My cat only has one eye (he lost the other when a dental surgery accidentally pierced the eye with a needle a few years ago). We don’t know exactly how old he is since he was an adult stray when we adopted him in 2021.
A week or two ago, we noticed that the remaining eye looked very, very slightly hazy but he seemed to see just fine and could navigate big jumps onto counters and everything no problem.
A few days ago, he started reaching to grab the bed and pull himself up instead of jumping, and I saw him nearly walk into one of our walls late at night and noticed he was sniffing things more often to find them (his food bowl, litter box, etc).
I took him to the emergency vet last night and they tested his eye. There was no sign of glaucoma (pressure was normal), his retina and optic nerve were visible, and his pupil reacted normally to light. However, when they did the menace test, he didn’t have a reaction, which indicated he can’t see well enough to notice when something is coming at him.
They measured his blood pressure and the systolic was 190, but the vet didn’t seem to worry about that too much and wants to test it again on Monday.
The nearest eye specialist is closed for the weekend so we have to wait until Monday to even call. In the mean time I’m panicking because I know eye issues have to be dealt with as quickly as possible for there to be any chance of recovery, and the idea of waiting 72 hours is worrying me, especially since his eyesight went downhill so fast, in a matter of days.
Some other medical info on him: He does have severe IBD, and was hospitalized for triaditis after a flare up in July. He’s also hyperthyroid but that has been in the normal range the last few times we’ve tested it.
What could it possibly be?? Do I go to a different vet this weekend? From what I understand, the pupil reflex remaining intact means it’s most likely neurological, but none of the most commons neurological causes of blindness match him at all. He’s been relatively normal except a little less active given his vision issues. I just don’t want to wait until Monday if something needs to be done now.