It is unfortunate that a cat goes blind, especially if he was not born with it and it happened suddenly or gradually. Blind cat keepers have to take special care in their home so as not to hinder the cat's passage too much or change the furniture or its location to avoid confusion and stress in the small feline affected by blindness. Although it is more common in older cats and occurs gradually, it can also be due to a birth problem or occur after an accident. Luckily our cats are strong animals and develop other senses such as smell or touch with even greater sensitivity.
If you are interested in learning about the main causes of blindness in cats and their treatment, continue reading this article on our site where we will discuss what is what can be done in each case and how these problems are diagnosed and treated.
Symptoms of blindness in cats
Blindness produces important changes in the behavior of your feline companion, among the changes we can find the following:
- Walking close to the walls.
- Walks sticking the body to the ground.
- He is unsure Whether to jump or run.
- Clumsier movements and unstable.
- Lower self-confidence.
- It shows more fearful and distrustful.
- The eyes may change in appearance, to a greater opacity, a more reddish or cloudy color, and the pupils may dilate to receive More light.
For this reason, if you notice that your cat has started to show any of these symptoms, go to your veterinarian to find out what is happening with your cat's vision.
Causes of blindness in cats
The causes that can cause your cat to lose its vision are very diverse. We can find from systemic diseases to eye diseases or accidents that can cause sudden and quite traumatic blindness for the cat and its caregiver.
The following causes may explain why your cat has gone blind:
- Systematic arterial hypertension: The main cause of this increase in blood pressure is usually chronic kidney disease, although it can also be idiopathic in cats over 10 years old or be secondary to hormonal problems such as hyperthyroidism, heart disease, increased intracranial blood pressure or polycythemia.
- Cataracts: they consist of the loss of transparency of the crystalline lens that is the lens of the eye, so depending on the degree of opacity, blindness will be greater or less.
- Iatrogenic blindness: in this case the blindness is caused by hypoxia or anoxia during surgery, enucleation of the eye or compression of the arteries when the cat spends a long time with its mouth wide open, such as during oral surgery or a dental procedure.
- Traumatisms: Some accidents that cause damage such as eye injuries, retinal detachment or changes in the lens can cause your cat to lose vision. vision or is impaired.
- Glaucoma: An increase in intraocular pressure can also lead to blindness.
- Uveitis: Inflammation of the uveal tract or uvea of the eye, which includes the iris, ciliary body and choroid, can lead to blindness.
- Untreated corneal ulcers: can cause endophthalmitis and consequently blindness. Do not hesitate to take a look at the following article on Cat's eye ulcer: causes and treatment on our site.
- Retinal degeneration: consists of degenerative damage to the retina that is usually caused by the use of enrofloxacin at doses of more than 5 mg/kg/day, birth defects, or dietary taurine deficiency due to low animal protein intake in vegetarian or home-cooked diets.
- Neurological disease: alterations at the level of the neurological system such as those caused by infections such as toxoplasmosis, feline infectious peritonitis or cryptococcosis, tumors of the optic or perineural nerves, hypokalaemia, liver disease (hepatic encephalopathy), vascular disorders that cause ischemia, thrombosis, embolism and vascular, neoplastic or inflammatory disorders of the afferent branch of the optic pathway.
Diagnosis of blindness in cats
It is important to take a good history in order to collect all the key information to make a good diagnosis of the cause that may have caused blindness in our cats.
Depending on the age of the cat, some causes may be more suspected than others. For example:
- A young cat: is more likely to lose vision due to infections such as feline herpesvirus type 1, congenital disorders, malformations or traumatisms.
- An older cat: one could think of degenerative or iatrogenic causes rather than infectious, although anything is possible.
It is important to have a good neurological exam in addition to a general examination to assess your reflexes and mental status as well as an eye and retinal examination to diagnose diseases and specific tests to evaluate the visual capacity of the small feline.
Within these tests we find the walking tests with and without obstacles in a quiet place and it is repeated in light and darkness. Affected animals may bump into obstacles or be reluctant to move.
Another test is the threat test, which consists of bringing a hand closer to the patient's eye without touching the hairs or the vibrissae that can cause air currents that hinder the test. If the animal sees, closes its eyes or throws its head back, it is because it has correct vision, if it does not, blindness may be confirmed.
The cotton test may be a better idea for cats that barely react to stimuli or in borderline cases, throwing a ball of cotton in front of the cat and to its sides, if the cat follows the ball, it sees correctly, if it does not react, it is possibly blind.
Treatment for blindness in cats
It is important to know what is causing your cat to lose or see severely impaired vision in order to apply an effective treatment for the problem. If it is treated at time, in many cats blindness can be reversible, so if you notice that your little feline is more clumsy than usual and he seems to have difficulty seeing, go to a veterinary center as soon as possible.
As we have mentioned, the main cause of blindness in cats is hypertension, which should be treated with antihypertensive drugs, especially amlodipine, although drugs such as may also be effective benazepril and telmisartan.
To treat eye conditions, surgery will be necessary in some cases, while in others topical treatments can be used in the form of eye drops or anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antibiotic ointmentsaccording to the need of the cat. If the cat also has a systemic disease that aggravates or produces blindness, this must be treated specifically.
What to do when a cat is going blind?
If you have been told that your cat is definitely going to go blind or you see how he is gradually losing his vision, it is important that the case of your little feline is reviewed and controlled by veterinary professionals. Since you cannot be seen, it is important to reinforce auditory communication with your cat so that you should avoid making loud noises, shouting or yelling, while you can talk to your cat much more and softly and slowly, so that he feels your company even though he can't see you.
It is also necessary that you do not make changes in the home that are not strictly necessary, because blind cats end up getting used to it little by little to a static home exhaustively sniffing all the places, knowing where the obstacles are little by little, but if that place changes its organization or you acquire new objects that act as obstacles, your little feline can become overwhelmed, stressed and have a hard time.
If it is important in all cats, if your cat is blind it is even more important to prevent it from going out onto balconies or having access to the outside as the risk of loss is much greater. You must continue playing with your cat, he needs your love and affection, make him see that everything remains the same and that your affection does not change even if he does not see you.
How to prevent a cat from going blind?
Preventing blindness in felines can be complicated, except in cases of vegetarian or poorly designed diets with little animal protein, essential for cats that are not omnivores but carnivores and require animal tissue to obtain energy and essential nutrients such as taurine related to cases of retinal degeneration and blindness, as well as other problems such as dilated cardiomyopathy.
You must take care of your cat's eyes and keep them clean and checked in order to detect any problem early and prevent infections and inflammations.
If you prevent your cat from going outside, you can largely avoid injuries and accidents that can cause blindness, as well as taking your cat to the vetbefore any change in behavior or the appearance of any clinical sign of illness or loss of vision to act as soon as possible and prevent your cat from going blind forever.
