If she's in good health she'll probably come thru the surgery fine. I can't tell you whether to do the surgery or not, but keep in mind that your cat could live into her mid 20's. She may not be showing pain, but I'd wonder just how uncomfortable she is and if infection is more prone to get into the area now that it has perforated.

If I remember my medical info correctly, x-rays are not a sure way of detecting cancer thruout the body since it's used mostly for examining bones, not soft tissue.
If you go forward, is the cat opthomologist doing the surgery?

I wish you luck in your decision............

If it were a 17 year old dog, I'd have to say let her go. But, a 17 year old cat could still have many years ahead of her if she is otherwise healthy.

I would discuss the pros and cons of this with your vet if the blood work comes back clean. Definitely weigh the risks and such.

The way I look at these things - is if the vet tells me there is a fairly large chance the animal won't make it off the table, or last much longer after, then it's time to say our goodbyes.

However, if the vet says there is no reason not to go through with it, then I can't help but do something about it.

I need to know I have done my best for the animal either way. If it means letting them go peacefully instead of painfully, or fixing whatever is wrong.

Good luck, and I hope you and your vet can come to a decision that you're all comfortable with!

We're still waiting for the phone call from the vet about the blood work results. I thought I was well past my waiting-by-the-phone years!

I think the opthomologist had us x-ray her to see if there was advanced cancer. He told us it was very likely cancer had spread, but that melanoma progresses slowly in cats and an x-ray could tell us if it was too advanced to make surgery worthwhile. Does that sound right? If we proceed, the opthomologist will perform the surgery.

Infection is definitely a concern now that the eye is perforated. She is on oral Baytril and I'm putting a lubricant and a topical antibiotic in her eye three times a day. We know that prolonging the status quo isn't an option. We have to make a decision and schedule the next step today. I think we are leaning toward surgery if the blood results are good. The opthomologist said her lungs sounded good and her heart sounded good for her age (slight heart murmer). Blood will tell us about kidneys and liver. Thanks for your support annz and monkos.

The problem is the choice you have to make, I think. To leave the eye is to continue a situation of pressure and pain, I think.

If she is in otherwise good health, I would have the eye removed and look forward to 3-5 more years with her!

Vets, correct me if I am wrong!

I like to take that approach that I should NOT penalize my dogs and cats because they're old. So medical decisions are made based on the overall condition, (mental and physical), and age is NOT a factor. That's worked well for my herd. Most of my kitties have lived to their early twenties. Sounds like your girl is going to be around for a while based on her activity level and relative health.

Let us know how the blood work looks. I think this will help you answer the questin of whether to go ahead or not.

I'm 100% in agreement with Cynthia.

Removing an eye is a relatively fast, easy surgery- I've done several. It's extremely important to make sure your vet has appropriate surgery protocols in place to protect your cat during surgery: monitoring body temp, pulse, blood pressure, oxygenation. I'd insist on an IV catheter and fluids during surgery, as older cats cannot afford to lose BP which can trash their kidneys, plus IV access is critical should there be a problem with anesthesia. And of course pain control is absolutely necessary, as is close monitoring while she recovers from anesthesia.

If the labwork looked OK, I'd personally go ahead with surgery since your kitty is otherwise happy and active. Obviously your kitty has already adapted to seeing only through one eye, so that is not a problem. We rarely get a chance to cure cancer in animals, but with a local melanoma it is definitely possible. I'd treasure every extra moment you can get by going through with the surgery.

Good luck, I'll be thinking about you and your kitty. And please let us know how everything turned out.

What a beautiful kitty! Good luck with everything, I hope you'll come back to update.

A friend of ours had a one-eyed cat who lived to be quite old. He lived a totally normal life, was a great hunter as well. I think your kitty will come through fine. They are very resilient.

It sounds like you've made your right decision already. I was just going to reiterate that if you are uncomfortable about anything, talk to your vet! This is what they do and they can offer a lot of guidance to help you make the best decisions.

We have a 14 year old cat with compromised health and I waffled on having her yucky teeth pulled for over a year. We finally had it done this year and are glad we did. We were afraid that she would take a turn for the worst following surgery, but everything in relation to the surgery went great and she's got a higher quality of life now. I think I needed to hear from several different sources, including the vet, that anesthesia can be used safely on the sick and elderly.

Positive thoughts for your kitty on surgery day.

Glad her lab work came out OK. We'll be thinking of Sophie on Monday!

yep... happy holidays

Hope everything goes well.

Well, Sophie had her surgery yesterday morning. She seems pretty unfazed by it. She's curled up in her donut bed, purring away. Sweet girl!

My big challenge now is getting her to keep the funnel collar on when I'm away. She's figured out how to slip her paw between her neck and the collar and back her head out. Luckily I'll be at home for most of the time the next several days so I can keep an eye on her. And so far, she hasn't tried to bother the eye at all. I expect it will start to itch a little more as it heals.

Thanks for all your good thoughts everybody. Both Sophie and I appreciate it! Happy and safe holidays!!!

Yea! Glad her surgery went well.

So far none of my eye removal patients have needed an e-collar. I don't use external stitches though, so there is nothing to be irritating. Also most have had significant pain in the eye that needed to be removed, and are *so* happy to get it out that it becomes a non-issue. I put them on pain meds for 4 days post-op and haven't had a problem.

Hope Sophie continues to do well. Happy Holiday!

I wanted to post that I faced having my 15 year old kitty's eye removal after months of treatment for a chronic herpes infection and ultimately her cornea ruptured. I was sick when the Veterinary Eye Specialist recommended removal of the eye because of her age and what we (and she) had already been through and the thousands of dollars spent trying to save her eye not to mention the trauma of giving her daily treatments, etc. Anyway as always I searched the internet and had found this forum and read this thread which actually gave me comfort in that I was doing the right thing. I am happy to report that my "Dallas" came through the surgery just fine. (this was two weeks ago). Before the surgery for months (during all the treatments) she had been listless and not acting herself and seemed like she had aged 10 years in like 6 months. Only days after the surgery she was back to her old self and is now spry as she ever was. We definitely did the right thing. The only thing I can say or recommend is that you do have a professional Veterinary Doctor that specializes in eyes do this surgery. I only say this because I have seen posts of pictures of other pets that had that surgery that were pretty gross after the surgery. Our doctor put some sort of prosthetic implant in the socket so it would never sink in and sewed the eyelid shut from the inside so there was no aftercare. He also said he administered some sort of 2-week long antibiotic so there would be no trip back to take stitches out and no medicine to have to try to get into her. No aftercare at all really. The eye looks great. There was no discharge or anything. She just looks like she is winking at you. So knock on wood - so far so good and I am very impressed with what he did. The cost was close to $1,000 but well worth it. I have my kitty back. I just wanted to post this follow up as a courtesy for someone else that may have to go through this type of thing.

Hi! I have a similar cat..

I'm not sure if you can see the difference of her eye color but one is orange and the other is yellow..

I'm just wondering if your cat have the same eye color before? I'm just worried.. Hope you reply. Thanks.

Sophie's eyes were two different colors for most (possibly all...I can't remember) of her life. Very much like your cute cat. It only became a problem later in her life. She was 17 when we finally had to have the eye removed. Our vet just kept an eye on it for most of her life.

Thanks for the response :) your cat is lovely too :)

Even if its doesnt bother her or there isnt any discomfort on her eyes i need to have this checked? I thought theres nothing wrong with it since she is just full of life and some animals do have different eye colors.. I thought its normal..

My other tabby cat just had an eye removal operation but his eyes are the same color.. Another cat scratched his eye.. The vet recommended drops and antibiotic but didnt work..

I got them off from the street.. Though theyre not related by blood..

Do you know if eye infections are common to tabby cats? Or is it bec they are street cats that they have these diseases?

My cat is 15. He has a cataract in 1 eye and has, in the last week gone blind in the other eye. Took him to an ophthalmologist vet today who is treating the eye with drops but feels that the eye will need to be removed as there is a lot of pressure behind the eye which is most likely causing some pain. I'm so sad. Up until a week or so ago he had such a character and now he is listless and bumping into things. He is otherwise healthy so we will almost definitely go ahead with surgery but I'm worried about his quality of life with no sight. He was always such a nosy cat

Our 12 year old cat Texy has a spot like a dark freckle on the bottom of one of her eyes. We took her to a specialist and he said to watch it for two months and then we will reevaluate if she needs to have her eye removed. She is a very healthy and happy cat but I don't want to put her through this kind of trauma at her age. Both my husband and I decided to let nature takes its course. I'm not totally sure its the right thing to do...but I hate to think of putting her through the surgery. Any suggestions?

dallas,

My cat has an eye that looks different and also a spot, but I know her history. She was found as a 7 week old stray in poor health. One of her eyes had suffered a puncture retina and the specialist at the time said an option is to remove the eye since the cat was at a higher risk for a tumor. I chose the wait and see. She's now nearly 9 yrs old and has regained sight in that eye. It also looks pretty normal except it squints a little more than the uninjured eye.

We just keep an eye on her and have the eye checked every 1-2 years.

Letting nature take its course can end up being very uncomfortable and painful for a cat that may otherwise need treatment. Animals don't show pain and discomfort in ways that we would expect and sometimes the signs are so subtle owners miss them altogether. IMO, pet owners worry too much about putting an animal thru surgery, especially since use of anesthesia and surgery itself has improved so much over the years.

If my cat started to show signs of possible tumor/cancer I wouldn't hesitate to have the eye removed. The steps arlosmom took in working with her vet and the specialist are worth following.

Hopefully, there will be no change when your cat's eye is rechecked and you won't have to worry about further treatment.

Just found your post and comments because I think my cat needs his eye removed. He also has 2 different colored eyes, blue and green. pretty sure the blue eye has a ruptured cornea or something. I'm trying to keep him comfortable til I get him in, have him on oral and ocular antibiotics.

Virginia Murray, how is your kitty doing?

He had his eye removed and that's doing fine. He has a problem in his mouth now they don't understand, his eye was draining into his mouth but not sure how that's preventing him from eating. They should have done a more thorough investigation of his mouth while he was under for surgery.

I don't know if the vet that did the surgery is a specialist or a general vet but I would suggest seeking out a vet that specializes in animal dentistry and have them check your cats mouth/teeth. They should have x-ray equipment on site and will be able to check more than her eyes for other problems that may be going on.

My cat that I wrote about in an earlier post ended up losing all her teeth to tooth resorption disease 2 years ago. It took her a while to adjust and we had to give her pain meds, but she is fine and healthy now. She eats mostly canned wet food but she loves dry when she can get it.