Kitten rescued from Cat Hoarder

My girlfriend rescued a kitten from a cat hoarder who claimed to be a "rescue service" and we still have the kitten (who is about 6 weeks old at this point according to the vet).

We've taken her to the vet and she had roundworms, tapeworms, coccidia,ear mites, fleas, and had developed an URI among other things.

The vet we've taken her to has been very accomadating and Maya's worms are taken care of. She still has cocccidia but the vet wants to concentrate on treating the URI first. She's on antibiotics for her URI (switched from amoxycillin, to on that has an acid in it's potassium salt form) and it seems to be slowly (really slowly) getting better but the real issue is her left eye. It is swollen shut and possibly to the point to where she may lose her eye. The vet has given us an antibiotic gel (neomycin) for her eyes but says that she'll probably lose it. I was wondering if there was any chance we could save her eye and I've heard of many people having similar cases and being able to rescue the eye. 

Maya is currently on:

.25CC Amoxycillin/ possasium salt of some acid

.5CC Viralyis twice daily

Neomycin applied twice daily to eyes

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what I can do to help her eye (possibly other antibiotic eye ointment, etc) and help prevent the other one from getting infected as well. And to clarify, the left one is swollen shut as this point. Not really trying to go against what the vet is prescribing, she's just set on the kitten losing her eye and is not really offering me other options for antibiotics. We really want to try and give the kitten the best chance for life possible. Thanks for any advice or info you could give.

Jordan

Hi welcome to TCS

I cant give any advice but Ill point this topic in the way of our advisers see if they can help you

I wonder if wiping her eye with colloidal silver would help. I haven't used it myself yet but I hear good things. And it's not terribly expensive, and wouldn't interfere with the other meds. I've always just cleaned goopy kitten eyes with warm saline solution and terramycin, but I don'tt think I've ever had one that bad off.

Check for a private message.  I'll tell you what I have seen some success with.

If this is a feline herpes infection, which it likely is, supplementing the kitten's food with l-lysine is a good idea.  I think that's what that Viralis is on your list of medications.
 

Keep in mind that while the best solution would be for your little waif of a cat to keep both eyes functional - cats can manage very well with only one eye.

Good luck, and just think how fortunate she is that your girlfriend found her. I shudder to think what might have been had she not.

Thanks for all the great responses everyone. I asked the vet for tobramyocin and she seems a bit more hopeful about the eye. If terramyocin wasn't on back order everywhere she would've offered me that. Gonna see if the condition gets any better and then go from there

Catapault said:

Keep in mind that while the best solution would be for your little waif of a cat to keep both eyes functional - cats can manage very well with only one eye.

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I agree here. The important thing is her health. It's not an easy choice, but it's not something to see as a failure either. Cats' eyes are located on the front of their heads, like ours are, and they manage about as well as we do with one eye.

Just follow your vet's instructions with the eye. Keep the kitten clean and warm. I think saline solution is probably best if you're going to wash the kitten's face, but please ask the vet first before you try it.

The hoarder probably really does believe s/he is rescuing the cats. Many start out that way, then they get overwhelmed and the cats start to suffer; but the alternative is leaving the cats outside or taking them to a kill shelter, and they can't say no to "just one more" cat. It's a vicious cycle, and all the more tragic because these people usually do really love cats. Their own health tends to suffer just as much as the cats', eventually. But you've helped, just by taking a single kitten. You're teaching them that it's okay to let go of a cat, that the cat will be okay. How much does your GF know about the place? Could she make a report to the humane society or animal control or similar? Keep the kitten's vet records and take pictures to document things.