I'm knew to this site, but am finding it a treasure of useful information. I hope you can help.
Barnaby has been with me for 1 week now. He was a stray/semi-feral orange tabby who I was feeding outside for 2 weeks, before I used a humane trap to trap him. I took him to the vet; he tested negative for FIV, was neutered, and received his shots and deworming. The vet told me she thinks he's 12 to 18 months old.
He's living in a large room--it's actually the third floor of my house. He comes out of his hiding place to eat while I'm a few feet away. Once he's done eating he moves away from me and grooms, and then returns to his hiding place. I am of course keeping him separate from my other 3 cats. I am not able to touch him yet or approach him. I visit him for about 1 hour each, 3 times a day.
He has a good appetite, uses the litter box, and seems all around healthy, but he's definitely got some type of eye infection in both eyes. When I was feeding him outside I could see these two very small red-type dots (like tiny pimples) in the corner edge of both eyes. I thought this was just a part of his facial features as there was no eye problems at all. But now, these red dots are larger and I can see from they have oozed because there's a trail of brownish type discharge running from the eye corners to mid-nose. Both eyes are involved. I also like to point out that his actual eyes themselves seem to be unaffected: he eyes are clear, not swollen, or red.
I noticed that the eye problem started about 2 days after I brought him inside. I wonder if the stress of the trapping and vet visit maybe triggered an outbreak of feline herpes. The infection hasn't gotten worse in the last 4 days but it's not getting better either.
Here's my problem. The only way I can take him to the vet would be to trap him again, using the humane trap, and I really hate to do this as I fear it will reverse the progress we've made. Plus, if the medication involves drops or ointment I wouldn't be able to administer them anyway.
I would appreciate any advice on how to handle this eye problem, as well as any techniques you have used in gaining a cat's trust (I've got a felliway defuser in the room, I talk gently to him, and he's got a cat tree he can use).
Thanks!
Barnaby has been with me for 1 week now. He was a stray/semi-feral orange tabby who I was feeding outside for 2 weeks, before I used a humane trap to trap him. I took him to the vet; he tested negative for FIV, was neutered, and received his shots and deworming. The vet told me she thinks he's 12 to 18 months old.
He's living in a large room--it's actually the third floor of my house. He comes out of his hiding place to eat while I'm a few feet away. Once he's done eating he moves away from me and grooms, and then returns to his hiding place. I am of course keeping him separate from my other 3 cats. I am not able to touch him yet or approach him. I visit him for about 1 hour each, 3 times a day.
He has a good appetite, uses the litter box, and seems all around healthy, but he's definitely got some type of eye infection in both eyes. When I was feeding him outside I could see these two very small red-type dots (like tiny pimples) in the corner edge of both eyes. I thought this was just a part of his facial features as there was no eye problems at all. But now, these red dots are larger and I can see from they have oozed because there's a trail of brownish type discharge running from the eye corners to mid-nose. Both eyes are involved. I also like to point out that his actual eyes themselves seem to be unaffected: he eyes are clear, not swollen, or red.
I noticed that the eye problem started about 2 days after I brought him inside. I wonder if the stress of the trapping and vet visit maybe triggered an outbreak of feline herpes. The infection hasn't gotten worse in the last 4 days but it's not getting better either.
Here's my problem. The only way I can take him to the vet would be to trap him again, using the humane trap, and I really hate to do this as I fear it will reverse the progress we've made. Plus, if the medication involves drops or ointment I wouldn't be able to administer them anyway.
I would appreciate any advice on how to handle this eye problem, as well as any techniques you have used in gaining a cat's trust (I've got a felliway defuser in the room, I talk gently to him, and he's got a cat tree he can use).
Thanks!