Juvenile Cataracts- Spay Clinic advised we take Tails to specialist =(

We took Tails to get spayed yesterday and while I called in the afternoon to check up on her, I was told that she is showing signs of juvenile cataracts and they want us to take her to a specialist.

I've read so far that this is pretty rare for kittens, Tails is 12-13 weeks old. I want to assume that it is genetic, but I really have no idea as this is my wife and I's first cat so everything is new to us. Im really feeling sad about this, and hoping its a misdiagnosis on their part since they only do spaying and neutering at the clinic, but the other part of me thinks that they wouldnt say this for no reason.

We have an appointment next monday with a clinic here in town, but I am hoping some of the members in this community can give me some information about this. I've read a bit online, but I feel like first hand experience from owners will put my mind at ease as far as what to expect in the future.

My wife and I already made the decision that is she needs to have surgery to improve her vision, its something we are absolutely willing to do. Our new couch and living room furniture can wait, we prefer Tails can see it all before she claws it up =)

Here is the best photo I have of her eyes, dated October 31, just 10 days ago.



I cant really see anything, but again I dont have a trained eye so I dont know what Im looking for.

Hi tailsinct the photo isn't showing up properly. Are you able to upload it again?

The most recent photo I have of her eyes...October 31

I don't see anything that resembles a cataract in the picture. Is the specialist a vet opthamologist?

There's some info about catarcts and a video explanining cataract surgery: http://acvo.org/new/public/common_diseases/common_diseases.shtml

No the vet only does the neutering and spays, so they suggested we take her to a specialist. My mother spoke with a vet and they said we should bring her down to the clinic to establish him as the vet before we go take her to a specialist. We took a couple photos yesterday and her eyes do seem a bit different, I will get a hold of it and post later today.

Here is a side by side with the photo we took last night.

This is 10 days apart, now unless my eyes are convincing me otherwise, it looks noticeably different.

Pic on left is October 31, on right is November 10.

It does look a little cloudy in the newer picture. I hope a vet opthamologist can help your kitten

Would it be at all possible that since we took the shelters advice and had her spayed at 12 weeks, that could be the trauma that caused the cataracts in her eyes? Or am I grasping at straws and those two are completely unrelated ??

Cataracts are usually genetic. Having said that, my Pushy got an eye infection after his neutering op, so I can't dismiss out of hand a cat getting secondary problems after surgery. However, I suspect this is more likely to be something your cat would have got anyway. I personally don't know much about it though. I hope the ophthalmologist can help you and save Tail's eyesight!