My cat has cataracts. She's 16. Is she too old for surgery?

Answer 1

Awww...poor girl. I'm not so sure that a vet would put her to sleep for the surgery at her age. I have a cat that is 21 and needed her teeth cleaned and they just gave her a local, they didn't want to put her completely out because of her age. Check with your vet and good luck.

Answer 2

Depends. Old age in itself does not mean an animal can't have an anaesthetic. It's just that the chances of liver/heart and/or kidney problems increase the older an animal gets, and these are things that do affect the safety of an anaesthetic. It's perfectly possible for a cat to be as fit as a fiddle at 16 and therefore fine under anaesthetic, I've certainly done plenty of complication-free anaesthetics on 16 year old cats, including my own.

You need to ask this question of your vet. He can thoroughly check your cat, including heart check and pre-anaesthetic blood tests. He can also discuss the surgery with you so you can decide if it's worth it - is the cat completely blind? Is surgery highly likely to restore her eyesight? If so, and she's healthy then it may well be something you'd want to do for her.

Chalice

Answer 3

Cat Cataracts

Answer 4

I would check with your vet and he may want to do some preliminary blood work before attempting surgery. Though honestly, my cat developed partial blindness from detached retinas about that age and I would not have considered surgery for her (if it had even been an option) because of how elderly she was. Older animals just don't bounce back as well and unless it's life or death I wouldn't even consider it (and even if it were life or death I would look hard at the prognosis for long-term success). May cat did very well despite her impaired vision and found her way around the house and dealt with the dogs as if nothing had happened. She went on for 3 more years and did just fine.

Answer 5

it's always best to talk to your cat's vet about this situation, as he/she would know the true answer to this...

however, in my opinion, your cat is too old. i read an article on msn the other day about the history of cats. in the article, it mentioned that the average lifespan of a cat is approximately 15 years..your cat has lived a full life, and it's wonderful that she's lived to be 16 years old (which is roughly 112 years, in cat years). however, her poor old little body may not be able to take the stress of a cataract surgery at this point in her life.

i have a cat who is about 13 years old, and so i can empathize with you for wanting to do as much as possible for her. in the end, the decision is up to you.

please talk to your vet :)

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Yes she is too old. Don't bother she can still have a great life with cataracts. The life of a cat is 20 years so she is already a senior, leave her be and enjoy her while you have her.

Answer 8

We just put down out 17-yr-old cat. Sixteen is really getting up there hun. Use good judgement - if you truly feel like your cat has plenty of life left, by all means get her fixed. However if you feel like she's near the end, you may want to re-think any procedures as the stress can shorten the rest of her life.

Answer 9

I wouldn't put her through it.

We had a cat who went blind when he was around 15 or so. Lived for about 3 years as a blind cat. He was fine and purring until the day he died. He just didn't go as far as he used to and stopped going outside. Ate and found the litterbox perfectly well.

If she does go blind, just try not to move furniture around or leave objects on the carpet. She'll be just fine.

Answer 10

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