Eye injury after RTA (temporary blindless)

[emmab]

My friends cat was hit by a car last week and has spent time in the vets with an eye injury bu is back home now. He did have some blood coming from his face, particularly watery blood from his eyes and is currently partly or totally blind in one eye. The vet doesn't seem to know whether this is permanent or temporary. The thing is, when is first happened the vet said his nerve behind his eye was damaged and wasn't sure if this would recover. I have noticed that immediately after the accident his iris was fully dilated (all black) but now he has some of the green colour around the eye back and is starting to look normal. He does have a slight whiteness over the front of the eye. Has anyone suffered this same thing with their cat? Is this a sign of recovery if he doesn't have such a large pupil now? The vet has given a weeks supply of drops but said there is very little he can do and will take time to see what will happen. Do cats adapt well to blindness? My friend is worried in case he struggles when he eventually does go out again.

[Crewella]

I'm afraid I have no experience of that type of injury, so can't be of much help. I have, however, had cat that lost an eye and a cat that lost both eyes and they did adapt well in time. The one-eyed cat took a little while to work out how to judge distances and cope with having a 'blind side' but after a few weeks you'd never have guessed there was anything wrong and she coped fine.

Hopefully he will recover, I wish him well. xx

[lilynmitz]

His pupils reducing slightly does suggest some degree of recovery, but it will be a while before you find out how much. Do keep taking him to the vet for reviews, in case the treatment needs changing.

With the "whiteness in front of his eye", is this a clouding over the eye, a discharge, or a white membrane. If the last one, this would be his "third eyelid" which can be a symptom of ill health or a result of his injury. It should (but might not) recede as they injury heals. If it's a discharge, get him back to the vet straight away as it suggests a worse infection that needs more treatment. If it.s clouding over, this is probably due to injury to the cornea, which will permanently affect his vision (things will look fuzzy to him).

Cats do adapt well to reduced vision, or even blindness (my Mitz was almost completely blind) but your friend needs to realise he's much more vulnerable now, to road accidents, attack by cats/dogs/horrible children etc. it may also take him a while to get the hang of jumping etc, as he can't judge distance/heights so well. It may be necessary to keep him as a house cat and/or restrict his access to outside. Mitz was mainly a house cat, and did so well sometimes we forgot he couldn't see, but he did go out into the garden under supervision as it was safe for him and we knew he couldn't get out. I wouldn't have let him out at all otherwise.

Keep a careful watch on him, take him back to the vet if things get worse, and keep up with the treatments, as eye injuries are very painful, and the sooner and more effectively they are treated, the better the prognosis for regaining sight, or at least limiting how much worse it gets.

Good luck, and is really hope he makes a good recovery.

[emmab]

Yes it looks like cloudiness over the eye a little and is not the third eyelid. He is eating well, playing OK but is hesitant when he plays with a little mouse for example, which I think is normal at this stage as he cannot place things very well.

[nannymcfee]

Hi, not a cat but i have a Chinchilla who damaged her eye, vets nor myself have no idea how she did it, but had a hole in the eye and vets thought it would ulcerate burst and lose it, it was very red then a cloudy white covering her entire eye, but after applying drops ,clinagel and then also remend ( corneal repair gel ) , the hole has shrunk and they think eye will be saved, it is still very cloudy, and her eyesight does now seem to be coming back a little,( its been about 8 weeks) vets say its as if she is looking through a spiders web when corneal is damaged, and can take months to get better,so persevere for a while longer with anti- biotic drops, are they treating the cornea too do you know?

[emmab]

I am not sure because it is a friends cat. I known they did have to drain the eye of blood, and the tears were red, so quite a lot of damage I presume. She didn't know how they did this and they were quite pesamistic for his recovery and just didn't know. They have given him some drops and when my friend asked what they were for the vet said they were just to keep the eye clean and could not really give him anything for the eye as such.