January 26

Q.  Our Cat has one eye that has become very cloudy. This happened in 1 week! The cat's eyes are different colors...always have been. Upon bringing the cat to a vet, we were given an antibiotic treatment to try. However, we were also told that the pressure in one eye was 57 and the other eye was normal.

The antibiotic didn't resolve the problem.

The vet says that the eye that is cloudy is irritating the cat and that the cat is in pain. She says that the cat is already blind in that bad eye. She says the bad eye should be removed.

Can you shed a little light on this for me? Removing the eye seems a bit over-the-top. Can't we just give the cat an anti inflammatory or something to relieve that pressure and leave the eye in there? How can we bring the pressure down without removing the eye?

A. It sounds as though your cat has uveitis, which is an inflammatory syndrome causing the symptoms you are describing. Uveitis has many causes – immune system disorders, bacterial or viral infection, or tumors are just a few. The sooner the cause is found, the more likelihood an effective treatment will save your cat’s sight in that eye. Also, you want to prevent the affliction of the other eye.

I would not consider removing the eye until you have had the cat evaluated by a veterinary ophthalmologist. If your veterinarian cannot refer you to one, you can search for a member of the American College of Veterinary Opthalmologists at http://www.acvo.com

We know from humans with glaucoma that increased pressure in the eye is extremely painful, so I would recommend that you pursue treatment as soon as possible.