Posted by: Karateka13
My cat. - 04/17/06 08:38 PM
I don't know how many of you are cat owners, but I thought I might put this out there and see if any of you had heard of, or gone through, the same thing with one of your pets.
Bjorn is an orange-and-white cat we adopted when he was eight years old. He's about nine or ten now. He's always been healthy, rather on the big side. Loves to eat and cuddle and purrs like a motor.
Months ago, we started to notice a big deterioraton in his eyesight. This was very sudden. I mean, not too long ago, if we threw a treat he'd follow it and eat it, no problem. Now you have to shove it in his face for him to be able to find it. He bumps into walls and doors, unless his whiskers tell him not to. He often doesn't see our other cat, Jypsy, and he often bumps into her. She thinks he's attacking her or something and then they both end up on their hind legs batting at one another. Thankfully they're both pathetic fighters so neither get hurt.
I just don't understand how this could have happened so suddenly. I mean, we went overseas just last summer for two months and left him and Jypsy at home with a caretaker to come in for a few minutes a day to clean out the litter and feed them. At that time we were noticing his blindness. When we came back, it was certain that he can't see, and there was no warning at all. I'm sure the poor thing can't see two inches in front of him.
Just yesterday night I was filling their bowls and Jypsy didn't want him too close and batted his head. So he batted her back and she ran off...and he kept on batting the air! She wasn't even there, he just kept hitting and hitting at absolutely nothing. I stroked his head, trying to calm him down and slowly redirecting his attention toward his food.
I know the obvious thing is to take him to the vet, but we've already done that and Bjorn went from Bjorn the Cat to Bjorn the Demon-Possessed. He's declawed (front paws) but would bite through their thick protective gloves and make them bleed. (He's insane, and horrendously strong when he's scared.) They couldn't take a good look at his eyes...so they knocked him out and took a blood test, but it gave no information about his eyesight.
So, I'm wondering, has this ever happened to you, or to someone you know? What could cause sudden blindness in an animal that was perfectly fine when you got him?
Bjorn is an orange-and-white cat we adopted when he was eight years old. He's about nine or ten now. He's always been healthy, rather on the big side. Loves to eat and cuddle and purrs like a motor.
Months ago, we started to notice a big deterioraton in his eyesight. This was very sudden. I mean, not too long ago, if we threw a treat he'd follow it and eat it, no problem. Now you have to shove it in his face for him to be able to find it. He bumps into walls and doors, unless his whiskers tell him not to. He often doesn't see our other cat, Jypsy, and he often bumps into her. She thinks he's attacking her or something and then they both end up on their hind legs batting at one another. Thankfully they're both pathetic fighters so neither get hurt.
I just don't understand how this could have happened so suddenly. I mean, we went overseas just last summer for two months and left him and Jypsy at home with a caretaker to come in for a few minutes a day to clean out the litter and feed them. At that time we were noticing his blindness. When we came back, it was certain that he can't see, and there was no warning at all. I'm sure the poor thing can't see two inches in front of him.
Just yesterday night I was filling their bowls and Jypsy didn't want him too close and batted his head. So he batted her back and she ran off...and he kept on batting the air! She wasn't even there, he just kept hitting and hitting at absolutely nothing. I stroked his head, trying to calm him down and slowly redirecting his attention toward his food.
I know the obvious thing is to take him to the vet, but we've already done that and Bjorn went from Bjorn the Cat to Bjorn the Demon-Possessed. He's declawed (front paws) but would bite through their thick protective gloves and make them bleed. (He's insane, and horrendously strong when he's scared.) They couldn't take a good look at his eyes...so they knocked him out and took a blood test, but it gave no information about his eyesight.
So, I'm wondering, has this ever happened to you, or to someone you know? What could cause sudden blindness in an animal that was perfectly fine when you got him?