Swelling not going down - please help

Late Monday morning I noticed that my cat's right cheek was really swollen. I got her into the vet first thing Wednesday morning and by then it was worse. She had eye discharge and wasn't eating as much as she usually does. The vet drew blood and gave her a shot of antibiotics (good for 7 days) because he thought it could either be an infection of some sort or even a mass behind her eye. The shot was so we didn't have to try to give her antibiotics orally at home which is always difficult.

Thursday morning the vet called to say the blood test looked good (thankfully because she is diabetic and was born with only one kidney so I worry about her health a lot). He said the next step was to sedate her to see what was going on. She ended up having an abscessed tooth (it was really bad ) so he removed the tooth and cleaned her up. She got through the procedure OK but the vet said they had a hard time waking her up from the anesthesia and probably wouldn't recommend sedating her again which upsets me because what happens if she needs to have a procedure done in the future?

We've been giving her pain meds and she is eating normally now but her face is still really swollen. It is especially red and swollen above her eye and she still has eye discharge. Of course my cats only get sick when the vet is closed (today is a holiday) so I can't call to see if this is normal. Can anyone tell me how long we should expect to wait before the swelling goes down? He asked us to come in Monday for a follow-up appointment but I'm a big worry wart and just want to make sure she's OK in the meantime. Thanks.

Does your vet have an emergency number or a emergency vet service he works with? In your case, I'd really call - if you call the emergency vet, try to write down everything that's occurred with your little girl so you can answer their questions over the phone. Believe me, I know it's hard to remember everything once you're talking with someone.

Hopefully someone with more experience will come along - I'm tempted to say apply a warm compress to the area, if she lets you, while you're tracking down vet advice, but I'm just not sure.

Good luck - I'm a worry wart myself.

Is there another animal hospital, open today, that you could bring your cat to?

Call the vet's office. They should have either a way for you to leave messages or information on who to call during off hours. If you have to leave a message, tell them what you've told us. If you know of an emergency vet clinic, call and describe the situation and see what they recommend.

Thanks everyone. My husband thinks she's doing OK, I however am worried but as I said before, I'm a worry wart. I am pretty sure our vet office has an answering service but there is a 24 hour emergency vet clinic I could call also. My hubby thinks her cheek looks smaller and although her eye is a mess he thinks the discharge is just her body's way of purging the infection. Her procedure was Thursday afternoon so it's only been 48 hours and he thinks it's not going to show drastic improvement that quickly. I think I'll still call someone because I'm nervous. Thanks everyone.

Great - I hope the vet can put your mind at ease til her appointment on Monday. My e-vet was great at telling me, over the phone, what to watch for to make a decision to come in or not. FWIW, I'm such a worry wart, I did a dry run to the e-vet to make sure I knew how to get there, just in case.

I would be concerned as well, especially since she has diabetes. Diabetes in humans causes the individual to heal slower, so it could be the same with kitties.

Thanks everyone for your concern and help. My hubby convinced me she was slowly getting better and was doing OK so I never did call the emergency vet. The swelling and redness above her eye did go away and she was eating. My hubby took her to her vet appointment this morning and the vet said the swelling isn't going down as fast as he'd like but because she is diabetic it is taking longer to heal (good call stephanietx).

I posted a plea for advice on my Facebook page (you never know who is a vet or knows a vet) and learned a good friend from high school knows a vet student. Although she didn't get back to me until after my cat's appointment today, the vet student did say it would take two weeks for the swelling to subside since she is a senior cat with diabetes. My vet said if she's not better by next Monday she has to go back but he gave her another shot of antibiotics and hopefully she will get better soon. Thank you again everyone.

Thanks for the update. Glad she's on the road to recovery, but that it's not as speedy as you would like. I think I'd just keep an eye on everything and look for any new redness, swelling, or oozing. That would definitely indicate a need to go back to the vet.