The constriction of the pupils is what stops too much light from getting in the eye which would damage our retinas. Humans, (tigers and lions, as well) have round pupils and when bright light hits the eye, our pupils shrink or constrict to a tiny round pin prick size and shape. Some of the reason we perceive it as scary is that their eyes are different from ours. It seems that for us, we associate animals, with eyes that have those vertical slits, like crocodiles and snakes and Harry Potter’s Voldemort, with being creepy, scary and threatening. Gray at Gentle Vet Animal Hospital, Green Bay WI.Its Halloween time, and you’ll see many images of the black cats with their slitted eyes. Shiell, Martha (2014) Tonotopic organization of v5/mt+ in congenital anophthalmia: Implications for auditory motor processing and meta-modal cross modal reorganization. Zatorre, R.J (2013) The influence of vision on sound localization abilities in horizontal and vertical planes. =) They will amaze you on a daily basis with the things that they can accomplish without sight, like hunting bugs, and running through the house at full speed! Don’t write them off due to their facial abnormalities.ĭISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional. They are happy and healthy, and EXTRA cute. It is possible that they will have more brain development in the auditory processing areas, and they do have heightened auditory spatial abilities.īasically, these are almost normal animals! They may occasionally get stuck and not know how to get down when they climb on things, but you can feel comfortable knowing that you don’t need to feel sorry for them. This means they use sensory information from other parts of the brain to make up for the the visual deficit. No, these animals use sensory substitution. The cat likely doesn’t know that there is anything wrong.ĭoes the animal have a hard time finding its food, or its litter box? But otherwise, no – these are not painful conditions. ***TOXOPLASMOSIS IS WHY PREGNANT WOMEN ARE NOT RECOMMENDED TO CLEAN LITTER BOXES***.Coming into contact with, or ingesting, an infected animals fecal matter.How does the pregnant mother get toxoplasmosis:.Infection *MOST COMMON IN CATS FOR MICROPHTHALMIA* – Anophthalmia and microphthalmia can be caused by a virus during fetal development most commonly, toxoplasmosis and certain forms of kitty influenza.Other characteristics of the deletion of chromosome 14 are undescended testes, a small tongue, and other bodily growth retardation. Missing Chromosome – Occasionally anophthalmia and microphthalmia have been found to be caused by the deletion of chromosome 14.There are 33 different mutations of this gene, and not all will cause microphthalmia, or anophthalmia. In order to inherit this mutation, the animal only needs the mutated gene from one parent. The mutation prevents the gene from producing an important protein that leads to the development of the eye. Genetics – Anophthalmia is autosomal dominant, and can be caused by a mutation of the SOX2 gene.With questions/concerns please feel free to email me at causes anophthalmia? I don’t want anyone to have to worry as much, or search as hard as I did, so here are some frequently asked questions that I get about cats with anophthalmia and microphthalmia. Accounts for 3-11% of blindness in children.I could not find statistical data for cats and anophthalmia, but here are some human statistics: Thankfully, with the few resources I was able to find, he grew up to be the most handsome, well behaved little boy. I spent a lot of time on the phone with the vet, and did a TON of research myself. When I adopted Swiss, there was very little information out there on his condition. Both the eye ball and the ocular tissue are missing from the orbit, or abnormally small eyes) DO IT! It will be life-changing.Īnophthalmia and Microphthalmia are quite rare. If you are thinking about adopting a cat with Anophthalmia or Microphthalmia (The absence of one or both eyes. FAQs – Cats with Anophthalmia or Microphthalmia
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