This is Bracken - a picture taken about a year ago. She had a freckle (you can just about see it) in her right eye.
This year, the freckle seemed larger than before. On an impulse I started researching on the net and learned by looking at similar pictures of cat eye pigmentation that tit could turn out to be melanoma.
I took Bracken straight to our local vet, who referred her to a vetinary opthalmist because she wasn't sure whether it was just pigmentation or something more. After tests the opthalmist told me that he couldn’t say whether there was a melanoma in the eye or not but he was concerned because, along with the pigmentation, her pupil was very slightly distorted.
The usual process here in the UK is to monitor the eye pigmentation every 2-6 months and if there seems to be an obvious rate of change, enucleate (remove) the eye. Pigmentation on its own can be just that, but if the surface of the eye is raised or the pupil is distorted it is dangerous - a melanoma - or cancer. Cancer in a a cat's eye can spread rapidly and without warning to other parts of the body - lungs, liver, kidneys.... Given the risk, I decided (the vet left the decision with me) to have Bracken’s eye removed straight away, even though the pathology report on the eye may come negative. It was a very tough decision for every reason you can think of.
Bracken was away for a day to have the operation. I felt like a monster when I arrived to collect her. She was dopey, disorientated and with a plastic cone around her neck and her little face shaven and stitched up. She'd been given a long term antibiotic to keep infection away and had a liquid painkiller to be put into her food once a day (no problem with that). She was very distressed by the plastic collar as she couldn't eat without help. The collar kept banging into furniture and she could't clean herself. I replaced this with something called a Comfy Collar which was heaps better and as comfy as it's name, allowing Bracken more movement whilst protecting her from scratching the wound.
The results from the pathology of Bracken’s eye came through today - 6 days later. Her eye DID have a melanoma (diffuse iris melanoma) which, if it kicks off - and it could at any time - is life-threatening. I was told that because her eye had been removed in the early stages of the disease, it may have. prevented the cancer spreading. Before the operation was performed the surgeon had done a routine chest x-ray (the lungs tend to be the first place the disease attacks if that is what it is going to do). This was clear for Bracken, so good news.
Bracken will be having her stitches out in 4 days time and then life will carry on as normal. Cats can still have a great life with only one eye. Their major senses are smell, feeling and sound, so quality of life is not as affected as much as we humans, whose eyesight is our primary sense, may imagine. Bracken is already adapting, turning her head to view things on her right side and playing with her best friend and twin sister, Pippin as before. It's early days but I am feeling optimistic and anticipate them having many years of play and fun ahead.
For anyone reading this who has noticed any unusual pigmentation in your cat’s eye, please see a vet straight away and get it checked out, even if your cat seems perfectly OK in him/herself. It could turn out to be nothing. Or you could be saving your cat's life.
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This year, the freckle seemed larger than before. On an impulse I started researching on the net and learned by looking at similar pictures of cat eye pigmentation that tit could turn out to be melanoma.
I took Bracken straight to our local vet, who referred her to a vetinary opthalmist because she wasn't sure whether it was just pigmentation or something more. After tests the opthalmist told me that he couldn’t say whether there was a melanoma in the eye or not but he was concerned because, along with the pigmentation, her pupil was very slightly distorted.
The usual process here in the UK is to monitor the eye pigmentation every 2-6 months and if there seems to be an obvious rate of change, enucleate (remove) the eye. Pigmentation on its own can be just that, but if the surface of the eye is raised or the pupil is distorted it is dangerous - a melanoma - or cancer. Cancer in a a cat's eye can spread rapidly and without warning to other parts of the body - lungs, liver, kidneys.... Given the risk, I decided (the vet left the decision with me) to have Bracken’s eye removed straight away, even though the pathology report on the eye may come negative. It was a very tough decision for every reason you can think of.
Bracken was away for a day to have the operation. I felt like a monster when I arrived to collect her. She was dopey, disorientated and with a plastic cone around her neck and her little face shaven and stitched up. She'd been given a long term antibiotic to keep infection away and had a liquid painkiller to be put into her food once a day (no problem with that). She was very distressed by the plastic collar as she couldn't eat without help. The collar kept banging into furniture and she could't clean herself. I replaced this with something called a Comfy Collar which was heaps better and as comfy as it's name, allowing Bracken more movement whilst protecting her from scratching the wound.
The results from the pathology of Bracken’s eye came through today - 6 days later. Her eye DID have a melanoma (diffuse iris melanoma) which, if it kicks off - and it could at any time - is life-threatening. I was told that because her eye had been removed in the early stages of the disease, it may have. prevented the cancer spreading. Before the operation was performed the surgeon had done a routine chest x-ray (the lungs tend to be the first place the disease attacks if that is what it is going to do). This was clear for Bracken, so good news.
Bracken will be having her stitches out in 4 days time and then life will carry on as normal. Cats can still have a great life with only one eye. Their major senses are smell, feeling and sound, so quality of life is not as affected as much as we humans, whose eyesight is our primary sense, may imagine. Bracken is already adapting, turning her head to view things on her right side and playing with her best friend and twin sister, Pippin as before. It's early days but I am feeling optimistic and anticipate them having many years of play and fun ahead.
For anyone reading this who has noticed any unusual pigmentation in your cat’s eye, please see a vet straight away and get it checked out, even if your cat seems perfectly OK in him/herself. It could turn out to be nothing. Or you could be saving your cat's life.
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