My cat has suddenly gone blind

[Hornetfarmer]

About three weeks ago my cat exhibited some very odd behaviour. Four times in a week he came and found me, miaowed at me then promptly peed up the wall/sofa/my clothes. It was very strange but we'd sadly had to have our dog put down and I thought maybe he'd sensed a change.
Fast forward to now and I've realised he's not been quite right since then. It dawned on me last night that I think he's gone blind. I think he can see a bit but definitely not a lot. His pupils are very dilated.
I will obviously be taking him to the vets first thing tomorrow but what on earth has caused this and will it be possible to reverse it?
He's 12 btw and slightly overweight but not massive.

Most commonly high blood pressure -> blown retinas. Non reversible in cats I think, unless the optho bods have got very fancy since I last looked. If hypertensive, investigate for underlying conditions eg kidney disease, overactive thyroid (bit unlikely if fat), heart disease then start amlodipine to get blood pressure down and prevent more target organ damage. Euthanase if cat very distressed by blindness (often they are happy ).

I have no idea OP, but I hope he's OK and feeling more like himself soon. We discovered one of the dogs was deaf quite suddenly. It probably has been gradual but we thought he was being a bit of a git and ignoring us. I felt so awful when we realised, it had never occurred to me that he had lost one of his senses.

Oh, how awful for him .

If it is any consolation, cats have a far better sense of smell than we do, and a wider range of hearing. While they can see better than us in low light, their daytime vision is far less vivid than ours because they sacrifice colour vision for night-time vision.

So while this will undoubtedly be upsetting for your cat, it probably does not equate to human blindness because his other senses are superior to ours and will therefore compensate better.

One of my DSil's burmese went blind, think it was glaucoma. Their cats are always indoor cats, and this one coped very well as long as they didn't move the furniture about. She lived happily for quite a few years after, and when he sister died and they brought in 2 young cats she was definitely still the boss.

As PP said - probably high blood pressure. My very elderly cat went blind towards the end of her life (sorry). But, she was riddled with loads of other stuff including renal failure.

Her behaviour was the same. Hopefully the vet will be able to identify the underlying cause and tear it but it's possible the damage to his eyes is done.

Cats can certainly function well without much sight though may be restricted to indorse and a garden if they can't get out of it (they probably won't try to be fair).

Indoors!

Hope the vet can reassure you.

I had a cat who went blind. It had a stroke. The vet gave it a sedative and it slept for a few days then was right as rain for another 16 years.

I hope kitty is ok. Are dilated pupils a sign of blindless? Could it be blood pressure or neurological problems.

Our old boy started to go blind, and had the huge pupils. We took him to the vets and it was his blood pressure. Thankfully it was reversible with bp pills and he had a good year of pretty good eyesight until he passed away. He was 19.

It sounds like blown pupils caused by high blood as pps have said. I thought it was irreversible, but I'm no expert. What I do know is that cats adjust very well to blindness - even old ones.

I think it's only irreversible if the retinas have detached @thecatneuterer

My old boy cat went blind aged about 17, he had high blood pressure secondary to thyroid disease (which had been treated but I think the damage was already done) and ageing kidneys. We didn't notice until he misjudged a jump off the sofa and fell off, but in hindsight he had been "getting under our feet" for a few weeks because he couldn't see properly. He went onto amlodipine and coped pretty well with his poor eyesight, the vet thought he wasn't completely blind but everything would be dim& blurry. We just had to be careful not to move the furniture around, and had to supervise him outside to make sure that he didn't get out of the garden. He was able to make his way around the house pretty well, could go up & down stairs, jump up onto the furniture, use a litter tray etc. He lasted just over a year more, until a very short final illness, and seemed to have a good quality of life.

Thanks for all your messages. He does indeed have very high blood pressure. Vet thinks his retinas have detached but can't be sure. He seems fine in himself for now. Hopefully the tablets he has will help him.

The good thing is you will know very soon either way as the bp pills work really quickly