Diagnosis of ocular melanoma in cats
In cats, neoplasms of the eye and its adnexa of a different nature are quite rare pathologies, therefore each clinical case of such manifestations should be considered separately. Cats that have clinical signs that indicate the presence of such a pathology should be taken into account and subject to examination in accordance with the “gold standard” of examining groups of oncological patients and whose animals can be presumably assigned to these groups. These standard’s includes direct and reverse ophthalmoscopy, measurement of intraocular pressure, if necessary, cytology, histology of selected specimens, and x-ray examination of the patient. Melanoma of various parts of the organ of vision and its adnexal apparatus in cats is a rare disease, therefore for the period of retrospection in the three 3 years in our case there were only 2 animals with a definitive diagnosis of malignant melanoma based on studies conducted in the veterinary clinic. Both animals had old age, wrong diagnosis made in another clinic and ineffective therapeutic measures prescribed by the previous doctor. Since the reference ophthalmologic procedure is not conducted in all clinics, the quality of diagnosis in the case of this type of ocular neoplasms is rather low. Therefore, those who come to the reference ophthalmic reception of animal owners should focus on a complete ophthalmological examination of a animal in the case of senile age of the animal, the presence of visible tumors, and glaucoma in anamnesis, followed by cytological and X-ray examination, if necessary.