another kitty found, Binxys' sister?!

my brother found a kitten in the barn at my parents house saturday night so my fiance & i went over to the house the following day and brought all the medicine and unopened cat food we had bought for Binx. this kitty is solid white, and she's not in as bad as condition as Binx was but she may lose her eye.

here are some pictures...
http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/z...jil/photo3.jpg

http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/z...jil/photo2.jpg

http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/z...jil/photo1.jpg

her face i think is the only thing that needs improvement. she has the same color eyes as Binx, and she looks to be the same age/size. Also, since we found them in the same general area, thats another reason we think she may be a littermate to Binxy.

we havent named her yet so we call her "kitty".
kitty seems to be pretty healthy other than her eye. she has some dried up guck on her face, which we think is from the eye infection. oh and it appears that she has a cut on her lip, so maybe she was attacked? idk BUT she knows what food and water is. she knows how to poop and pee (this is exciting to me because Binxy didnt know what any of that was). she actually pooped on me yesterday and peed on me early this morning, and she even scratches like she is trying to cover it up. we have been putting the gel antibiotic on her eyes and her eye has improved greatly even over the past 24 hours (she has improved since these pics were taken), its not oozing puss anymore, and its not nearly as swollen but we dont know if she will get her vision back. the nerve attached to her eye is still working though because she actually moves both eyes, i just dont think she can see out of the left one.
she sneezes here and there, so we have been sprinkling a LITTLE bit of the viral infection stuff on her food. i am doing half the dose instead of the whole recommended dose. i'm just being really cautious with this kitty. we havent taken her to the vet yet. I just want to see how well she improves with what we do before the vet wants to load her up with medications. i do think she may very well be related to Binx!!!!

Maybe she is related, perhaps not. Regardless, how fortunate for her (and healing for you) that she's been rescued and is being cared for by people with loving hands and hearts.

If the antibiotic is helping her eye than you're dealing with chlamydia. In which case it can spread to other pets and even your eyes if you're not very careful.

Did you have an antibiotic left over from Binx? (that isn't expired) If not, get her to the vet and get her on one to help fight that off ASAP.

I've healed up kittens with worse looking eyes than that. So that eye may make it through this if you get her prompt treatment.

yes, we had a lot of antibiotic left from binx. it doesnt expire until the end of 2011.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

If the antibiotic is helping her eye than you're dealing with chlamydia. In which case it can spread to other pets and even your eyes if you're not very careful.

Did you have an antibiotic left over from Binx? (that isn't expired) If not, get her to the vet and get her on one to help fight that off ASAP.

I've healed up kittens with worse looking eyes than that. So that eye may make it through this if you get her prompt treatment.

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did you mean if its not helping her eye?

Originally Posted by silly_ goose

yes, we had a lot of antibiotic left from binx. it doesnt expire until the end of 2011.

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If it's a reconstituted liquid suspension it has a shelf life of approximately two weeks. The printed on box expiration date would be for the dry antibiotic powder - if you're using amoxicillin or clavamox. After a couple weeks the mixed up suspension will actually start growing mold in it.. (who hasn't had leftover amoxi get pushed back behind something?)


And no. I meant if the antibiotic eye ointment is helping the infection in her eyes it suggest it's a bacterial infection. Antibiotics do not treat viral infections. Chlamydia is a bacteria that can spread to a lot of animals. It's often a problem in farm animals.

I still think you need to get her to the vet and get the eye gunk swabbed so you know what you're dealing with.

the eye ointment is helping her eye and i understand that is for bacteria. which is why i was also sprinkling the power on her food for viral since she sneezes here and there.
she doesnt have "fresh" gunk on her face since the eye has stopped oozing but i am taking her to the vet today after work.

Keep us updated. I hope the vet visit goes well. Right now she's so tiny and sick that the vet really shouldn't be doing much besides getting her infection better. After that it's the regular stray cat stuff (deworming and vacs).


Be careful, though. Thoroughly wash your hands and forearms after handling her and take off any clothing you wear around her. In fact wearing old clothes that can be washed in hot would be best. Just is case it is bacterial. A virus could spread to other cats, but not you.

thanks.. im afraid that the eye wont heal. it looks like she is blind, now that the mucus is gone and you can see her eye there is like a membrane attached to the front. it looks terrible.

the only thing i can do right now is take her to get looked at, see if what im giving her will work or if i have to purchase something else. i have spent so much money at the vet within a month, i dont know where i have gotten the funds.

we are keeping the kitten in a kennel, so she doesnt interact with my other cats.

Oh, I'm sure you're cautious with the cats. I just want you to be cautious with yourself, too. You do not want to have to explain a nasty case of pink eye to a doc.

And I hear you about the vet bills. I have one that has severe bronchitis and two with slight to mild cases of it. To finally get at that diagnosis we had to rule out a lot of things it looked like first... in three kittens. I think I spent $500 just on medication so far to do that. Sometimes I was at the vet 2-3 times a week... every single tech and assistant knows me by name now and it's not a small clinic.

You do what you have to though. We can't really do anything else.
I hope her eye isn't as bad as you fear. Don't give up on her yet. She has a long way till she's better and who knows what will happen in the process - that eye may clear up. And if it doesn't, you'll be another person on here with a one eyed white girl cat. What are the odds of that? (you can pm LDG about her kitty if you're curious).

i do take her out of the kennel but i do not let my cats get close to her.

awww i hope your kitties get better!!!! that is awful. having multiple sick ones. i think that is one of my worst fear to have multiple sick kitties. i took my 2 to get checked after binx passed to find out they are perfectly healthy but that trip cost $400 so i would be devastated to have to do it again.
hope your babies get better quickly

i do hope that her eye pulls through, i will find out today i guess what the vet thinks about it. i just dont want them to over medicate her. little babies can only take so much
shes eating, drinking and giving kisses though, so either shes a solider or she is better than she looks

Well... My kittens will never actually get better. The girls lungs only have mild inflammation, but it can flare up at any time and may need treatment. The male is on a daily inhaled steroid medication. Technically it's bronchitis, but it would be considered more like a type of asthma.

$400 for two, ouch! Just thoroughly discuss how you want your kitten treated. Make your concerns of over medicating known and work out a plan with the vet. Don't stay away because you fear what may or may not happen.

Good luck! She's definitely lucky to have you.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Well... My kittens will never actually get better. The girls lungs only have mild inflammation, but it can flare up at any time and may need treatment. The male is on a daily inhaled steroid medication. Technically it's bronchitis, but it would be considered more like a type of asthma.

$400 for two, ouch! Just thoroughly discuss how you want your kitten treated. Make your concerns of over medicating known and work out a plan with the vet. Don't stay away because you fear what may or may not happen.

Good luck! She's definitely lucky to have you.

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ahh. poor babies... and thank you very much i will post about the vet soon!

I PMd you a link, but I'll post it here for other people's reference. This is a link to a thread about battling herpes as it affects they eye: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=152727

The OP of this thread was able to save her kitty's eye. We were not.

I don't know what chlamydia (sp?) looks like - but when I saw that pic of your kitty's eye, it looked like herpes to me. Our vet definitely tried treating Flowerbelle's eye with antibiotics at various points, even though we knew it was herpes - I'm not sure the thinking there, and this was 7 years ago. Her eye was sewn shut with antibiotics in them - perhaps he thought secondary infection? It didn't help. I'm sorry, I don't remember all the gels and drops we used to treat her. But there are pics in the thread to which I posted the link.

for your baby!

I don't know what the situation is re: vet visit, but she needs her energy to fight this. She should be treated for her parasites - and I'm not sure what's safe to use on a kitty her age.

I will say that we fought for 7 months to save Flowerbelle's eye. If I could turn back time, I would have made the decision to have it removed as soon as she was healthy enough to have the surgery done. Her energy levels went up 1000% (or more!) and trying to treat her for so long was hard on all of us.

I know I don't know the full story, but Kitty really ought to get to a vet to make the determination as to what is causing the problem.

Originally Posted by LDG

I PMd you a link, but I'll post it here for other people's reference. This is a link to a thread about battling herpes as it affects they eye: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=152727

The OP of this thread was able to save her kitty's eye. We were not.

I don't know what chlamydia (sp?) looks like - but when I saw that pic of your kitty's eye, it looked like herpes to me. Our vet definitely tried treating Flowerbelle's eye with antibiotics at various points, even though we knew it was herpes - I'm not sure the thinking there, and this was 7 years ago. Her eye was sewn shut with antibiotics in them - perhaps he thought secondary infection?

It didn't help. I'm sorry, I don't remember all the gels and drops we used to treat her. But there are pics in the thread to which I posted the link.

for your baby!

I don't know what the situation is re: vet visit, but she needs her energy to fight this. She should be treated for her parasites - and I'm not sure what's safe to use on a kitty her age.

I will say that we fought for 7 months to save Flowerbelle's eye. If I could turn back time, I would have made the decision to have it removed as soon as she was healthy enough to have the surgery done. Her energy levels went up 1000% (or more!) and trying to treat her for so long was hard on all of us.

I know I don't know the full story, but Kitty really ought to get to a vet to make the determination as to what is causing the problem.

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yes i did get your message!! thank you for sharing that
i should probably take another picture to show yall how different it looks than yesterday.. i will do that tonight. i am taking her to the vet after work, i have an appointment at 5. i found a coupon for free new pet exam! so thats going to save me $40
we are going to get this little one taken care of though. she is very strong and i think that she will have the energy to make it through.

well I took kitty to the vet. the doc totally sucked. basically the only thing he told me was she 'may have an uncler' & her eye was gone & if I didn't remove her eye she would die. I asked if she was okay other than her eye and he said uhh I can't say she might be healthy because she does have an infection. He didn't even hear her heart beat until I asked him. I asked what range the surgery costs & he said he had no idea. So that was frustrating. the medication I was giving her he said to keep giving it to her & gave me another antibiotic.

my mom said she would help pay for the surgery, but I have no idea how much it will even cost. she's only about 8 weeks, what's the probability she will survive the surgery? idk my mom is going to call around tomorrow, she actually took kitty home w/ her. my last stray died the 2nd night I had her, I knew it would be very hard for me to keep it together. so I'm glad she took her & it will give me a chance to give my adult kitties some lovin. I've been paying so much attention to kitty.

you know I'm curious about this ulcer diagnos he gave me. was she likely born w/ it if it's already killed her eye?

Honestly, with the information you provided, I wouldn't trust his opinion on anything. And ulcers are generally caused by infection - in the case of herpes, a viral infection.

we believe that she really may need surgery but she has to weigh a certain amount so we are going to continue giving her medicine and feeding her (of course). her eye only has some clear drainage & the lips surrounding it are no longer swollen. they actually look good. she appears to be happy and like nothing is wrong.. but right now the only thing we can do is keep giving her the antibiotics until she puts on a little more weight.

i will post a picture soon.

http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/z...ojil/photo.jpg

(her left eye) this was taken at the vet yesterday.
her face has been cleaned up, it was just gunk matted into her hair.

Yeah, that eye looks bad. Flowerbelle's was cloudy like that.

Flowerbelle didn't seem overly bothered by any of it either - she just didn't like being medicated.