Elderly, blind cat

gunsandbanjos

OP you are so lovely for taking her in and making her last years so comfortable:T

madrhino

CGG wrote: »

I have only just found this thread, but quite literally, one of my cats came inside this morning with something clearly wrong with one of his eyes. It was glassy, no iris and very dark/cloudy in appearance. I took him to the Vets and apparently his lens has popped out from it's normal place, and he is now blind in this eye.
The Vet said she only dealt with one of these cases once in every five years, whereby she has dealt with on average two dogs per year.
I have no idea how my cat has done this, and yes, I came home and had a few tears for him. I can only hope his other eye doesn't go the same way. For now the Vet is leaving the blind eye in, but will remove it if my cat shows signs of distress or won't allow me to touch that side of his head.

My old cat was blind in one eye just like you describe, but he was hit by a car so we knew why. He got used to it. He could still climb and balance and do everything a "normal" cat could do. It even saved him energy as he used to look round the corner into the living room with only half his face showing . It didn't affect him at all and he lived a normal cat life until he died of old age. So hopefully he will be fine and it won't affect him too badly

CGG

Thanks for those kind words of encouragement. I am just saddened that this has happened to him. He's a cat that never ventured outside our back garden, and this has happened out of the blue, it makes my heart sink to know I'll not see his two big, green eyes look at me again.

danih

Tiffany - so pleased to hear your newcomer has a loving home to spend the remainder of her days!

We rehomed 2 cats a couple of years ago - hubby found a mum and 2 newborns under a bed in work (was nurse in psychiatric hospital) and other staff wanted to drown them We kept the tom cat and rehomed Mum and sister.

Sister's new owner feeds lots of those cat treats, and is way too chubby for a young cat.

Point is- those cat treats might be a nice wee extra for your old girl, and be a good boost to her calorie intake. I doubt they are good nutritionally, but may be of benefit purely in keeping her weight a little higher.

dandelionclock30

Unbelievable that nurses/NHS staff were thinking of drowning a mum and her kittens. What does that say about the caring NHS?, no wonder people like Harold Shipman get away with things for so long if this is the level of callousness shown to living creatures.
Good for your partner and for the lady who is helping out the blind cat.

joansgirl

The cat where I work is totally deaf and the vet estimates that he is blind in one eye and only has 10% vision in the other. He's 20 and had a stroke earlier this year which caused these problems.

But, he manages perfectly well. He obviously can't hear you calling him so at feeding time you have to put the food under his nose and then he follows you to where the safest feeding place is (they have a humongous dog too who will scoff the cats food given half a chance).

He always knows when I'm sitting on the back doorstep and comes over for a fuss. He still goes in the back garden but he now uses a litter tray most of the time. He doesn't roam around the house so much anymore as it's a bit of an obstacle course at the best of times.

His sense of smell hasn't diminished at all and his whiskers are always twitching as he "reads" his surroundings.

So many of you on here have taken special measures to ensure the comfort and safety of your cats in later years. You're all wonderful

madget_2

CGG wrote: »

I have only just found this thread, but quite literally, one of my cats came inside this morning with something clearly wrong with one of his eyes. It was glassy, no iris and very dark/cloudy in appearance. I took him to the Vets and apparently his lens has popped out from it's normal place, and he is now blind in this eye.
The Vet said she only dealt with one of these cases once in every five years, whereby she has dealt with on average two dogs per year.
I have no idea how my cat has done this, and yes, I came home and had a few tears for him. I can only hope his other eye doesn't go the same way. For now the Vet is leaving the blind eye in, but will remove it if my cat shows signs of distress or won't allow me to touch that side of his head.

As others have pointed out, cats are incredible adaptors and, once he's used to having sight in only one eye, he'll still be able to live a happy life. I know exactly how you feel, though.


Like you, I cried my eyes out when our cat first went blind - I felt so devastated on her behalf and kept imagining how terrified she must feel. But the truth is that cats tend to think and cope very differently to us under such circumstances. Unlike us, they don't spend time worrying about how on earth they'll manage, being upset at how unfair it is and generally feeling devastated about it all. Finally realising this fact was a great comfort to me. Don't get me wrong, I still feel truly awful for her being blind, but it doesn't seem to worry her a jot now. Cats tend to just resign themselves to their new status and get on with their lives. I hope that will be of some comfort to you too.


Still having sight in one eye will make the transition far less traumatic for them than losing it in both. It also helps greatly that he is familiar with his home.


Again, as has already been said, if his eye does eventually need to be removed, this should not bother your cat once he has healed from the operation. Since he can't see out of it already, he won't miss it.


My cat's pupils were initially fully dilated constantly. Oddly enough, they now sometimes contract, even though she is 100% blind in both. Is that what you mean by fully open? It does take a bit of getting used to at first, so I can understand if it freaks you out a little to see him like that now. Again, don't worry as you do become accustomed to it.


He's obviously very well loved and cared for. He'll be absolutely fine, and so will you once you've come to terms with it. Please don't worry too much.

CGG

Yes, madget, I am hopeful he will adapt okay to losing the sight in his left eye. His eye is big and round and wide open. I haven't seem him blink at all. The iris has gone, altogether. His eye looks like a black marble, all round and glassy. Yes, it looks frightening, like you are peering into a round black hole. There is no sign of life there.
I'm still upset for him, but as this only happened sometime between bedtime Sunday night and him coming in for his breakfast yesterday morning, it is early days for us. I have left him alone since getting him home from the Vets yesterday, and all he has done is lay under the bushes, out of harms way.

madget_2

CGG wrote: »

Yes, madget, I am hopeful he will adapt okay to losing the sight in his left eye. His eye is big and round and wide open. I haven't seem him blink at all. The iris has gone, altogether. His eye looks like a black marble, all round and glassy. Yes, it looks frightening, like you are peering into a round black hole. There is no sign of life there.
I'm still upset for him, but as this only happened sometime between bedtime Sunday night and him coming in for his breakfast yesterday morning, it is early days for us. I have left him alone since getting him home from the Vets yesterday, and all he has done is lay under the bushes, out of harms way.

Understandable as it does take time for both you and your cat to come to terms with - although they cope better and faster usually than we do!


Keep an eye on his eye (if you'll excuse the pun). If it does look troublesome or if he rubs at it, I'd definitely return to the vet as it may need to be removed. Seeing jet black eyes is seriously weird at first, though.


You'll both be okay, given a little time to adjust, for sure.

CGG

Sad news, I'm afraid. With a heavy heart I am writing this. My cat became extremely withdrawn after losing the sight in one eye last month. He didn't come home on Saturday for any food at all and was nowhere to be seen Sunday morning. We hunted about for him. When we found him he was in a terrible state. Blood all around his mouth, his fur all dirty and... well it was very distressing. I called my Vets. He was put to sleep. I have no idea what happened to him, the Vet looked into his mouth and he had internal bleeding. We brought him home and buried him in the garden, in the spot where he had spent many sunny days basking in the sun. Needless to say, it has really upset us all.