Eye Illness

Hi everyone.

I've gotten used to reading other's posts on forums in the past, but this time I am in need of urgent advice.

We have a black feral cat live in our garden. We've been feeding her on a daily basis for about a year now. She relies on us as a food source. She's started to trust us more and only recently have we been able to get close and pet her. But as she is a feral cat, at times she is cautious and can become frightened. Last week we gave her deworming tablets which we hid in her food as she had tapeworms.

Yesterday there were no apparent signs of an eye illness but this morning one of her eyes were half-open, with a little fluid leaking out of it. She is able to open her eye fully but it returns back to half-open and she squints. 

I've been educating myself and learning more about cats since we've gotten close to her. I've read that it could be several things such as an eye infection, FIV (which I'm praying it isn't) or that something may be trapped in her eye. I've attached two images below.



I understand that taking her to a vet is probably the best answer but because she gets frightened quickly I imagine it will be slightly difficult to get her into a cage and to a vet. How do you guys suggest I go about doing this?

Also, does anyone have a slight idea of what she may have?

I really hope we can get her back to normal as she means a lot to us! Thank you for reading this and I appreciate all the advice given. 

I don't know what it could be, like you have found it could be any number of things.  

Usually a humane trap is used to get ferals to the vet.  She probably will be back to square one as far as trusting you after that.  If you decide to go that route I would make sure the vet has worked with ferals.  Many have because they do charity work for rescues or TNR groups.  You may be able to find a TNR group in your area that could help or could loan you a trap.

Has she had kittens this year.  If she hasn't had kittens and her ear isn't clipped she could be a stray that has been spayed.

My feral cats eyes get like that but even worse when they are having a herpes out break. Not sure if that is the problem but it wouldn't hurt to start giving her L-lysine, just sprinkle it in her wet food. One of my cats last month was very bad and almost looked like her eye was gone, I increased her L-lysine dosage and it cleared up in a couple weeks.

If you have never trapped her I would suggest doing that so you can have a vet take a look at her. Our vet is very good with my feral kitties.

Good luck!

She does need to see a vet.

It looks like, from her picture, you can get fairly close and she trusts you. I would put an enormous carrier out where you feed her (like the kind for a large dog), and start putting the food in there in the very back. Leave the carrier out there when you are not feeding her, so it becomes something she is familiar with. You can also put a towel in there if you want. Do this for at least a few days and sit nearby to the carrier so she gets used to you being there and not disturbing her while she eats. Then skip one feeding so she is hungry, and at the next feeding, put a really tasty food in there, a lot of it so she goes in and is very absorbed in the food. Then shut the door while she is eating.

If you find that she takes to the carrier right away, you can make the vet appointment for the next feeding time and just do it right away. Play it by ear based on how this works out.

You should use a very large black garbage bag to encase the carrier in, once you put the carrier in the car (surround the carrier with the bag as if you are putting her into the center of a flower). You do not need to tighten it, just use it as a loose shield. This is in case she is so upset that she pees or sprays in the carrier, you do not want to get it in the car.
 

By the way, it is just as well to invest in the carrier in the event you live where it gets cold in the winter. You can cover the carrier with a small solar pool cover along with some deck chairs and other furniture, and brick it down and she will have a winter home. Otherwise you can call a local shelter and ask to borrow one where you can leave a deposit or whatever and return it when you are done. If you go this route, make sure to clean it beforehand.

And while you are at the vet you can get testing etc. done. If it turns out she has FIV that is not a death sentence. Don't let them put her down, tell them you will bring her in (Some vets will tell you they have to euthanize unless the cat goes inside. The likelihood of her biting another cat outside, based on her friendliness from the pix, is very very low-she probably got bit bc she is submissive).

Also If the eye needs treatment you may need to bring her inside and treat her, this may be easier than you think. But in any case you will need to get a lot closer to her, to treat her eye. She is probably aware she needs help, so my suggestion is to get ready for the next step of treatment, get a small room ready to bring her home to for fixing that eye. You can roll her in a towel and get a friend to help put the eye stuff on each day. It sounds hard but hang in there, it will all work out. Just stay strong and believe in yourself. Cats get fussy but you are stronger and you need to do tough love now. :-) Good luck.

I had a feral cat who lived out back of my place for years.  He was almost totally unexaminable by my vet as I was the only human he knew or could get close to him.  He did get into the vet intitially for his neutering, blood tests and ear mite decontamination, but follow-up visits were difficult.  My vet eventually taught me how to give his booster shots as he would just freak at the vet's office.

Anyway, he had the same weepy eye thing going on.  The vet prescribed daily Ciprofloxacin eye drops, but he hated to get them and it became increasingly hard for me to give it to him.  Even at that, the Ciprofloxacin would only cure him for a few weeks at a time and it would be back.  Lysine is an easier solution if it is herpes related and he/she will eat lysine on their food.  However, what really worked for me was ordering Terramycin antibiotic eye cream (Pfizer) over the internet and after only a couple of applications (it is a greasy runny cream I could just smear on and it would stay put more or less) his eye thing never came back.  It reminded me of the old stye medicine I would get as a child.

I am sure I got the Terramycin idea from this board years ago and I keep it around always.  I have used it again on several other eye issues and had equally good results.

Just thought I'd update you all on the situation.

We decided to give it a day to wait and see if things improved and luckily yesterday morning her eye was much better. We're very relieved! I've attached some images I took of her yesterday. 

Also, here's a video of her right before the incident 

Although she seems okay for now, I'll definitely bring her to a vet to ensure everything else is okay! 

@BarbB - Thank you for your valuable advice, tough love will definitely need to be applied. Will try out your method!

Thank you Denice, Snugglecat and Dan32 for your useful replies. 

I am grateful for all of your sincere advice and I hope your cats are all doing fine. 

She is beautiful, but I have a soft spot for black cats.  I think she is a stray that is learning to trust people again.

That was my feral, too.  An all black male.  Are you going to try and trap her?  I could never muster up the courage to do it myself.