Dilated pupils

The past 2 weeks have been extremely stressful for my Mikey. After flagyl didn't work at curtailing his vomiting and diarrhea, the vet switched him to Centrine. Vet said most likely was IBD. This was Saturday. On Tuesday I noticed the cat's pupils were completely dilated, and he was sitting in the direct sun! I got him into the vet (a different one in the practice) and first thing he said as he was looking at his chart was, "Aha! I suspect the Centrine." He said he was pretty sure it was a derivative of atropine, which is purposely used to dilate pupils. So he went to look it up for sure and came back and said that's what it was. He really checked out Mikey's eyes...everything looked normal. He told us to stop the Centrine and in 2 days, they should go back to normal.

Well, as I had suspected, no change at all in his pupils. He is still acting the same, eating, etc. I'm definitely going to call the vet later. I'm at my wits end.

Anyone ever have a similar problem?

If I recall, atropine can be very long acting...especially in a cat. Meds that effect us for a day, can effect them for a week or longer. I would call today, like you said...but I suspect it will go back to normal in a few more days.

If the vet says he's Ok, then I suspect the only thing Mikey is suffering with in his eyes is blurred vision. Light might bother him too...but I have had atropine (eyedrops anyway)...and it just made my vision very blurry, in addition to the dilated pupils.

I googled centrine a little and it sounds like the dosage for a cat is very very small, so it may be tricky to get just exactly the right amount prescribed/administered.

I agree with beandip. I have had to dialate my cats eyes and when we were done it seemed like it took forever for them to look normal again. Give it a couple more days to get out of Mikey's system.

Thanks...it's always a relief to hear from people who have gone through it. I spoke to the vet and he said he really feels it's the centrine and like you said, give it a couple more days.

Thanks again.