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Original poster

Kitten corneal injury after castration :(

32 replies

Catmummyagain · 09/01/2025 20:40

I posted on here last week about getting my 4 month old male kitten neutered (along with his mum and sister to follow). All good, he was booked into today.

Vet rang me this afternoon and said surgery went well but they injured his cornea. I didn't quite catch the details and I was a bit shocked and upset to ask. When I picked him up again the vet just said sometimes it happens despite their best efforts. Again I was a bit too shocked to ask...I know I am a chicken.

They have given antibiotics and another eye drops (complimentary - I should think so!). Post op check up in 3 days time.

I feel so horrible and sorry for my kitten and his eye does look awful. I've lost faith in this vet now and very reluctant to take my two girls there for their neutering. Is this the right decision? Problem is I've bloody signed up for the healthcare plan for all three through the vets but I feel like complaining and asking them to cancel the policy and find another vet. It's disappointing as they have a lot of 5 five reviews and have been good so far. But I have lost all faith and certainly don't want to run the risk with the other cats.

Has anyone had experience of this corneal injury? I've had lots of cats before and never even knew this was a thing.

Do you think I will be able to cancel the healthcare plan?

OP posts:
Concretejungle1 · 10/01/2025 21:36

Catmummyagain · 09/01/2025 22:43

Ahh I'm so squeamish about eyes I can barely read your comment!

The vet was flatly apologetic but I feel it's a risk to take my other cats back there now to run the risk of this or anything else going wrong. As I said I've literally never heard of this happening before, I've owned a lot of cats before (at one point with 6 in total) and plenty of friends and family with cats.

Show quote history

My cat injured his eye after this. They scratched it as freaked out coming round from sedation. It ended up healing from antibiotics.

Harriethulas · 10/01/2025 21:45

It isn’t a very common risk but it is known to happen. In every procedure we apply eye lubricant onto the surface of the eye and then re-apply every 5-10 minutes until the animal is awake and blinking. I would imagine some sort of debris has entered the eye and without protection in the form of lubricant (or blinking/eye watering if animal is conscious) it has caused an abrasion thus leading to an ulcer. Castration is an extremely quick op so it is strange this has happened on what should be a very straightforward procedure. It would be more likely to happen to an animal that has been unconscious for some time.

Your vets have been upfront about it and will take extra care with your other two cats so I’d be reluctant to move vets for just this, at least you know your vet is honest and will admit to mistakes (after all, it is only human to make them.) I’d see how the consultation goes tomorrow and see what they say when you question it further before making hasty decisions.

Also, your cats will get used to him again, I think a sponge bath is a little unnecessary to be honest. The collar will come off in a day or two and the smell will fade as he cleans himself, it’ll all be fine.

Original poster
Catmummyagain · 10/01/2025 22:25

Harriethulas · 10/01/2025 21:45

It isn’t a very common risk but it is known to happen. In every procedure we apply eye lubricant onto the surface of the eye and then re-apply every 5-10 minutes until the animal is awake and blinking. I would imagine some sort of debris has entered the eye and without protection in the form of lubricant (or blinking/eye watering if animal is conscious) it has caused an abrasion thus leading to an ulcer. Castration is an extremely quick op so it is strange this has happened on what should be a very straightforward procedure. It would be more likely to happen to an animal that has been unconscious for some time.

Your vets have been upfront about it and will take extra care with your other two cats so I’d be reluctant to move vets for just this, at least you know your vet is honest and will admit to mistakes (after all, it is only human to make them.) I’d see how the consultation goes tomorrow and see what they say when you question it further before making hasty decisions.

Also, your cats will get used to him again, I think a sponge bath is a little unnecessary to be honest. The collar will come off in a day or two and the smell will fade as he cleans himself, it’ll all be fine.

Thank you. I also feel that because the castration would take very quick and straightforward it is even more unfortunate that this complication has arisen. In human terms this would be seen as avoidable harm surely which is why I am reluctant to continue with this vet and taken my girls there for the neutering (which would mean they are under GA for longer and having major surgery). The vet was upfront about it though wasn't very apologetic apart from saying this sometimes happens despite their best efforts.

I will see how it goes tomorrow.

OP posts:
Gymmum82 · 10/01/2025 22:32

He could have done it to himself on recovery. Sometimes animals thrash around as they wake up. He could have scraped his eye along the bedding or kennel wall.
When eyes dry out during surgery they are more prone to being damaged even with lubrcant applied. It doesn’t imply negligence it’s just one of those things that happen sometimes despite best efforts. The cat will recover. It’s not a massive drama

Harriethulas · 11/01/2025 07:52

It isn’t necessarily avoidable harm, as previous posters said it can also be self-inflicted from bashing their face against the kennel for example, if they’ve not had the best wake up (very common to bash themselves). Hope the consultation goes well today.

biscuitsandbooks · 11/01/2025 09:12

As PP have said, this could happen anywhere - it certainly doesn't mean they're negligent or untrustworthy.

I'm sorry your kitten is injured but I wouldn't automatically use this as a reason to cancel other appointments and switch vets.

Floralnomad · 12/01/2025 10:37

How is he doing @Catmummyagain , did the vet have a good explanation and are mum and sister being a bit kinder to him now ?

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