Her Eye Looks Terrible. How can I help her?

chadsgirl374

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We have a feral girl named Al. We have been caring for her since May 2006 when she was born (along with her sister and brother and mother). Out of all of our ferals, she is the only one we are still not allowed to touch - AT ALL. They were all fixed and given their shots and vaccines at 5 mos. of age (along with mom).

I just went outside to make sure they had fresh water and to give them a little morning snack and Al's eye looks terrible. She has major goo stringing out of it. I don't know if she may have accidentally scratched it or if she was fighting (she's quite the little scrapper) but her eye is also swollen. She has it opened, but I can see that she's uncomfortable.

She'll take food from my hand and she likes to weave in and out of my legs (all the while touching me), however, she won't let us touch her. The others can be picked up and carried around if that's what you want to do, but not Al!

I can't stand the fact that she may be suffering and won't let us help her. Is there something I can do for her?
 

skimble

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I understand how you feel. I have been in a similar situation with a feral colony. I knew getting drops in his eyes was not going to happen. I couldn't touch him. So, I got some antibiotics from an animal health supply store that no prescription was needed. I started feeding them only canned food so I could put the antibiotics in the food and be sure they would eat it all. I tried putting it in only his food, but they keep walking from bowl to bowl. With the antibiotic in all the food everyone was treated. It was probably contagious anyway. He wasn't eating much so I used any smelly food I could so he could smell enough to try and eat. "9 lives super supper" worked well.

I also added powered Lysine to their canned food. It helps their immune system and is good for cats with the herpes virus. Can't hurt.

Some have used fish antibiotics as it is the same drugs just marketed for a different use. I do not know anything about those.

I did try feeding them with the medicine in the morning and at night. My cat with the draining swollen eye did improve. I hope all this makes sense. Good luck to you and I hope things get better.
 
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chadsgirl374

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Originally Posted by Skimble

I understand how you feel. I have been in a similar situation with a feral colony. I knew getting drops in his eyes was not going to happen. I couldn't touch him. So, I got some antibiotics from an animal health supply store that no prescription was needed. I started feeding them only canned food so I could put the antibiotics in the food and be sure they would eat it all. I tried putting it in only his food, but they keep walking from bowl to bowl. With the antibiotic in all the food everyone was treated. It was probably contagious anyway. He wasn't eating much so I used any smelly food I could so he could smell enough to try and eat. "9 lives super supper" worked well.

I also added powered Lysine to their canned food. It helps their immune system and is good for cats with the herpes virus. Can't hurt.

Some have used fish antibiotics as it is the same drugs just marketed for a different use. I do not know anything about those.

I did try feeding them with the medicine in the morning and at night. My cat with the draining swollen eye did improve. I hope all this makes sense. Good luck to you and I hope things get better.
Thank you, so much


What type of antibiotics should I get? Is there just an over-the-counter brand? Can I find it in PetSmart or Petco? I feed them one can (between the three of them) mixed with dry food. They are pretty particular also, so I hope there's not much taste to the antibiotics. Since Al is a hunter, she never eats much unless there is tuna involved
I'll try that.
 

skimble

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When trying to help ferals, anything we can get our hands on is what we use. The animal health supply had amoxicillin for $5. They had clavamox but it was super expensive. If you have an understanding vet that you use they might sell you something. Sometimes a feed and seed type co-op will have some. Next would be to call a shelter and tell them what you are trying to do and see if they will put you in touch with their vet source or someone they refer rescue questions to.

Many vets will discount trying to help with medication, but I couldn't bare to watch them suffer. Mine did get well with help.

The super supper flavor is stinky and hides the taste. I don't think it tastes after mixing well with the food anyway.

I think opilot has posted about using the fish antibiotics before. Here is the thread with the antibiotic links. http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...sh+antibiotics
 

opilot

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I live in the No. Va area near DC.
Hi, I always use fish meds. I posted this info (why more people don't know
about it I don't know!!) from the Terrierman website about what drugs you can use that are fish drugs and for what types of infections:

http://www.terrierman.com/antibiotics.htm

He breeds and uses working terriers (dogs). But the principle
works the same for cats - you just have to adjust the dosages
for the cats.

Where Can You Get Antibiotics?
Almost all human antibiotics can be used on dogs and almost everyone either has old antibiotics in their medicine cabinet or knows people that do. Look around, and you will probably find what you need. Drugs past the expiration date are going to be fine as long as they are no older than a year or so past the expiration date (even then they may be fine).

If you prefer to order your medications outright, you can order cephelaxin (Fish-Flex) from most dog catalogues and it will cure 99% of your flesh wounds as well as most urinary tract and ear infections. Cephalexin or cefalexin is sold as a fish antibiotic in dog catalogues with full-knowledge it is being used for off-label treatment in dogs. It should cost about $30 for 100 250 mg. capsules, which is a perfect dose for a terrier


Sources for Fish-Flex:

http://www.bullwrinkle.com
http://www.revivalanimal.com

For dosage information on cats you have to look around, or ask for
the pharmacist or vet to assist. Really, these meds are the SAME thing, in fact they may be purer for fish, as fish tolerate contamination far
less well than humans or mammals do.

I realize there are LOTS of folks who won't use these drugs, but I would
hazard a bet with a little work and if you take time to figure out dose right, you won't go astray. The shame of it is, the vets won't help us in the feral community when we have these throway cats. Even though we know what they may be suffering from (URI, UTI, eye infection etc.) they still refuse to give us a prescription without *seeing* the animal, for which they will charge a nice arm and leg. (not to mention, the cat is *feral* and so can't
come to vet without being trapped!!).

For my 2 cents - do what you can, and use the meds.
 

cc12

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I am in no way condoning this but...I have a friend who saves ferals and medicated them all herself. None of her ferals ever go to the vet except to get spayed.
 

fatcatt316

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We had a feral cat in our yard with a badly broken leg, bone sticking out, etc.

I think the best thing to do is to trap the cat and take it to a no-kill shelter where it can get some medical attention. There are a lot of cheap places where they are happy to help out feral cats.

If it helps, here's how we helped out the feral cat with a broken leg.
http://www.ecojoes.com/the-legend-of-gimpy-the-cat/

Good luck with the cat, and hopefully its eye gets better fast
 
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