Brown spot in kitten's eye

rad65 · Mar 19, 2011

My kitten Tails is 7 months old. Today he was sitting in the sun and I noticed there is a brown spot on the side of his left eye. I tried googling it, but the only results referred to old cats who have nuclear sclerosis.

Here's a picture, sorry it's not brighter but he kept squinting in the sunlight. It's that spot by his left eye's tear duct.

Does anyone know what this is? My other cat doesn't have it. I think Tails has always had it, though I haven't noticed it before today. I think I can see it in some older pictures of him, but I've never taken a picture of him in the sunlight looking at the camera.

darlili · Mar 19, 2011

Hoping it's nothing, but I'd definitely run it by the vet next week just to be sure.

violet · Mar 19, 2011

To me the spot looks like benign iris melanosis. rad65 I urge you to have your kitten's eye examined by a veterinary ophthalmologist to make sure the spot is indeed benign. (This is the kind of thing regular vets can't be counted on for a correct diagnosis. They require diagnosis and periodic checks by a specialist.)

Information
http://www.americananimaleye.com/cli...Letterhead.pdf

violet · Mar 19, 2011

PS

I'm looking for a link to specialists. (Had the wrong link before).

violet · Mar 19, 2011

Okay, found it. Sorry it took so long.

Veterinary Ophthalmologists

http://www.acvo.com/new/public/searc..._location1.asp

my4llma · Mar 20, 2011

I've never seen that in a cats eyes before. You should check with the vet just incase.

violet · Mar 22, 2011

rad65

there is a PM with information waiting for you. Please check your PMs.

jan · Mar 22, 2011

Hi, I'm not saying you shouldn't get it checked out, but don't panic. I have a Burmese with a dark brown fleck - we don't remember it when we first got him, but it certainly was noticed by the time he was a year or so. We had it checked with the vet when it was first noticed. She said it could be a sign of malignancy, but in a very young cat it was most unlikely. She advised we kept an eye on it to make sure it didn't get bigger or change shape. We watched it very carefully for months after that, but there was no change.

We have a close up photograph of him taken when he was young and every so often we check him against the photo. It never has changed, so we've been told not to worry. He's now 6 years old and has had it years.

rad65 · Mar 22, 2011

Sorry, I'm not very good at progress updates. I have an appointment with an ophthalmologist at 3:45 today, as I don't want to needlessly add $50 to the cost by going through my nomral vet first. I'm hoping this trip ends up being a waste of $250, as that would mean Tails is fine.

violet · Mar 22, 2011

I'm very happy you have an appointment. The money will be well spent. I'm sure your kitty is fine but talking to the specialist is still something you won't have reason to regret.

I'm posting this article for you and everyone else because it's very, very important information

http://www.eyevet.ca/iris_melanoma.html

Originally it was posted back in 2007 when a member's two year old kitty was diagnosed with melanoma. His eye had to be removed to save his life. Thank God he is happy and healthy today.

Anyway, the old link from 2007 doesn't work any more, but this new link brings up the article. I hope everyone who reads it will save it for reference.

naps with cats · Mar 22, 2011

There is a slight possibility of a growing corneal sequestrium. They do come in different shapes and sizes (usually round). Here is a link that talks about it and the one picture they have is a pretty severe one. I'd also look up other pictures for "Corneal Sequestria" so you can see all the different shapes and sizes.

http://www.animaleyecare.net/disease..._sequestra.htm

They do grow, and they do need to be taken care of ASAP if by any slight possibility this is what your cat may have.

Warmly,

Julie O'

rad65 · Mar 22, 2011

I just got back from the vet with Tails. It turns out it is an eye melanosis, the benign form. They said it looks fine now, but the vet is concerned about the location of the spot. It is bordering the fluid drainage ring on the outside of the eye, and if it touches that they won't be able to laser it off and will be forced to remove the eye. Now the only problem is that the estimate she gave was near $1,000. She said the sooner the better for this, but I honeslty have nowhere near the ballpark that number is in. She also recommends check ups every three months due to the location and the small amount of time between this not being a big problem and them not being able to save the eye (which in themselves will total nearly $1,000 in just over 2 years at $165 a pop).

I'm thinking once I get a job out of grad school this summer, the first thing I'll do is save up to have this spot removed. That would be about 6 months down the line, which should be fine as long as I am vigilent with watching the spread of it. My parents will pay to have the eye removed if it comes to that, but they will not pay for a preemptive surgery he may not ever actually need. I checked out VPI insurance and guess which eye condition they don't cover at all? Yep, melanosis.

naps with cats · Mar 22, 2011

Something I, and many I have known have started to use is called "CareCredit" and CareCredit(dot)com. Once on their site, go to the right side drop-down list and pick Veterinarian; follow instructions and you can get INSTANT credit, even using the number they give you before you even receive your card.

They also have 3 different payment plans you can choose from that are 0 (ZERO) interest if you pay them on time and by the time stated, depending on which one you pick. I picked a six month plan (higher payments, but paid off quicker with no interest), but believe they have a 9 month and a year one; can't remember exactly. My first time using it, but it HELPED immensely with my cats when I was in a very hard place, which I will be until July (I mean, I have enough for their 3 bags of $38/per bag dollar of food and spring water and all and my food, but no extras (except the Drinkwell Platinum since the old one broke), but nothing else!

The CareCredit is run through GE Bank and it's credible and works GREAT to be able to get 0 interest. If you are late in a payment or choose not to use one of the payment plans, the interest is very high. BUT, there's no need to miss a payment - it's a fantastic resource and you can get your cat all fixed up now!

:-D :-D :-D (If they don't approve you for as much as you need, take what they give you and ask the specialialist to call them, as they will sometimes up it if the doctor calls saying the procedure is absolutely necessary (unless your credit is really reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally bad).

Try it, I swear you'll love it!

Warmly,

Julie O'

Originally Posted by rad65

I just got back from the vet with Tails. It turns out it is an eye melanosis, the benign form. They said it looks fine now, but the vet is concerned about the location of the spot. It is bordering the fluid drainage ring on the outside of the eye, and if it touches that they won't be able to laser it off and will be forced to remove the eye. Now the only problem is that the estimate she gave was near $1,000. She said the sooner the better for this, but I honeslty have nowhere near the ballpark that number is in. She also recommends check ups every three months due to the location and the small amount of time between this not being a big problem and them not being able to save the eye (which in themselves will total nearly $1,000 in just over 2 years at $165 a pop).

I'm thinking once I get a job out of grad school this summer, the first thing I'll do is save up to have this spot removed. That would be about 6 months down the line, which should be fine as long as I am vigilent with watching the spread of it. My parents will pay to have the eye removed if it comes to that, but they will not pay for a preemptive surgery he may not ever actually need. I checked out VPI insurance and guess which eye condition they don't cover at all? Yep, melanosis.

rad65 · Mar 22, 2011

Originally Posted by Naps With Cats

Something I, and many I have known have started to use is called "CareCredit" and CareCredit(dot)com. Once on their site, go to the right side drop-down list and pick Veterinarian; follow instructions and you can get INSTANT credit, even using the number they give you before you even receive your card.

They also have 3 different payment plans you can choose from that are 0 (ZERO) interest if you pay them on time and by the time stated, depending on which one you pick. I picked a six month plan (higher payments, but paid off quicker with no interest), but believe they have a 9 month and a year one; can't remember exactly. My first time using it, but it HELPED immensely with my cats when I was in a very hard place, which I will be until July (I mean, I have enough for their 3 bags of $38/per bag dollar of food and spring water and all and my food, but no extras (except the Drinkwell Platinum since the old one broke), but nothing else!

The CareCredit is run through GE Bank and it's credible and works GREAT to be able to get 0 interest. If you are late in a payment or choose not to use one of the payment plans, the interest is very high. BUT, there's no need to miss a payment - it's a fantastic resource and you can get your cat all fixed up now!

:-D :-D :-D (If they don't approve you for as much as you need, take what they give you and ask the specialialist to call them, as they will sometimes up it if the doctor calls saying the procedure is absolutely necessary (unless your credit is really reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally bad).

Try it, I swear you'll love it!

Warmly,

Julie O'

The money itself isn't the issue, the fact that I will need to start paying it back before I have any income is the issue. I have more than enough in emergency credit cards, but I would like to wait until it is an emergency to use them, because I live on a set budget through the money given to me by my parents during schooling and even paying back $50 a month would be impossible. Also, through tons of grad student loans and poor credit card management in undergrad my credit is most likely below care credit's minimum level.

bastetservant · Mar 22, 2011

Oh, my. I'm sorry this is happening to you, and tails. I hope you can find a way to get it taken care of as soon as it needs to be.

Robin

bastetservant · Mar 22, 2011

Oh, my. I'm sorry this is happening to you, and Tails. I hope you can find a way to get it taken care of as soon as it needs to be.

Robin

rad65 · Mar 23, 2011

The ophthalmologist sent the actual estimate today. $2300. How is that possible? I knew chicago was expensive, but I was expecting something much cheaper after reading stories online. The eye removal is even a little bit more. I am not supposed to have to choose between saving my cat's eye or not when he's only 7 months old.

violet · Mar 23, 2011

Sadly, cats that young can even die of lymphoma. Also sadly, procedures that require specialized skill, knowledge, and equipment, and can't be performed just by anyone, do cost a lot of money.

I'm shocked that your kitten's case is so serious. I really didn't expect that. My heart goes out to you and I can't tell you how sorry I am that you have to deal with this situation.

rad65 · Mar 23, 2011

Originally Posted by Violet

Sadly, cats that young can even die of lymphoma. Also sadly, procedures that require specialized skill, knowledge, and equipment, and can't be performed just by anyone, do cost a lot of money.

I'm shocked that your kitten's case is so serious. I really didn't expect that. My heart goes out to you and I can't tell you how sorry I am that you have to deal with this situation.

The spot itself isn't serious, it's just in a location where it will cause glaucoma if it increases pretty much at all. Here's a picture, and the small slit of iris in between the spot and the left side of the eye in the picture is all the leeway we have.

On a much brighter note, my mom saw how upset the thought of Tails not having an eye for pretty much his entire life made me, so my parents are giving me one of those special no-interest, pay-us-back-when-you-get-a-job loans

The vet says at its current size, they expect to remove 90% of the mass via laser, and that will at the same time prevent further progress. It's a lucky case, since most are beyond the point of removing mass and the only benefit is that the melanosis can't get worse. The vet was very surprised I found the spot by myself, which I took as a good sign that I got him in early.

I know it will be difficult when I need to pay that back along with student loans, but the way I see it, I don't really have an option. If the eye got worse and I had to go through with the eye removal, the second I had $2300 in my savings account, I would look at Tails' one eye and feel like the worst parent ever. Cats may cope well with losing an eye, but I wouldn't cope well with knowing it was my conscious decision to let the eye get worse. Your twenties are made for going in debt and paying it off, and I can't think of a better reason to be in debt.

bastetservant · Mar 23, 2011

I like how you think!

It is only money. There will always be debts to pay, but Tails only has two eyes.

Your parents sound just great.

Tails has such a beautiful intelligent face. And his eyes are wonderful.

I'm glad you're his parent.

Robin

Brown spot in kitten's eye

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