6 Month Old with Brown Spot on Her Eye

[jillians]

I have a 6-month-old Ocicat kitten named Thia. She is such a sweet cat that's of course a bit naughty at times. J  I absolutely adore her!

Unfortunately a couple weeks ago I noticed a dark spot on the iris of her left eye. Yesterday I took her to a pet ophthalmologist to have it examined. The vet believes it is melanoma due to it's tlocation iand Thia's age. He can't 100% say if it is benign or cancerous without removing the eye. At this point our plan of action is to keep an extremely close eye on it. She has a checkup next month to see if the spot has grown. If it has the vet recommends removing the eye to ensure if it cancerous it doesn't spread. 

 

Obviously I am extremely worried and hope it doesn't change. However, has anyone else encountered this and found a way around not removing the eye?

 

If I do have to make the gut-wrenching decision to remove her eye, does anyone know how this could affect a kitten’s personality and behavior? I want to ensure Thia stays happy and healthy physically and emotionally.

Any suggestions would be greatly helpful! I've tried to search online but most articles relate to older cats. Since she is so young I am not sure if it makes a difference.

Thank you,

 

thia's left eye.jpg

• jillians
• Feb 22, 2017

 

thia 2.jpg

• jillians
• Feb 22, 2017

 

[Geoffrey]

I am a human doctor, not a vet. It is difficult for me to see from a photograph but if a feline ophthalmologist considers the black lesion to be a melanoma, then the sooner the eye is removed the better.  You do not want to wait and allow the melanoma to produce metastases (to spread to other parts of the body.)  Even a fortnight may be too late.  Melanomas are notorious for metastasizing.  You should check with the ophthalmologist that what I write is correct..

Don't worry too much about removing the eye, Thia would be able to see quite well with only one eye.     I had a Burmese cat whose eye was shot at by an air gun and I helped the vet remove the eye.  Susie was well afterwards and did not seem to notice the missing eye, she lived comfortably for a further 8  years,.

Thia would be better off with one eye and a cure from the melanoma, than living a very short life and with two eyes and with melanoma metastases.  I assure you that you do not want these!

With best wishes to Thia, she is a beautiful little cat,

Geoffrey

 

[jillians]

Thank you so much for the information Geoffrey! I'll keep you posted.   

 

[IndyJones]

I remember when I first got Kabby he had a little brown spot in his eye I was revealed when my vet said it was a birthmark not cancer. He's had this since before I got him but it hasn't changed in his 7-8 years of life.

Was hard to get this photo without his third eyelid closing over it.

20170223_154533.jpg

• IndyJones
• Feb 23, 2017

 

[catwoman707]

If it were malignant melanoma of course eye removal is far the better option than losing the cat.

Cats adapt extremely well to life with one eye. 

However, at 6 months of age, in my opinion this would be unusual, and it would much more likely be the kitten is showing some iris melanosis.

This should not appear raised AT ALL.

Malignant melanosis is lumpy and a bit raised from the eye surface.

I would def keep an eye on it but at the same time, not be too quick to remove the eye if it gets bigger, as it very well may, or develop new spots.

Just watch that there are no raised spots.

Also, laser can be done if it were to be malignant, which may be able to save the eye.

It's a wait and see thing, but don't worry yourself needlessly at this point, especially because worry never has or will change the outcome of anything. Ever. 

 

[makita1998]

My female Pepppers just had Eye removed 5 days ago, she is 3 years and 3 months old--biopsy came back positive for iris melanoma- the 1st spot showed up in her eye when she was only 9 months old. So it was a hard decision to make but she is bouncing back. The 1st 3 days were rough plus she hates the e collar. but day 4 (yesterday) she was actually playing with her toys and up and walking around the house. They believe thay it has not spread at all and by removing the eye, the excised the entire tumor. So Im now confident I made the right decision.

 

[makita1998]

Just FYI my kitty had small spot JUNE, 2019 which had gotten larger over time and started light brown and darkened over time to a dark brown discoloration.-- was never lumpy at all. Just removed 5 days ago.

 

[fionasmom]

The spot appeared in June 2019 and the eye was removed 5 days ago? Sorry if I am not understanding the timeline. Yes, you did the right thing, absolutely. The best option with melanoma is to not fool around with it, but to excise it completely whatever that means. Dogs and cats with one eye can live wonderful lives and completely adapt to their new lives. Very good chance that they did get a clean margin if the whole eye was removed.

My GSD lost his leg to melanoma several years ago and he is still here.