Animal Magic: If my cat suddenly goes blind, can my vet help?

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Many times in my career I have had a cat arrive in my consulting room that has suddenly gone blind. But twice the family have left it seven days before making an appointment, which has turned out to be a disastrous decision. They had assumed that there would be nothing a vet could do for the little one. This has made me extremely passionate about this topic.

In one case, the cat lived out the rest of its life limited by its sight loss. The other cat did not adjust at all well to being blind, so very sadly we had to say goodbye to him.

Obviously there are many reasons why a cat’s sight may be lost, from traumatic injury to tumour.

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But a very common problem, which happens to people too, is as simple as having blood pressure that is just too high.

7 Year old cat7 Year old cat
7 Year old cat

High blood pressure (hypertension) causes problems in the brain, heart and kidneys too. But sometimes the first symptom is loss of sight.

A person experiencing this will be able to recognise minor defects and report to an optician or doctor. They can quickly identify if it is retinal detachment, and start the process of sorting this out.

However, a cat has no mechanism for reporting a partial loss of sight to its owner, however caring.

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The first we are going to know about retinal detachment is likely to be when it is the whole retina in both eyes that have detached, resulting in complete blindness.

Cats who experience this will appear distressed, their pupils will be widely dilated, and, if they attempt to move about, they will bump into things.

The good news is, if you recognise these symptoms and bring your cat to your vet the same day, there is a very real chance that we can manage the hypertension with simple tablets, and give them their sight back.

Better still, if your cat is seven years or older, arrange for your vet team to take their blood pressure every six months. Our ‘life begins at seven club’ includes this for just £35.00.

And if they are developing hypertension, as around 30% of all cats over thirteen years will, we can start treatment before they suffer retinal detachment and brain damage.

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