dark spot on eye, melanosis, melanoma?

Hello everyone,

My Siamese cat Ninja, has the most clear, brilliant blue eyes.  About a year ago I noticed that on the lower portion of his right eye, he has a small area of dark pigmentation.  At the time I basically just assumed it was part of his eye colouring so to speak, and that I probably just never noticed. I didn't think much more of it after that.

Yesterday I was taking photos of Ninja and when I looked at the photos I started to really notice this dark spot again.  I work with human melanoma patients and it dawned on me that this mark could potentially be a melanoma on the eye.  I'm kicking myself for not having thought of this a year ago when I first noticed the spot, and now I am devastated that he could have a life threatening eye condition that could have been assessed sooner.

The spot itself is quite small and I cannot honestly determine if it has grown in size over the past year or not. It is very low on his iris so unless he is looking up, you can't always see it. 

The problem we have is that Ninja has dilated cardiomyopathy, essentially, a weakened heart, so we have been advised against doing any surgical procedures that are not absolutely necessary.  We spoke to our vet yesterday who again reiterated this when we asked about Ninja's eye spot. The vet basically said that for now, not much can be done for this dark spot other than monitoring, since it cannot realistically be biopsied, especially given Ninja's compromising heart condition (placing him under anesthesia would be life threatening).  He said it could potentially be a benign pigmentation, but he did not really say much other than that.

I am just looking for some support from others who may have a kitty with this type of eye problem.  I am not sure if we should follow our regular vet's advice and just closely monitor the spot, or if we should request a referral for an opthamologist to get a more concrete answer. The problem is that Ninja stresses easily with vet visits and travel, and he should be placed in as little stress as possible due to his heart condition, and because we cannot really do a biopsy or aspiration of the spot.

Thank you all very much.

Laura and Ninja

mirrorartist said:

 
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Thank you all very much.

Laura and Ninja

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I can't offer much except that black cats with a dark spot on the eye are more likely to have it be melanoma, and the usual thing to do is when its suspected (it grows while monitoring) is to remove the eye.  Hard to do if you can't safely anesthetize, a bit of a rock and a hard place.  Possibly the safest thing to do is watch and wait and if it grows revisit the issue.