Cat with thorn stuck in eye gets emergency surgery

By Adam Dutton via SWNS

Graphic pictures show how a hapless cat had a lucky escape while playing up a tree after his eye was pierced - by a 2 cm long stick.

Two-year-old Oberon was taken to the vets by worried owner Rachel Wilkes when he returned home with the sharp thorn stuck in his eyeball after climbing trees.

Experts at Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service in Solihull, West Mids.,
rushed Oberon for emergency surgery as he was in danger of losing his vision.

And after a delicate operation to remove the stick they were able to save his sight and the domestic shorthair cat has now made a full recovery following his mishap.

Rachel, from Hockey Heath, West Mids., said: “Oberon came in with one of his eyes closed and what looked like a piece of wood sticking out of his head, just above his eye.

“When I attempted to pull the stick, I realized it was lodged in Oberon’s eye, so I knew he needed to see the emergency vet.

"It was a Sunday night, so I was glad to have Willows practically on my doorstep.

“I was still shocked when the vet said the thorn was deeply embedded in Oberon’s eye and was left wondering how it had happened and concerned there was a possibility he would lose his eye.

“The vet was very reassuring, though, and gave me the option of trying to save Oberon’s eye, albeit with no guarantees because it was impossible to gauge the impact of the damage until he was under anesthetic.

“I wanted to give them every chance to save his sight and keep his eye and the results have been just amazing.

“Everyone at Willows was so lovely and caring to us and to Oberon.

"The ophthalmology team worked late into Sunday night to ensure he was operated on straight away, and I felt 100 percent confident they would do their best for him.

“They really did. He’s now fully recovered, has been outside climbing trees again and is back to his old energetic self.

"They even gave me the thorn in a pot afterward as a keepsake as they were so surprised at the size of it."

Alberto Palella Gomez, a veterinary specialist in ophthalmology who carried out the procedure, said it had been a race against time to repair the damage.

He said: “An ophthalmic examination confirmed a penetrating injury by a 2cm stick which had perforated Oberon’s cornea and was inserted deep into his left eye.

“The injury had caused severe inflammation and increased pressure in the eye and without prompt surgery Oberon would have lost the injured eye as a result of this ocular hypertension. 

“He was very lucky, though. An ultrasound scan showed the stick had stopped just before his lens, which was a lucky escape.

“This meant we needed to perform corneal surgery to repair the damage.

"If the foreign body had perforated the lens, cataract surgery would have been necessary, too.

“Oberon was taken to the theater to remove the foreign body and repair the injury with a corneal graft.  

“He recovered well from the anesthetic, and the pressure inside the eye normalized straight away after surgery, and in the weeks following the operation, the corneal graft integrated well into the cornea.

“The happy result was that Oberon not only kept his left eye but also maintained excellent vision and we were delighted to sign him off two months after surgery none the worse for his accident.”