Cat went suddenly blind last night

[Cleebope2]

Any ideas what could be going on? We have a vet appointment later. But our 11 yr old suddenly went blind last night. She cannot see anything. She was on antibiotics and eye drops for a cold. She seemed to be much better and was acting normally yesterday. No vomiting, no diarrhoea, eating and drinking but cant see her bowl. It is v distressing. I feel I can’t leave her alone at all now.

My cat had very high blood pressure and went blind twice. The first time it was late at night and her pupils had completely blown so I locked her in a small room in the dark with anything she needed ready for vets in the morning. When I went in to her her the sight was back and pupils were normal.

The second time it happened she was on blood pressure medication so as soon as I realised I gave her a double dose of her tablet and within 10 mins the sight was back.

She also had thyroid problems but with medicine she carried on for another couple of years until old age took her.

Thanks I will find the fb blind cat owner page. Going to get her soon and find out the results of her blood tests and eye scan. They kept her in to sedate her for that as she was not happy yesterday.

How did it go?

vet hasn't a clue what the cause is and says it would take a £1500 MRI. So won’t be doing that. No detached retina. She did diagnose diabetes and she also has recurrent cat flu which we have been treating for two years.So probably permanently blind. Now we have to decide if we want to start insulin injections but she is fairly old and not sure if it is worth it. For now the puss is relaxed at home, not constantly agitated or mewing like she was yesterday. Don’t know if that is due to the sedative this morning or if she is already adapting.We will have to leave her at home till Saturday and hope that she will get on ok with my son here and MIL keeping an eye.

Surely diabetes isn’t something you can leave untreated though?

I'm so sorry to hear about your cat, it must all feel really stressful and sad. One of my cats had diabetes and with twice daily insulin injections (for 6 years) lived until he was 17! Cats are sometimes temporarily blind due to a hypoglycaemic episode so insulin may help this?

Not sure. The vet thinks she may deteriorate due to respiratory illness over winter and she has no diabetes symptoms so may not be worth it. But my son really wants her to get the injections so we probably will. The vet was very non committal to be honest. She will get checked again next week snd we will make a decision.

The vet did not mention anything about a possible episode. That sounds promising. I will look into that.

This...

Is she insured? Have you got a helpline for a second medical opinion? I'm not feeling the faith in your vet....

Our old boy (sadly no longer with us) had hyperthyroidism and one of the side affects was high blood pressure. We noticed he was bashing into things and his eyes looked a bit cloudy. His blood pressure was checked and it was very high. He was put on blood pressure medication and within a day, less than two days, his eyes were back to normal and he stopped bumping into things.
@Cleebope2 You've not said if yours BP was checked and if it was high, but if it hasn't do get this checked first before accepting he has gone blind. The fact it's so sudden says to me it could be high blood pressure, that and the retinas are still attached. Hope you get to the bottom of it.

No her blood pressure was checked today and is normal so it isn’t that thanks.I don’t have insurance no. I know people who had insurance yet still had to fork out thousands for their dog so I was sceptical about it. I have to have faith in the vet though.. she’s the professional not me. I don’t think it was an episode as everything else was fine.. no confusion etc

But what about the diabetes.

I was going to mention diabetes. When I was younger, a cat we had used to lose her sight when she had a hypo. Once that was treated it would return. Our cat was insulin dependent and it was really easy to manage so I would definitely discuss it with the vet x

I'm sorry but your vet sounds a bit useless and packing in knowledge. Surely you can't leave a diabetic cat untreated.

I'd get a second opinion if I were you. She could live for surgery decade, so I wouldn't be writing her off just yet. Though she will prove to be quite expensive for you without insurance.

She’s on insulin and diabetic food now. Plus antibiotics , eye gel, bisolvon… It’s so expensive!!! She seems more confortable though so have to keep going. But I feel like we are completely tied down now and I have to rush home from work every day and we can’t plan days out or trips. I can’t let my whole life revolve around a cat,much as we love her. I know all you huge cat lovers will think me selfish!

I can’t let my whole life revolve around a cat

Isn't this part and parcel of being a pet-owner?

Yes it’s what you sign up for. The mad kitten stage and the senile aged stage. Still miss our old girl we lost at 19. Wish all the stages lasted longer.

I can't let my whole life revolve around a cat?

You took the responsibility to love her and care for her. You can't drop out now because she is older and needs more care!

The price we pay for having cats that reach older age, is that we have to care for them even when its expensive and inconvenient. For that, they give you the trust and privilege of spending the rest of their short lives with you.

Loving her and meeting her needs are your responsibility even when hard.

We had a young cat go blind overnight. Our youngest DD noticed first, and said 'Why is Bailey looking sad? His eyes are huge!'
He had a battery of tests and they found his blood chemistry levels were all over the place.

After a few days on drips at the vets, his levels were getting worse, not better as they should have been with treatment and the diagnosis was that he most likely had a brain tumour messing with the chemical production in his brain, and we had to have him, sadly, put to sleep as he was just going to get worse and worse.

There are lots of cat sitters who will give insulin these days.

However, this is all about quality of life. The cats quality of life, but also yours.

If your cat is miserable and just surviving, who is benefiting from this? And there's a similar question about your own life.

The vet said that to us when my puss was very ill and not recovering from a UTI. She was 16, blind, barely eating, drinking constantly, peeing as she walked, when she wasn't drinking she was in her litter tray and was absolutely exhausted. Her kidneys were failing and she was miserable, and so were we. The decision was made when she was no longer purring on my knee (with a puppy pad under her).

I'd agree with you where a cat is studying. It's a heartbreaking decision, but one that were can make in love.

BUT

This kitty apparently seems more comfortable now, and doesn't seem in distress. Obviously there's going to be an adjustment period where she learns to adapt to bring blind,

If she's not suffering (which she doesn't seem to be), then there's no quality of life issue. Cats adapt to blindness amazingly well, and my blind cat has a lovely life.

The OP isn't saying about her cat being distressed (even if she was, a period of trying to adjust would be fair), but it's complaining about the impact of having to make sure she's around to give injections, and the cost - a risk which she cost when she actively decided not to ensure her cat.

It's not fair that the cat die because the OP decided not to ensure because she is wary of insurance. The concequences of accepting that risk should be on her, not her cat. Many people who don't insure, open a savings account, which they pay into monthly instead, do they have a pot of money for when their pet becomes ill. This OP doesn't seem to have considered it at all.