners mistake this as part of ageing.

However, glaucoma is a painful disease. Human patients have described the increased eye pressure as a “migraine that shoots down the neck”, Dr Boo said.

As with humans, if surgery is not performed to improve fluid drainage or reduce fluid production, the build-up of pressure may damage the optic nerve, causing pain, and potentially irreversible vision impairment.

The third most common eye emergency Dr Boo sees is ruptured eyeballs, usually caused by accidents, animal fights or underlying conditions such as glaucoma, eye ulcers or tumours.

In one case, Dr Boo had to treat a shih tzu bitten by a dog on her right eye.

“It had blood pouring out of its eye and its iris protruding out. I put the iris back in place and stitched the laceration close. Two weeks later, the dog developed a cataract as a result of the initial trauma. I removed its cataract,” she said.

Another common disease in dogs is dry eye, a condition where the eye does not produce enough tears to keep the eye properly lubricated. Caused by autoimmune disorders, injury, infections or ageing, this results in irritation, inflammation and damage to the eye.

Though it can occur in both dogs and cats, it is more commonly seen in dogs. It can occur at any age, but is more prevalent among middle-aged or older dogs.

“Owners don’t notice signs until there is discharge or ulcers, and the eye is in pain. These ulcers can sometimes progress rapidly within 24 hours and lead to a corneal perforation – a hole in the front of the eye.

“When that happens, the internal structure of the eye rushes out towards this hole, and you may get blood pouring out of the eye. It is as graphic as it sounds,” she said.

ON AN EYE-SAVING MISSION

Work-life balance is a luxury when battling eye emergencies. The mother of three young children aged three, one, and five months old, often finds herself scheduling operations in the evening and missing family dinners and tuck-ins at night.

“A lot of cases are time-critical or time-sensitive, so if we do not respond to it appropriately, we might lose the eye, even if it’s just a matter of hours or days,” she said.

But for the lifelong animal lover, it is simply a calling – something she worked incredibly hard for.

To qualify as a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist, she had to go through more than 10 years of veterinary school, internship, and specialised residency training.

To mitigate the hefty costs, she had to simultaneously work four part-time jobs as a live-in veterinary nurse, pet shop assistant, university tutor and lab demonstrator to help fund her veterinary studies.

Inspired by her passion for the field, during her residency training in Australia, she even embarked on an ambitious mission to find a cure for canine corneal endothelial degeneration, a condition where corneal cells break down, causing swelling and cloudiness, which impair vision and, in severe cases, leads to blindness.

This usually occurs in older dogs or breeds with a genetic predisposition. Cats also may suffer from the condition, though it is less common.

Between 2015 to 2018, Dr Boo worked on adapting a human surgical technique for partial dog cornea transplant, and as part of her innovation, invented a medical device – Boo-K9 AAC, named after her – to replace the damaged part of the cornea. Her technique is still being used worldwide.

Recalling a pivotal moment in her training, Dr Boo shared the very first time she witnessed a labrador recovering from cataract surgery during her training in the United States many years ago. 

“When the dog regained vision and saw the owner for the first time again, you could see the intense happiness in its eye, tail wag and entire body language – it was an indescribable feeling,” she told CNA Women.

She hopes to replicate this magic for as many pets and owners as she can.

Vision is not only vital to a dog’s well-being but are also the windows to their soul, she said.

“When pets look at you, they’re really trying to connect with you. What they see matters to our heart.”