Blindness after surgey

maxkid88

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Hello, i have a kitten, about 8 months old, who broke her leg about a week ago.
We took her to the vet and he decided she needed surgey to fix her broken leg.
The surgery went fine, but after the surgery she woke up blind, and had 3 seizures.
After the surgery, the vet tried to find out what the hell happend, and she passed an ultrasound check, and we found out that one kidney is really small, the other one is really big (about 2.5cm and 5cm).
So is there a possibility she didnt recover well from the surgery because her kidneys?
what are the odds that this is only temporary and her sight will return?
And another question, is there anything we can do to help her recover?
 

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I'm NOT a vet, but depending on the kitten's kidney function, I wonder if her blood pressure spiked real high? High blood pressure can cause both blindness and seizures....The good thing...if the blood pressure was controlled quickly, the resulting blindness can be reversed, and I assume there would be no more seizures....
 

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Hello, i have a kitten, about 8 months old, who broke her leg about a week ago.
We took her to the vet and he decided she needed surgey to fix her broken leg.
The surgery went fine, but after the surgery she woke up blind, and had 3 seizures.
After the surgery, the vet tried to find out what the hell happend, and she passed an ultrasound check, and we found out that one kidney is really small, the other one is really big (about 2.5cm and 5cm).
So is there a possibility she didnt recover well from the surgery because her kidneys?
what are the odds that this is only temporary and her sight will return?
And another question, is there anything we can do to help her recover?
From what it sounds like to me (and I'm not a vet, but I do have a lot of experience with cats and blindness) is that she had a seizure while she was under anesthesia, but it went unnoticed. That first seizure could have caused the blindness, the anesthesia wore off and the seizures continued after she woke up. There are cases of brain hypoxia, which is a lack of blood or oxygen flow to the brain while under anesthesia. This can cause permanent or temporary blindness, depending on how long the brain or optic nerves were deprived.
How long have you had her? It's going to be difficult to tell if she was genetically predisposed to having seizures, or if this was due to a reaction from being under anesthesia without knowing if she's ever had a seizure in her life before her surgery.
How long has it been since she came out of the anesthesia?
 
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maxkid88

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I already have 2 blind cats at home, thats not an issue for me, its just sad it happened suddenly just like that and nobody knows why...
I brought here home yesterday (she had the surgery on Thursday) and beside those 3 seizures she had (between friday and Saturday night), No.
Shes also receiving medicine, dont remember which, to stop the seizures...

The vet is hoping it's temporary, and we need to wait 2 weeks and then bring her over for a check (and to replace her bandeges)
 
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maxkid88

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I'm NOT a vet, but depending on the kitten's kidney function, I wonder if her blood pressure spiked real high? High blood pressure can cause both blindness and seizures....The good thing...if the blood pressure was controlled quickly, the resulting blindness can be reversed, and I assume there would be no more seizures....
Dont really know, but according to the hospital, everything went fine during the surgery...
 
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maxkid88

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From what it sounds like to me (and I'm not a vet, but I do have a lot of experience with cats and blindness) is that she had a seizure while she was under anesthesia, but it went unnoticed. That first seizure could have caused the blindness, the anesthesia wore off and the seizures continued after she woke up. There are cases of brain hypoxia, which is a lack of blood or oxygen flow to the brain while under anesthesia. This can cause permanent or temporary blindness, depending on how long the brain or optic nerves were deprived.
How long have you had her? It's going to be difficult to tell if she was genetically predisposed to having seizures, or if this was due to a reaction from being under anesthesia without knowing if she's ever had a seizure in her life before her surgery.
How long has it been since she came out of the anesthesia?
Shes with me from about a week old (found her in a closed bag in the dumpster....) Shes been healthy ever since, nothing unsual ever happened...
She came out of the anesthesia about 4 days ago
 

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Shes with me from about a week old (found her in a closed bag in the dumpster....) Shes been healthy ever since, nothing unsual ever happened...
She came out of the anesthesia about 4 days ago
Ok, so a way to check for partial or complete blindness is to get a flashlight, turn it on, point it at her about 1-2 feet away and slowly move it from one side of her face to the other passing over her nose. Try to not make any noise while doing this because we want to know if she's following "shadows", not if she's following the sound of the movement. The questions you want answered are:
-Does she follow the light at all?
-Do her pupils still dilate?

Don't fret. Either way, blind or not, she's going to be an amazing kitty. If you could see how my blind kitty runs and jumps and plays, you'd swear she could still see, even though she's had both eyes completely removed.
We're here to help no matter what. 💕
 
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maxkid88

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Again, i dont have a problem with blind cats, i have 2 of them...
I will perform the check and keep you dated, thank you
 
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maxkid88

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Again, i dont have a problem with blind cats, i have 2 of them...
I will perform the check to see if she follows the light...
 
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maxkid88

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So i checked if she follows the light, unfortunately she is 100% blind...
I still have hope for the best
 

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I am sorry for this and glad that you have experience with blind cats. I have had blind animals as well, a dog and a cat. As for the reason this happened, my guess was the same as the other two responses. Blood pressure spike or seizure reaction to the anesthesia. Either could have eluded the staff depending on the circumstances. No matter what, her life is hugely better for your finding her where she surely would have died.
 
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maxkid88

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I am sorry for this and glad that you have experience with blind cats. I have had blind animals as well, a dog and a cat. As for the reason this happened, my guess was the same as the other two responses. Blood pressure spike or seizure reaction to the anesthesia. Either could have eluded the staff depending on the circumstances. No matter what, her life is hugely better for your finding her where she surely would have died.
You think its reversable?
 

fionasmom

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My dog was blind from old age; however, the cat had a blood pressure spike in the midst of being treated for lymphoma and cryptococcus. He was the most unlucky little guy ever. His vision did not return. As for your kitty, I am not well versed enough in pet ophthalmology to know or even have an opinion as to what might happen but a lot depends on how quickly the triggering condition was controlled, if at all.
 

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You think its reversable?
In some cases, yes it is reversible. But without knowing what medically happened during the surgery, there's no way for any of us to know. Your best bet, would be to talk to the vet or the surgeon who is involved in fixing her leg.
 
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maxkid88

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Just a quick update, i came home and tried again with a flashlight, and when i point the flashlight directly at her, she closed her eyes and looked away.
it means there has been some recovery and she can see light and shadows I believe…
 
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maxkid88

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I update this post so if someone will seek information in the future, this might be helpful...
My cat recovered, we cant really check if she regained her sight by 100%, but she definitely sees now and definitely back to normal.
Thank you all for all the help!
 
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