"weavergirl via CatKB.com" u34042@uwe wrote in message
news:71fc1da841cbc@uwe...
I am glad you responded to my message. I looked at the slide show of Duffy
and the one picture close up of his face reminded me of Roxanne's eyes.
Her
eyes are almost idenical to Duffy's except they are not as cloudy as his.
I
had been to the vet twice in a matter of 4 days with Roxanne and each time
the vet said that she was to young to tell if she is blind or not, which I
understand because she was only 11 days and 15 days old. The vets said
that
what was wrong with Roxy was age related and not vision related. However,
Roxy has had her eyes open for 8 days now and she has no control over her
eyes. She sleeps with her eyes open somewhat or even open the whole way.
My
friend, who also worked/works for a vet, did the hand test and she did not
even flinched. Roxy is only 20 days old now and is still young but I want
the people interested in taking her to know of all her problems before
hand,
so if they are not interested taking Roxy I can find a home for her. Also
does Duffy like to be touching you or cuddle with you? Because Roxy is
fussy
when she is not touching me, not like any other cat that I had fostered
before.



Duffy does love to be cuddled, and he does a lot of head-butting and
face-rubbing (rubbing the side of his face against mine). However, he is
not fussy, and he does not sleep with his eyes open (as you described). He
is a little "talker," but it is a happy sound -- he will walk around the
house making cute little "myruup, myruup..." sounds.

I took Duffy to the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine for
an evaluation shortly after I adopted him (estimated then to be between
three and five years of age). He is so remarkable about going wherever he
wants and locating objects that I thought he might have some vision, and I
wanted to know if there was anything I could do to preserve it. I learned
that Duffy is completely blind. If there is any residue of vision at all
(which is "minimal to nothing"), it would only be the merest light/dark
perception. He would not even be able to see broad shapes. His condition was
described as "anterior cleavage syndrome." His eyes are much smaller than
normal. Since the eyes did not grow correctly, the eyelids also did not
grow. It seems that the eyelids grow to accommodate the eye. I was shown a
model of a cat's eye. There should be space between the iris and the cornea,
but there is no space in Duffy's eyes; the two components adhered together.
This probably happened in utero, and possibly was caused by infection in the
mother. However, Duffy does not have any infection; and this was not caused
by herpes (in Duffy) or anything similar.

If possible, I encourage you to take Roxanne to a feline ophthalmologist.
It is hard to find this specialty unless you live near a large city, and
your best location might be at a college of veterinary medicine. My
veterinarian gave me a referral. I was very impressed with the people and
the facility, even though I was not able to do anything to help Duffy's
eyes. However, it eased my mind to know that I had not neglected something
that might have been saved if I had just acted in time. I was also pleased
with the costs -- I had expected it to be much more. They quickly
determined the cause (and results), so it was only $55.00. It would have
been more, of course, if they had determined that additional tests were
needed. That is a teaching facility, and several interns were brought in to
see Duffy's eyes. All were interested in seeing the condition, and everyone
was very gentle with him.

One point: Be sure to talk to Roxanne before you touch her since you think
she may be blind. You don't want to do anything to frighten her by touching
her when she doesn't expect it. Of course, I have always tended to do this
even with my sighted cats. When she gets a little older, it might be a good
idea to place her in a household where she will have another cat as a
companion. Duffy is always aware of where Holly is, and you could almost
swear that he is "watching" her. There have been times when I called Holly
a "seeing eye cat" because Duffy will chase after Holly and gets such
delight in playing with her -- sometimes *too* much for Holly's liking, but
Holly can leap onto high objects and get out of Duffy's reach if she really
wants to.

MaryL