Feline retinal hemorrhage will usually disappear within two to four weeks if they are small, but if they are large, it may several months for them to dissipate. If they are severe, it could cause your pets’ retina to detach. This a condition in which the retina, the innermost layer on the back of your cats’ eye, slips away from the protective attachments.

The actual hemorrhage is not extremely painful to your cat and it can affect just one eye, or both eyes. The real cause for concern is why this is actually happening to your cat as it is almost always caused by an underlying disease.

It will be extremely important that once it is actually discovered to keep your cat as quiet and confined as you can to avoid them shaking their head and causing more bleeding to occur. It is also a good idea that if your cat wears a collar to take it off as most cats will naturally think that this is what is causing the discomfort, as the neck sends signals to your cats’ brain.

Feline retinal hemorrhage is where bleeding has developed in the area of your pets retina, which is the part of the eye that receives light rays. It is located in the back of the eye and acts like a disc in cameras as it reflects light. This bleeding is usually caused by fluid entering into your cats eye from bleeding that is occurring from veins or capillaries. If it is a severe hemorrhage, it is the result of bleeding in the arteries.

Potential Causes:

There are several potential causes of a feline retinal hemorrhage, but the most common causes are from circulatory disorders such as hypertension or hyper viscosity.

Hypertension in cats is where they have developed an elevated blood pressure. This can very easily cause a hemorrhage to occur but it can also cause swelling and can result in temporary or permanent blindness. High blood pressure can also affect your cats’ kidneys, heart, and brain. But the real threat is to the arteries where they can harden over time as the result of high blood pressure.

This is an extremely dangerous situation for your cat and the retinal hemorrhage may be your first sign. Hyper viscosity is situations where your cat has too much circulating protein in their blood which will over time weaken the blood vessels and eventually cause the hemorrhage. The underlying cause of this condition is usually kidney disease or sugar diabetes.

Retinal hemorrhages can also be caused by blood clotting abnormalities in your cat. These can be the result of a decrease in your cat’s number of blood platelets, liver disease, or bone marrow cancer. However, the most common cause of a clotting disorder is usually caused by a deficiency of Vitamin K in your cat or by ingesting warfarin.

This is one of the main ingredients that is found in mice and rat poisons and it is made especially to cause bleeding by eliminating Vitamin K in rodents so they will not be able to clot and will bleed to death. It is extremely effective and it is also extremely dangerous to your cat as it does exactly what it was designed to do. If you suspect a retinal hemorrhage has occurred, this is the first thing you should investigate.

Fungal and bacterial infections that cause inflammation of the retina or its protective tissues can also cause a hemorrhage as well as tumors. The last potential cause of retinal hemorrhage is from some type trauma. If your cat has recently been in a fight with another cat or has been attacked by a dog and there has been extreme force placed on your pet’s neck, a hemorrhage usually results.

Symptoms:

Feline retinal hemorrhage can be very difficult to spot at first and it is not very painful to your cat until it develops into the severe form. The first symptom that you may see will be your cat squinting as the front tissues of your cats’ eyes become inflamed. If only one eye is affected and your cat actually loses the sight in that eye, you may not be aware of it until you see the blinking start.

Once this first symptom does appear, examine your cat’s eyes very closely and look for dilated pupils. If both of pet’s eyes have been infected and inflammation has set in, this is the next symptom. If they are dilated, your cat will also naturally not want to go outdoors. This is the chilling sign that your cat is rapidly losing their vision, and the hemorrhage is now in the severe stage.

By this stage, the symptoms will be cloudy or red eyes, which mean that the blood that was in retina or the back of the eye has now moved forward and it will start to drastically alter the appearance of your cats’ eyes. When your cat enters this stage of the hemorrhage, you will start to see bleeding and bruising in several parts of their body as what ever the underlying cause is, it is rapidly attacking your cat.

Treatment:

Treatment for a retinal hemorrhage will depend on the actual underlying cause. If the cause is determined to be high blood pressure, your veterinarian will give your cat medications to lower their blood pressure. If the underlying cause is from a fungal or bacterial infection, antibiotics will be used. Cancer and tumors will be treated by chemotherapy in most cases.

However, in the majority of cases, feline retinal hemorrhage is caused by a vitamin K deficiency by the lack of this nutrient from supplementation or the diet, or by ingesting rodent poison. In either case, Vitamin K therapy as well as blood transfusions will be used for clotting problems until the hemorrhage dissipates.

Summary:

A retinal hemorrhage in your cat may be very difficult to detect until you see some of the first symptoms. But once they do occur, you will need to seek veterinarian care as quickly as possible to try to keep it from advancing and to find and treat the actual cause.

If your cat is prone to bruising easily they may already be suffering from a vitamin K deficiency which is very easy to correct with a supplement. If they have ingested rodent poison, although it can be a very scary ordeal, it too is very easy to correct with supplements or therapy by your veterinarian.

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