August 3, 2009 
A German company has produced custom-made contact lenses for animals including rhinos, racehorses and small household pets with cataracts…
S&V Technologies has successfully fitted guide dogs, horses, bears and larger creatures with the acrylic intraocular lenses, giving them their sight back.
Operations to implant the lenses can only be performed by vets who have undergone specialist training.
Since the lenses were launched last year, the company has fielded enquires from Sea World in San Diego about a sea lion who had trouble performing due to sever blurry vision; an Australian nature park regarding a blind kangaroo; and a Romanian zoo with a visually impaired lioness.
Head of the company’s veterinary division, Ingeborg Fromberg said: “Cataracts generally means blindness for animals, unlike humans. And because animals have short life spans, it means losing quality of life in a greater share of that life.
“When something is unsettling for an animal, when they don’t have a good sense of their surroundings, they can begin to get aggressive or unpredictable or withdraw.”
Although the operation and subsequent check-ups can cost thousands of pounds, the procedure is often worth it for animals that have gone blind and for their owners, the company explained.
Special lenses which absorb UV rays can also be used to help horses that experience ‘head shaker syndrome’ – a painful and life threatening ailment.
Taken from: http://www.otmagazine.co.uk