# Temporary blindness in cats



## Elaineb73 (Aug 16, 2018)

my cat is just 18. A few months ago he had an episode of temporary blindness which lasted about two hours. He has previously had a cataract in each eye removed but that was many years ago. I took him to the vet who could see nothing wrong with his eyes. He has had probably another two episodes of this since then. However last week he had some dental work done which went well. In the early hours of Sunday he seemed to have another brief episode then Sunday night it happened again. I phoned the emergency vets who was very dismissive and said that we could bring him down but might have to consider having him put to sleep in view of his health conditions. I decided to wait to Monday morning to see my own vet which I did. They took his blood pressure which was normal (he has ckd) as this can cause retinal detachment. They suggested I went to the specialist vet which I did yesterday who throughly examined his eyes they are fine. Last night he had another episode but again thus morning he is fine. He is eating ok, interacting with us. The specialist vet has suggested an MRI which I am a bit worried about as he has to be sedated again and this can be a problem in a cat with kidney disease. Has anyone come across these temporary bouts of blindness? The specialist vet said it wouldn't be a spike in blood pressure causing it. Thanks very much


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## moggie14 (Sep 11, 2013)

Aw sorry to hear this 
My first thought was blood pressure but you've addressed this. I've no experience but wondered if you could describe the symptoms, ie. what happens when he loses his sight perhaps someone can advise.


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## Elaineb73 (Aug 16, 2018)

His eyes go completely black and when he starts moving round he bumps into things. He did manage to find his water and litter tray when it happened last night but it is very distressing to watch. When the first occurrence happened late last year he had been sneezing a lot. I wondered if it could be some parasite or perhaps a tumour but I don’t know why it should be intermittent and then resolve.


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## moggie14 (Sep 11, 2013)

I'm so sorry I have no idea, I hope you will get some answers and he is OK x


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## Charity (Apr 17, 2013)

My first thought was BP but if that's been discounted and his eyes seem to be OK, I wonder if its neurological.


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## Frosie90 (Aug 21, 2019)

Hi Elaine. My 21 year old girl has exact same problem. Her eyes go black and bangs into things and gets incredibly anxious. This can carry on for hours particularly during the night even with lights on. She then seems better and her pupils get smaller. Did you find out the problem. I'm booking her into the vets but I'm preparing myself for the worst. I've feared it may be strokes?


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## ChaosCat (Dec 7, 2017)

Frosie90 said:


> Hi Elaine. My 21 year old girl has exact same problem. Her eyes go black and bangs into things and gets incredibly anxious. This can carry on for hours particularly during the night even with lights on. She then seems better and her pupils get smaller. Did you find out the problem. I'm booking her into the vets but I'm preparing myself for the worst. I've feared it may be strokes?


Hello and welcome to the forum!
As the OP hasn't been online for a year and has never updated her thread it's not very likely you'll get a response from her. Better start your own thread, perhaps someone can give advice- but going to the vet, as you will do, is definitely the best option.


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## Frosie90 (Aug 21, 2019)

Thank you for letting me know. I'm booking her in.


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## HevB (Jan 20, 2020)

Hey Frosie, did you get to the bottom of your problem? My (also 21 girl) has developed this exact same issue all of a sudden. The vet showed little concern and put it down do dementia with her age. She’s had this issue a couple hours at a time and is then ok, but is upsetting to watch her bump into walls! Eyes totally black, and she’s deaf too so she gets a bit frightened. A lot of people seem to have this problem but I can’t find any answers


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## white_shadow (Dec 3, 2008)

.
Hi *@HevB* and welcome to the forum !

The "veterinarian" to whom you entrusted your girl has demonstrated that they are both _*incompetent*_ and an imbecile. It's very likely that you would be successful in an action against them, certainly successful in having them censored by The Royal Veterinary College. More about that later if you'd like.

Dementia does not cause vision loss. Period.

The most common cause of sudden blindness in older cats is high blood pressure ("hypertension"), and high blood pressure is easily and readily controlled by a simple medication. For many cats, if treated early, vision will return.

With your girl, where the vision seems to 'come and go', I believe that there would be an excellent chance of stopping this in its tracks and her vision remain stable.

*@HevB* - _*RUN, DON'T WALK*_ to the nearest *FELINE-ONLY*, *CAT-ONLY VETERINARIAN* and *have her seen ON AN EMERGENCY BASIS*.

You must insist on her blood pressure being measured, in the unlikely chance that they would hesitate or resist your wishes - but, should that occur, go to the next Vet on the list.

(In addition, because the loss of vision is intermittent, it may be difficult to get an accurate reading/measurement. I would insist on measures to counter this, perhaps hospitalization whereby she can be monitored, or even just 'simply' starting her on the medication, as it is a relatively safe drug when carefully used and monitored.)

Here is a reliable***, plain-language explanation for you (and the link is underneath):

*Blindness, Particularly Sudden Blindness (Retinal Detachment)*

Unfortunately this is a relatively common occurrence in cats with untreated hypertension. The hypertension causes the retinas to detach, so the cat becomes blind.

I sometimes hear from people whose cats have become blind and the vet just ascribes it to old age and says the cat will learn to live with it but  Feline Retinopathies (2016) Myrna K _VeterianKey _says that ocular changes are seen in 40-60% of cats with hypertension and require treatment.

You may notice a change in your cat's eyes, such as dilated pupils or uneven pupils (uneven pupils are known as anisocoria), or you can try moving your hand towards your cat's face and see if s/he reacts (a positive menace response) or not (a negative menace response). Another option is to get your cat's attention, then drop a cotton wool ball and see if the cat follows the ball with his/her eyes.

Blindness may also manifest itself in a less obvious manner. e.g. your cat may no longer jump and climb, which you might ascribe to weakness, when in fact it is caused by an inability to see where s/he is jumping. Your cat may also walk differently, perhaps keeping to the side of rooms, or walking through food (because s/he cannot see it).

Even if your cat's retinas detach because of high blood pressure, if treatment is started quickly enough, there is a chance of the retinas re-attaching and your cat regaining some sight...
*
LINK: Hypertension - Blindness*
*** this website is recommended by several internationally-recognized Veterinary professionals, _including three from the UK_ - see bottom of homepage *here*.​
I cannot emphasize the urgency you need to recognize here.

Please keep us updated. (btw, the previous poster whom you addressed has not returned to the forum since)

[should you have difficulty in finding a cat-only Vet, these folks could help: *Cat Professionals* - or, post back]
.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@white_shadow - if the intermittent blindness is due to retinal detachment my understanding is the loss of sight would remain until the high BP was treated (if it was treated urgently as you say) . With the OP's cat the blindness is apparently temporary/intermittent.

The periods of temporary blindness could perhaps be due to age-related retinal degeneration. Just as with humans, cats can suffer from degeneration of the layer of light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye (the retina) which is responsible for vision. When this condition occurs it is often a slow process, which allows cats time to adjust to their reduced vision. However, on rare occasions, this can be sudden in onset. And in a poor light it could be more of a problem.

Another possibility is Glaucoma, though I would expect that to be a steady deterioration of vision without any drug treatment being given to reduce the pressure in the eyes.

Also cataracts can cause a loss of clear vision in cats, same as with humans, and this is more of a problem in low levels of light than it is in say bright sunlight.

@HevB - I wonder if your cat would cope better in a room that is more brightly lit?


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## Zoe Gibbs (Jan 3, 2021)

Hi! Sorry to jump on a fairly old thread... but I’ve just joined this forum particularly to comment here. I wondered if any of you got to the bottom of this as our cat Bob, has the issue of temporary, intermittent blindness too and he has absolutely baffled our vet!
He’s adopted, so we don’t know a lot about his history, but his microchip record says he’s 7 years old (everytime we’ve seen a vet, they think he could be older, though). In the two years we’ve had him he’s had a bit of ongoing uveitis in one eye but it was fairly minor. Vet wondered if he may have had cat flu as a kitten which may have caused damage to his eyes.
The blindness however... very new and totally unexplained. Not 100% that our vet believed us that he was going blind at first until we took some pics & videos to show him. The episodes last somewhere between 10 mins and 2 hours but they are SO random... next step is to take him to an ophthalmologist but it’s going to be a bit of a gamble on whether insurance will pay out :-(
(Edited to add, his blood pressure is perfect, bloods came back perfect, and he is both FIV & FeLV negative)


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## DaisyCatMax1 (Jul 3, 2021)

Hi Zoe! Our cat max is 9 years old he started having temporary blindness a few months ago. The first time it happened we took him to the emergency vet they assumed it would be permanent but didn’t know why because his blood pressure was fine. We got home and his vision returned a few hours later. We have been seeing an eye specialist for months now she doesn’t understand why it happens so randomly it is usually around 10-11pm and can last hours or minutes. He has uveitis and his eye sight is not great in his right eye but he’s not blind. We give him steroid eye drops once a day which is suppose to keep the random blindness away it did for a while but it’s coming on more frequently now. Max does have FIV so his immune system is weak but he is an indoor cat and otherwise healthy so the eye specialist is unsure as to why this keeps happening because even when his uveitis is under control he still has these random episodes of complete sudden blindness! It would be great to hear from yourself or anyone that has this experience with their cat. Thanks! Daisy.


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## Bassoonatic (Jul 7, 2021)

Hi, my 18 year old cat has the same problem - short episodes of blindness where he wanders into walls etc and then after an hour or less he returns to normal. Also no idea of the cause. He had radioactive iodine for hyperthyroidism 4 years ago, is not diabetic, kidneys not great but still functioning, sometimes seems a bit confused but in between episodes is basically fine. It would be great to find out what is causing this! Amy


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## pipski (Jul 27, 2019)

@Bassoonatic, @Zoe Gibbs, @DaisyCatMax1

Thinking laterally.
If it was my cat, I might run it by my optician - a 'regular' one rather than veterinary. But I'd also ask on an online optician / optometry forum. There are a few.
Perhaps omit mentioning "cat" in the title post…though mention it in your question of course - and that your vet and veterinary eye specialist have no idea, which might pique their professional competitive spirit.

I managed to register on this one (though nothing helpful searching "temporary blindness") https://www.theoptom.com/index.php (>Clinical talk)
They might be able to troubleshoot and narrow things down or rule things out.

I found a few interesting (human) articles online.


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## Frosty2001 (Jul 28, 2021)

My 20 year old is having the same issue, except her blindness lasts from a few hours up to a day. It also seems to be better in the morning than at night. The interesting thing is that her's started about 2 hours after I gave her aluminum hydroxide as a phosphorus blocker. She has kidney disease. I'm having her tested for aluminum toxicity. If that comes back positive, then I believe that's the cause of her intermittent blindness and might be an avenue for some of you to look into. I'm having her blood pressure checked, but it was just checked 2 weeks ago and it was good. She is on BP meds, has been for over a year now and hasn't had any BP issues since starting them so I'm not expecting that to have changed. I'll come back again once I get the results of the aluminum toxicity results.


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## Sarahc100 (Aug 5, 2021)

Same happening with my 16 year old cat. 
4 episodes in last fortnight. Bloods all came back normal, just spent day in vets monitoring blood pressure and all fine. He also had radioactive iodine for hyperthyroidism 2 years ago. Then he was slightly hypothyroid and taking meds to get his T4 level back up which is now in the low normal area. These also happen 10/11pm and last 20 minutes. Vet has no idea, said next step would be MRI but what would I do with that info, if he did have a tumour prob too old to have that larger operation. Any feedback appreciated.


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## Clare Mc (Sep 18, 2021)

Hi, has anyone got to the bottom of what is causing this temporary blindness? My cat is suffering from exactly the same thing


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## Dreamiesburglar (Jan 23, 2021)

A vet on another website suggested it could be due to seizure activity, particularly in cats with hypothyroidism. 
She suggested a neurologist to get to the bottom of the matter.
Other possible causes I've found are things like cancer. I guess it's possible a mass could press on optical nerves only some of the time? Not sure because I'm not a neurologist.


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## BillyBonkers (Nov 15, 2021)

It’s a relief to know that others are experiencing the same problem as my 16 year old boy and his vet is puzzled too. As others have said, it could be due to seizure activity or a mass pressing on the optical nerves. There must be a diagnosis out there somewhere which would help us all understand the problem.

This week my cat has had four episodes of temporary blindless which has lasted many hours. He is otherwise healthy and loving life with purrrfect vision. His recent blood test is completely normal and his blood pressure is perfect for a cat of his age. No hyperthyroidism. 

Here’s what happens during his episodes; when he awakes from an early evening sleep he is totally blind. His pupils are circular and large and do not react to bright light at all. He paces around the house bumping into everything in his way. He cautiously climbs down off the sofa, attempting to feel his way to the floor, and does not attempt to jump back up. He behaves like you would expect a blind cat to! Eventually he rests and goes to sleep again. When he wakes in the morning (in day light) he remains blind and behaves in the same way for just a few minutes and then he regains his sight with his pupils returning to their normal size. Normal behaviour and navigation resumes!

Our excellent vet confirms that our cat's eyes are perfectly normal; no sign of a bleed or detached retina. The presumption is that he has a tumour in his brain which, when it swells up, is affecting the area of the brain that handles vision.

But, my question is, why are these episodes of blindless triggered by sleep and why does waking from a night’s sleep seem to restore sight? Is this sleep hormone related or something else?

The treatment for the moment (Nov 2021) is a daily steroid to reduce the potential swelling in the brain.


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## Gilbert22 (Dec 31, 2021)

BillyBonkers said:


> It's a relief to know that others are experiencing the same problem as my 16 year old boy and his vet is puzzled too. As others have said, it could be due to seizure activity or a mass pressing on the optical nerves. There must be a diagnosis out there somewhere which would help us all understand the problem.
> 
> This week my cat has had four episodes of temporary blindless which has lasted many hours. He is otherwise healthy and loving life with purrrfect vision. His recent blood test is completely normal and his blood pressure is perfect for a cat of his age. No hyperthyroidism.
> 
> ...


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## Gilbert22 (Dec 31, 2021)

Hello, have you found any further possibilities? This whole thread lets me know others have experienced this, unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an explanation or solution.


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## Bellancat (Jan 13, 2022)

So it’s not just my Polly then. My vets seem unbothered after me rushing her in to emergency. Her blood pressure is fine. She is hyperthyroid and on thyronorm and recently had a lump removed from her nose which was soft tissue sarcoma. She is normal and happy in herself most of the time then suddenly at about 6 pm she goes blind until morning. Last time ( about 6 weeks ago) she did it for 5 consecutive nights then just went to twice a week then stopped. She started again 3 nights ago. She gets upset and just needs comforting til she goes to sleep. It’s just so odd and no rhyme or reason.


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## Gilbert22 (Dec 31, 2021)

Bellancat said:


> So it's not just my Polly then. My vets seem unbothered after me rushing her in to emergency. Her blood pressure is fine. She is hyperthyroid and on thyronorm and recently had a lump removed from her nose which was soft tissue sarcoma. She is normal and happy in herself most of the time then suddenly at about 6 pm she goes blind until morning. Last time ( about 6 weeks ago) she did it for 5 consecutive nights then just went to twice a week then stopped. She started again 3 nights ago. She gets upset and just needs comforting til she goes to sleep. It's just so odd and no rhyme or reason.


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## Gilbert22 (Dec 31, 2021)

I'm sorry you and your cat are going through that, it is incredibly stressful and upsetting. Is she on any mediation that one might point to?

I have been told that high blood pressure can fluctuate. I am not sure how often or how quickly it may go up and down, but it's possible that when it goes high, is when they are going blind. and maybe when their hbp is checked, it is normal again. It would make sense that cats tend to regain their sight after a night's sleep, as that may be when their blood pressure is the lowest.


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## Bellancat (Jan 13, 2022)

Gilbert22 said:


> I'm sorry you and your cat are going through that, it is incredibly stressful and upsetting. Is she on any mediation that one might point to?
> 
> I have been told that high blood pressure can fluctuate. I am not sure how often or how quickly it may go up and down, but it's possible that when it goes high, is when they are going blind. and maybe when their hbp is checked, it is normal again. It would make sense that cats tend to regain their sight after a night's sleep, as that may be when their blood pressure is the lowest.


The only medications is thyronorm for her hyperthyroid. This however only started after her recent surgery and she has been on thyronorm for 3 years. I may see if I can get a blood pressure monitor for her. She copes well but it does upset her, understandably. Thanks


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## LuLu's Mumma 1992 (10 mo ago)

Hi All, 
My baby girl (ragdoll) is only 10yo and has had 3 episodes so far, these started about a month ago. She becomes frightened and confused, hiding because she suddenly can't see. My vet did a full blood workout and advised me that she has pancreatitis. No medication given just check her diet. 
So frustrated that these vets think we ont know our own animals. This is my baby and I can see but by the time the vet sees her she has recovered. What to do???


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

LuLu's Mumma 1992 said:


> Hi All,
> My baby girl (ragdoll) is only 10yo and has had 3 episodes so far, these started about a month ago. She becomes frightened and confused, hiding because she suddenly can't see. My vet did a full blood workout and advised me that she has pancreatitis. No medication given just check her diet.
> So frustrated that these vets think we ont know our own animals. This is my baby and I can see but by the time the vet sees her she has recovered. What to do???


Pancreatis can be very painful, and pain can produce what you describe


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## LuLu's Mumma 1992 (10 mo ago)

OrientalSlave said:


> Pancreatis can be very painful, and pain can produce what you describe


The symptoms Lulu has are the same that the others have described to a T. Surely these cats would have a similar problem? 
But I hear you, and Thank you for you're knowledge, I appreciate it.


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## Lemur9999z (10 mo ago)

I'm so relieved to find others with the same problem (though I wish none of us had this problem!) My cat is 23 and has been having bouts of temporary blindness too, always in the evening as well. The vet is baffled. She's been started on meds for hypertension but is still having issues. Symptoms are exactly as what others are describing--pupils dilated, anxious, etc. Then in a few hours she's back to normal. Today the blindness seems to be lasting longer and I'm wondering if it's now permanent. Poor girl.


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## Bellancat (Jan 13, 2022)

Lemur9999z said:


> I'm so relieved to find others with the same problem (though I wish none of us had this problem!) My cat is 23 and has been having bouts of temporary blindness too, always in the evening as well. The vet is baffled. She's been started on meds for hypertension but is still having issues. Symptoms are exactly as what others are describing--pupils dilated, anxious, etc. Then in a few hours she's back to normal. Today the blindness seems to be lasting longer and I'm wondering if it's now permanent. Poor girl.


I am beginning to wonder if it is pain/ irritation related. Just before Polly started doing it she had an op to remove a lump on her nose then a few weeks later this started. One month ago I noticed her nose seemed to have a new lump and I took her back to the vet but it was an undissolved stitch coming out which was removed for her. The blindness has now completely stopped! Touch wood!


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## Lemur9999z (10 mo ago)

Hmmm, interesting thought. I give her gabapentin for arthritis but it doesn't seem related. I'll have to observe and see if there's any correlation eg timing etc. I did give her a little extra last night but her blindness seems worse this time. Maybe I should stop.


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## Bellancat (Jan 13, 2022)

Lemur9999z said:


> Hmmm, interesting thought. I give her gabapentin for arthritis but it doesn't seem related. I'll have to observe and see if there's any correlation eg timing etc. I did give her a little extra last night but her blindness seems worse this time. Maybe I should stop.


I've. Not had a cat on gabapentin I usually use metacam for them but when my dog was diagnosed with cancer he was put on it and didn't get on well with it. It just seems odd that as quickly as it started it has gone, which I am very glad about. My vets didn't know what to do and had never heard of it happening so I showed her this thread. It is so very odd. Hope your baby is ok.


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## KrisB (8 mo ago)

Just wanted to throw another voice in on this.

My kitty is 17 almost 18 now and she’s been having this same problem since she was probably 5. Just suddenly her pupils dilate and she loses her balance, acting confused.

Bloodwork came back perfect except for her kidney problems yesterday, but since this happened far before the kidney issues it isn’t related. 

Perhaps since this seems to not fit any of the current diagnoses maybe it’s some disease or condition that hasn’t been identified before due to lack of research? 

wish I knew so I could help the little lady! I try to just give her food and make her comfortable until it comes back.


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## dizzysizz (4 mo ago)

Another reader here with the same exact issue in my 16 year old cat. I was hoping one of the older posters from 3-4 years ago might have some insight into how things progressed. Did it resolve? Was there ever a prognosis or a decent guess even? How is kitty now?

The timing, the frequency, the mystery…. its uncanny we all have the same story with no answers. I’m getting desperate to help kitty before her vision is entirely gone. Dr. visits have been a dead end.


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## dizzysizz (4 mo ago)

Elaineb73 said:


> my cat is just 18. A few months ago he had an episode of temporary blindness which lasted about two hours. He has previously had a cataract in each eye removed but that was many years ago. I took him to the vet who could see nothing wrong with his eyes. He has had probably another two episodes of this since then. However last week he had some dental work done which went well. In the early hours of Sunday he seemed to have another brief episode then Sunday night it happened again. I phoned the emergency vets who was very dismissive and said that we could bring him down but might have to consider having him put to sleep in view of his health conditions. I decided to wait to Monday morning to see my own vet which I did. They took his blood pressure which was normal (he has ckd) as this can cause retinal detachment. They suggested I went to the specialist vet which I did yesterday who throughly examined his eyes they are fine. Last night he had another episode but again thus morning he is fine. He is eating ok, interacting with us. The specialist vet has suggested an MRI which I am a bit worried about as he has to be sedated again and this can be a problem in a cat with kidney disease. Has anyone come across these temporary bouts of blindness? The specialist vet said it wouldn't be a spike in blood pressure causing it. Thanks very much


Do you have an update on your little one?


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## dizzysizz (4 mo ago)

dizzysizz said:


> Another reader here with the same exact issue in my 16 year old cat. I was hoping one of the older posters from 3-4 years ago might have some insight into how things progressed. Did it resolve? Was there ever a prognosis or a decent guess even? How is kitty now?
> 
> The timing, the frequency, the mystery…. its uncanny we all have the same story with no answers. I’m getting desperate to help kitty before her vision is entirely gone. Dr. visits have been a dead end.


Me again- saw a neurologist and although he hadn’t seen a case quite like hers before, he put her on seizure meds to see if they would help. The medicine has made her pretty lethargic although that seems to be fading. The GREAT news is she hasn’t had a vision loss episode in 2 weeks!


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## shemrae (3 mo ago)

Hello all, discovered this forum yesterday and wanted to weigh in in case anyone is still following this thread. My 20y kitty was diagnosed with CKD four years ago but has been stable at stage 3 for several years. Aside from the kidney issues, nothing else had been diagnosed and everyone comments how well she is doing for her age. Last Monday I had a regular annual visit with a non regular rotating vet, who suggested purine hydra care to help with dehydration caused by kidney issues. They collected blood and urine for routine geriatric cat tests and to monitor the kidney issues. On Thursday, my usual vet called with the screening results and confirmed that the CKD was holding relatively steady and that a UTI was starting up (her fourth in as many years). I picked up antibiotics, and discovered the hydra care had arrived when I returned. Around 5 pm, I gave kitty the hydra care (1 full package every 24 hours as prescribed by the vet and the packaging). I waited to administer the antibiotic until I gave her evening wet food (therefore she had 0 antibiotic when blindness issues started and it could be safely ruled out as a factor). At 7 I came to find her and discovered her acting very confused and unusual with dialated eyes and no visual response. It was very shocking as I had no idea cats could go suddenly blind. After some online research I decided the issue may be related to blood pressure, since that is a common issue associated with CKD. My usual vet is closed overnight so I took her to an emergency animal hospital. There the vet determined she was blind and took bp, which was at 216. My usual vet had not been monitoring, so this was the first I knew she had high bp. He prescribed a bp med but told me the odds were very low she would regain sight, even though he couldn’t specifically see any retinal detachment. He recommended visiting an ophthalmologist. I returned home and administered the bp meds. In the morning, against all odds she seemed to have regained some sight and was no longer feeling her way around and bumping into things. Her eyes were slowly becoming less dialated. I was thrilled, but also very confused and did even more reading but figured I caught it fast enough that I’d avoided retinal detachment and the bp meds had fixed the issue. I gave her the hydra care again around dinner time. By 11 pm, sight was gone again just as the night before. That’s when I found this thread describing a similar phenomenon. I spoke with a pharmacist friend who suggested that perhaps the extra hydration from the hydra care was causing the blood volume to go up and creating bp issues enough that the meds couldn’t compensate. The next morning, her sight was back again as before. To test the hydra care theory, tonight I decided to keep the uti antibiotic and the bp meds and skip the hydracare. It’s now 1 am and her sight is definitely still there. I plan to call the regular vet Monday to check in about a plan moving forward with this information. Thought it may add some insight into other’s issues, or at least a new data point. Good luck to all, and I hope I’ve managed to avert significant vision loss with my own kitty.


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## Hocktastic (3 mo ago)

I thought I would post here as the same issue has arisen with my cat, (aged 17) and I thought people may be interested in the treatment he is currently receiving which so far seems to be helping. On reporting the symptoms, the vet suspected an overactive thyroid causing high blood pressure, they said the high blood pressure would cause temporary blindness. Blood tests did indeed reveal he had an overactive thyroid, and since commencing treatment (approximatly 2 weeks ago) he has not had another blindness episode.
Hopefully this is helpful to anyone reading this thread!


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## Lou12355 (5 mo ago)

Hocktastic said:


> I thought I would post here as the same issue has arisen with my cat, (aged 17) and I thought people may be interested in the treatment he is currently receiving which so far seems to be helping. On reporting the symptoms, the vet suspected an overactive thyroid causing high blood pressure, they said the high blood pressure would cause temporary blindness. Blood tests did indeed reveal he had an overactive thyroid, and since commencing treatment (approximatly 2 weeks ago) he has not had another blindness episode.
> Hopefully this is helpful to anyone reading this thread!


This is great to hear! I started my cat on Thyronorm yesterday as she was pacing and meowing and had some vision loss. Her thyroid numbers were in the grey zone at 42 but given the symptoms and the fact she has CKD she’s been put on a low dose to start with. I wondered how many days your kitty was on meds for before you noticed an improvement with the vision?


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## Trachart (2 mo ago)

shemrae said:


> Hello all, discovered this forum yesterday and wanted to weigh in in case anyone is still following this thread. My 20y kitty was diagnosed with CKD four years ago but has been stable at stage 3 for several years. Aside from the kidney issues, nothing else had been diagnosed and everyone comments how well she is doing for her age. Last Monday I had a regular annual visit with a non regular rotating vet, who suggested purine hydra care to help with dehydration caused by kidney issues. They collected blood and urine for routine geriatric cat tests and to monitor the kidney issues. On Thursday, my usual vet called with the screening results and confirmed that the CKD was holding relatively steady and that a UTI was starting up (her fourth in as many years). I picked up antibiotics, and discovered the hydra care had arrived when I returned. Around 5 pm, I gave kitty the hydra care (1 full package every 24 hours as prescribed by the vet and the packaging). I waited to administer the antibiotic until I gave her evening wet food (therefore she had 0 antibiotic when blindness issues started and it could be safely ruled out as a factor). At 7 I came to find her and discovered her acting very confused and unusual with dialated eyes and no visual response. It was very shocking as I had no idea cats could go suddenly blind. After some online research I decided the issue may be related to blood pressure, since that is a common issue associated with CKD. My usual vet is closed overnight so I took her to an emergency animal hospital. There the vet determined she was blind and took bp, which was at 216. My usual vet had not been monitoring, so this was the first I knew she had high bp. He prescribed a bp med but told me the odds were very low she would regain sight, even though he couldn’t specifically see any retinal detachment. He recommended visiting an ophthalmologist. I returned home and administered the bp meds. In the morning, against all odds she seemed to have regained some sight and was no longer feeling her way around and bumping into things. Her eyes were slowly becoming less dialated. I was thrilled, but also very confused and did even more reading but figured I caught it fast enough that I’d avoided retinal detachment and the bp meds had fixed the issue. I gave her the hydra care again around dinner time. By 11 pm, sight was gone again just as the night before. That’s when I found this thread describing a similar phenomenon. I spoke with a pharmacist friend who suggested that perhaps the extra hydration from the hydra care was causing the blood volume to go up and creating bp issues enough that the meds couldn’t compensate. The next morning, her sight was back again as before. To test the hydra care theory, tonight I decided to keep the uti antibiotic and the bp meds and skip the hydracare. It’s now 1 am and her sight is definitely still there. I plan to call the regular vet Monday to check in about a plan moving forward with this information. Thought it may add some insight into other’s issues, or at least a new data point. Good luck to all, and I hope I’ve managed to avert significant vision loss with my own kitty.


Thank you for posting this! My cat has the same condition and had been experiencing sudden blindness only at night. We thought it was due to low light conditions and age. However, after reading your post, we decided to stop giving him the Purina Hydracare packet in the evening and gave it to him in the morning. The result was _daytime_ sudden blindness. Then, we stopped giving him the Hydracare altogether. Viola! he can see again! He does take blood pressure medication. I think you are spot on with your theory. Our cat was completely blind bumping into walls and furniture. It was difficult to watch. Again, thank you for posting.


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