Sandi and Toby
Member Since 2015
We have two new kitties that came in to rescue with essentially untreated eye infections, who became foster fails. FYI: We knew all of what you see below when we adopted them and agreed to adopt them now and take on all future care and expenses, none of it was unknown to us.
We are fortunate to have a dedicated animal ophthalmologist in town, who confirmed that all four of their eyeballs had ruptured in the past - one actually happened while we were fostering her, which is one of the most nauseating things I have ever seen, while the other 3 eyeballs happened at some point in their past. The rescue paid for this consult, and when we decided to adopt them after that visit since we then knew the scope of what was going on. The specialist confirmed that they are both totally blind in their right eyes, and depending on whether they give them trouble, they can either be left alone or removed - it remains to be seen. Right now their right eyeballs are just getting smaller and smaller, as they warned us would probably happen. Lily's as sunken in, it always has some discharge and you can barely see her right eyeball any more, so we might have hers removed. Chester's looks somewhat normal, but is also starting to shrink, so we will see. Both kitties have been fully treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for multiple courses. Right now they are getting no medications.
But I'm here asking about their left eyeballs. They do have some level of vision in them, but it would look to you like their inner lids are "stuck" to their eyeballs. I thought originally that the lid just hadn't receded because of lingering infection, but apparently they truly are STUCK to the eyeballs. In all of the feline health issues we've dealt with, eyes haven't been one of them. This is called symblepharon, per VIN: "Symblepharon is the permanent adhesion of conjunctival surfaces following inflammation and ulceration in cat flu of young cats. It may occur in feral or poorly cared-for kittens and also in pedigree breeding households. Palpebral and bulbar conjunctiva, nictitating membrane and cornea may be involved in various combinations. Because the active inflammation has often subsided by the time the animal is homed the changes may be misinterpreted as congenital. The degree of the problem may vary from insignificant through to effective blindness and may also be very asymmetrical between the eyes. Correction is surgical but this is not straightforward. Each case requires individual assessment. Many cases are not suffering more than a cosmetic problem and should be left alone."
Their cases are not cosmetic, particularly the inner corner of their left eyes but also coming down from the top, the adhered conjunctiva is physically interfering with their sight. The specialist recommended surgery at 6-8 months to peel that conjunctiva off of their left eyeballs, because to do it now it could re-grow/re-adhere and require a second surgery later, which we certainly don't want.
Unless you knew that they were at least 50% blind, you would NEVER KNOW. They are both phenomenal, they get around fine with a bump on the noggin only every now and then when running at 135mph through the house, and they can't see things that are really close to their faces. We now have 5 oranges in the house (and our first ever orange girl). We fell in love with them while fostering, and once we knew we would likely be fostering them for many more months until their surgery, my husband (Sorry ladies - he's a keeper!
) is the one that actually suggested that we "pull the trigger" to adopt them after the visit with the specialist laid out the care plan, because we really wouldn't be able to let them go after many many months.
I'm just wondering if any of you have dealt with surgery for symblepharon before? If so, at what age did you have it done? What was the recovery like? Or does your cat have it and you decided not to proceed with surgery? And if you have dealt with eye enucleations, I assume that is a pretty straight forward recovery, but let me know if you have experience with that as well. Did you consider leaving the eye instead? We know that it is totally blind. Fortunately, the one thing that we do not have to worry about is that this specialist is top notch. Our own vet said that they are second to none and she refers all of her eye cases there. It isn't that I don't trust what they are saying, I am just looking for feedback from a parents' perspective. It sucks that we still can't go in to veterinarian's office with our babies, we are still under COVID curbside rules or I would have likely probed more of this with the specialist. I am hoping that by the time we go back for a visit before their surgery that we'll be able to go in to the office with them. I got to talk to the specialist by phone, but it just isn't the same...
Thanks for sharing any eye experiences that you have, and of course here is the picture of the brother and sister, Chester Cheetah is the mackerel tabby on the left, and Lily Pepper is the classic tabby with white on the right, looking like they had some sort of slow speed front-end collision on the sofa
Picture of Lily's eyes included as a thumbnail since it looks a little icky to some.
We are fortunate to have a dedicated animal ophthalmologist in town, who confirmed that all four of their eyeballs had ruptured in the past - one actually happened while we were fostering her, which is one of the most nauseating things I have ever seen, while the other 3 eyeballs happened at some point in their past. The rescue paid for this consult, and when we decided to adopt them after that visit since we then knew the scope of what was going on. The specialist confirmed that they are both totally blind in their right eyes, and depending on whether they give them trouble, they can either be left alone or removed - it remains to be seen. Right now their right eyeballs are just getting smaller and smaller, as they warned us would probably happen. Lily's as sunken in, it always has some discharge and you can barely see her right eyeball any more, so we might have hers removed. Chester's looks somewhat normal, but is also starting to shrink, so we will see. Both kitties have been fully treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for multiple courses. Right now they are getting no medications.
But I'm here asking about their left eyeballs. They do have some level of vision in them, but it would look to you like their inner lids are "stuck" to their eyeballs. I thought originally that the lid just hadn't receded because of lingering infection, but apparently they truly are STUCK to the eyeballs. In all of the feline health issues we've dealt with, eyes haven't been one of them. This is called symblepharon, per VIN: "Symblepharon is the permanent adhesion of conjunctival surfaces following inflammation and ulceration in cat flu of young cats. It may occur in feral or poorly cared-for kittens and also in pedigree breeding households. Palpebral and bulbar conjunctiva, nictitating membrane and cornea may be involved in various combinations. Because the active inflammation has often subsided by the time the animal is homed the changes may be misinterpreted as congenital. The degree of the problem may vary from insignificant through to effective blindness and may also be very asymmetrical between the eyes. Correction is surgical but this is not straightforward. Each case requires individual assessment. Many cases are not suffering more than a cosmetic problem and should be left alone."
Their cases are not cosmetic, particularly the inner corner of their left eyes but also coming down from the top, the adhered conjunctiva is physically interfering with their sight. The specialist recommended surgery at 6-8 months to peel that conjunctiva off of their left eyeballs, because to do it now it could re-grow/re-adhere and require a second surgery later, which we certainly don't want.
Unless you knew that they were at least 50% blind, you would NEVER KNOW. They are both phenomenal, they get around fine with a bump on the noggin only every now and then when running at 135mph through the house, and they can't see things that are really close to their faces. We now have 5 oranges in the house (and our first ever orange girl). We fell in love with them while fostering, and once we knew we would likely be fostering them for many more months until their surgery, my husband (Sorry ladies - he's a keeper!
) is the one that actually suggested that we "pull the trigger" to adopt them after the visit with the specialist laid out the care plan, because we really wouldn't be able to let them go after many many months. I'm just wondering if any of you have dealt with surgery for symblepharon before? If so, at what age did you have it done? What was the recovery like? Or does your cat have it and you decided not to proceed with surgery? And if you have dealt with eye enucleations, I assume that is a pretty straight forward recovery, but let me know if you have experience with that as well. Did you consider leaving the eye instead? We know that it is totally blind. Fortunately, the one thing that we do not have to worry about is that this specialist is top notch. Our own vet said that they are second to none and she refers all of her eye cases there. It isn't that I don't trust what they are saying, I am just looking for feedback from a parents' perspective. It sucks that we still can't go in to veterinarian's office with our babies, we are still under COVID curbside rules or I would have likely probed more of this with the specialist. I am hoping that by the time we go back for a visit before their surgery that we'll be able to go in to the office with them. I got to talk to the specialist by phone, but it just isn't the same...
Thanks for sharing any eye experiences that you have, and of course here is the picture of the brother and sister, Chester Cheetah is the mackerel tabby on the left, and Lily Pepper is the classic tabby with white on the right, looking like they had some sort of slow speed front-end collision on the sofa
Picture of Lily's eyes included as a thumbnail since it looks a little icky to some. 
I'll let everyone know later this year how they are getting on after their surgery. As long as they are having no immediate issues with their eyes, we are probably going to try to get it done closer to the end of the year to guarantee that we only have to have the symblepharon surgery done once. 
) are now 6.5 months, and little Lily just started having a lot of crusty discharge from her right eye 2 weeks ago, so they both had a re-check appointment with the ophthalmologist today to set a plan.