Unusual eye - sign of illness?

[Boris Diamond]

This sweet lady showed up at the rescue last week. She is about ten years old, has one extra toe and two different color eyes, a green eye and a brownish one. She has been to the vet who has given her a clean bill of health. But I have read that cats do not have brown eyes and this may be a sign of illness. Does the eye on the right look like a healthy eye? Has anyone ever seen an eye of that color on a cat?

?

 

[jcat]

Any time I've seen that, it's been due to illness (e.g., high blood pressure, FIP) or injury (e.g., a scratched cornea, as was the case with our Mowgli the summer before last). The last shelter cat that had it was sent to a feline eye specialist; luckily it turned out to be due to an old eye injury and not an underlying illness.

There are cats with brownish eyes, but it's highly unlikely that she'd have just one naturally.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Pretty girl!! So, the vet said NOTHING about the eye coloring? That's kind of curious - maybe you could ask them just to see if any notation was made in the chart about it. Make sure the vet thoroughly checked her eyes. If they did, you would hope to be able to comfortably assume they saw no damage or nothing related to a current illness - without at least noting on her chart.

Cats with two different colored eyes are usually white or have some white areas on their bodies. The same gene responsible for their white fur coloring controls their eye color. In the weeks that follow birth, the melanin moves into the iris and causes a color change to green, yellow, or brown - and generally only occurs in one eye; the other remains blue or blue-green. This is probably not the case for your girl, so I would definitely be asking the vet about how they checked her eyes and if they saw anything.

 

[fionasmom]

The most brown that a cat's eyes will get is copper, not the color of this girl. One more issue to put on the table is melanosis. It is caused by melanin and will cause the iris to turn brown and can move into malignant melanoma. I am also surprised that the vet said nothing about her eye color. Hopefully it is not that serious, but I do think that it should be investigated.

 

[stephanietx]

Can you take her to a different vet for a second opinion?

 

[Boris Diamond]

Can you take her to a different vet for a second opinion?

That is a possibility. There is another vet we sometimes work with 4 miles away.

I am also surprised that the vet said nothing about her eye color.

Today the person who has been taking care of the cat said that the vet had said something about the eye. But this person said she is sure the cat is healthy. I'm not sure how she knows this. I am going to try to talk to the director about it Friday and find out what was said by the vet. I have to be delicate about it. I am not nearly as experienced with cats as some there. It's just that I have this great resource, The Cat Site, whose members have so very much experience and are willing to offer helpful advice!

Thanks, everyone! I'll post an update when I know something.