Brown spots in cat's eye

[TravellingJack]

Any vets around please? Or anyone with experience of this?

My 9yo brown tabby moggy has developed what looks like a couple of brown freckles in one eye. They first appeared about a year ago. I googled, scared myself shitless that it was cancer, took her to the vet and was told the only way they'd know was to remove her eye and they didn't recommend that at this time, she seemed healthy etc etc.

I've been keeping an eye on them and think they (one in particular) look quite spread out compared to previously. Does anyone have experience or knowledge about this please?

I'd hate to have her eye removed for no reason, but would do it in a heartbeat if it removed a cancer. The vet just seemed very relaxed about it and I'm a little reluctant to go back to them as I feel I'll just get the same response - I want a professional to tell me what to do, not to just say I can choose to remove her eye if I'm worried!

Dr Google always diagnoses cancer!

The vet just seemed very relaxed about it and I'm a little reluctant to go back to them as I feel I'll just get the same response

Surely it's a good thing the vet was relaxed about it? If you don't trust that vet try another one. Any decent vet would refuse to remove an eye just because google said it could be cancer.

My boy got spots in both his eyes. He gets them checked annually along with his booster. Spots in the eyes can be indicative of a nasty disease but his is just age related. Your vet should do a proper opthalmic check involving kinda along the same lines that we get. A look at the back of the eye and some drops to look at the pupil dilation.

Basil developed marks on one of his eyes years ago. Vet seems remarkably unbothered by them, just has a very brief look at his annual MOTs.

Hi OP
This happened to my cat - he was tabby, too. I think he was 4 or 5 when he developed a few freckles on one eye. Every time he went in for something else they would re-check it and say it all looked fine.

Over the years the freckles increased and by the time he was 10 they had taken over a lot of his iris. At that point the vet said he was concerned and referred me to a specialist vet - an ophthalmologist. It really is not true they can only find out if it's cancer by removing the eye! She used some kind of scope to look into his eye (like they do with human eye checks) and said she could see there was a tumour at the back. He returned to have his eye removed a few weeks later.

Just to reassure you, it was no drama, he recovered quickly, and he did very well with one eye. The vet said they always do!

So my advice is to just watch what happens. If the freckles increase, ask the vet to re-check. In the meantime, don't worry.

The same thing happened to my cat when she was about 12. The vet just said keep an eye on it. One of her eyes was more affected than the other, but nothing sinster developed. She checked it with a split lamp, I think it's called.

Cats frequently develop this as they get older. All my older cats have it. It’s generally nothing to worry about.

Harry's brown spots have pretty much joined up now. He can see perfectly well though and no vet has ever been concerned about it. He's had them for years and is now 18.