Need Urgent Advice

Hello all

I have a cat in the garden that I take care of. She was a feral cat but showed up in the garden at a young age about 2.5 years ago. By now she is quite tame, I can pick her up, pet her and so on. She also comes inside the house and stays there for a few minutes and then wants out again, so she is unfortunately not well adjusted to being in the house.

She always had  a little discharge from the eyes, mostly the left and she lets me clean the eyes every days. So today I did that in the afternoon and her eyes were normal and then a few hours later she came around with a bad right eye. It was quite watery and had quite some slimy white discharge. I cleaned it out carefully and tried to keep her inside but she got quite agitated and tried to get back into the garden. I was pulled back and forth what to do. Last year, when I took her to the vet for vaccinations she was traumatized (they shaved her belly to see if she was spayed and when the vet came back with her she was very mad). So back then I wasn't able to keep her inside and let her out and she was gone for two weeks.

It looked a bit better after a while and I let her out. She is now in her house (she has a heated garden house where she sleeps at nights). I thought maybe just closing the eyes will help to heal it. I checked her later again and the eye looks better than before I guess, but it is still swollen and the third eyelid is visible. No white discharge though.

So I am quite careful with what I do. I don't want to give her any reason for suspicion because I dont want to drive her away. If I take her to the vet, that would be  HUGE thing. I am quite sure I could not let her back into the garden afterwards and would have to keep her inside the house until the eye is ok again. It would probably be big mayhem and therefore I am hesitant what to do. If I take her to the doc, that is going to be a major thing and I would have to be consequent and force her to stay inside which she does not like, but I know that flipflopping at that point and giving in like I did last year would be the worst thing to do.

So I am asking for advice here. I guess she may have hurt her eye, because I dont think it could be some illness that came up within an hour or two since I checked her this afternoon. Should I let her in peace and observe? And for how long before I have to bite my teeth and take her to the vet? Are there any clear signs that it wont get better by itself and I need to take her? I think that is my main concern that I get a clear sign when I have to take her. Because I don't know if it will go away by itself in which case I really don't want to torture her by forcing her inside, but if there are clear signs that this is something that wont go away I will have to do it and then keep her inside for as long as it takes. (Also she is not potty trained, she just goes in the garden, that's another worry of course. I have a toilet for my other cat, but who knows if she would use it)

Please advise. It's now 3 am and I am going to bed, I guess I will have to make a decision tomorrow (luckily we also have a night time clinic here so I am not restricted to daytime decisions)

Thanks in advance all

I tend to think that anything to do with the eyes needs looking at fairly quickly - especially if it's getting worse, which is what you seem to be saying (ie it's got worse from initial discharge,even though it's now calming from its worst).

How cooperative are your vets? I know it's a long shot, but is there any chance they could make a house call? That, although not pleasant for her, would be far less traumatic than a trip to the vet. I know my vet will come out to me in certain circumstances, but maybe I'm just very lucky.

Other suggestion is try to get pics and then talk to the vet about it - there may be some topical treatment they can give you to try without seeing her.

It's so hard to know what's best. With a house/tame cat vet is the obvious choice, but the feral (albeit tame feral) really complicates things.

So, at very least speak to a vet and take it from there. They'll be able to tell you what danger signs to look for. Sorry I can't be more help. Hope she heals fast and well

Hi , I have 3 cats ... 2 were totally ferral  but cats are adaptible and also they know when you are trying to help them . If you can take her to the vet   , great , he might have ot sedate her which is best for the cat as she wont realise what is going on and then he can take blood and examine her   properly , plus treat her . he can give her a test to see if she is positive in any of the deseases and  if all is well vaccinate and put spot on /flea worming treament... to look at her teeth , ferral have usually bad teeth that need extraction.

She knows you and although it will be stressful for her , until she is better and has all she needs inside the house/shed  she will be find until  she is well enough to go out.

I had to keep one of mine in for a week inside my house beofre christmas ... due to illness/high temp and vomiting ... she climbed the walls/windows but eventually gave in and now uses the litter box all the time even though she goes outside .

You will probably be more stressed than her , but you are helping her .. animals are very clever , cats are extremely intuitive .

another ferral who I had been feediing for a year , I brought home as she had bad teeth which needed to be extracted  she didnt even look to leave the shed .. I have an outside enclures for her aswell . she tested positive for felv+ so is now living there ...

befoe catching her  get the shed ready - food for her return /water/ litter box etc...  she wont want to be fussed just left alone to suss out her enviroment.

The idea of the vet coming to you is a good one. Where I live in the suburbs of a major US city, there are several mobile vet services.

Also I once read a thread where the vet prescribed a sedative in advance so the cat was already sedated when it came time to go. This might reduce the chances of a major freak out like you had before. It's worth asking. All they can do is say no, right?

Good luck with this. I hope you'll let us know how things turn out.

Corneal trauma is very common amongst cats. A thorough eye exam including corneal staining is very important to rule out scratches or ulceration. Cats heal faster than dogs' corneas, but some ulcers are deep and take many weeks to heal without pharmacological intervention. Any effective opthalmic medication is prescription only, namely tobramycin, for corneal injuries. NO opthalmic medication with steroids or antiinflammatory should be applied to the eyes until corneal scratch/ulcer is ruled out with staining, as steroids limit cellular replication and corneal cells can't form and "heal" the eye.

Ocular discharge, swollen eyelids, spasming or squinting are all symptoms that prompt a veterinary eye exam. Corneal ulcers can become infections or deep trauma leading to inner eye damage if left untreated.

If corneas in tact, opthalmic antibiotic combined with topical steroid (such as Dex with NeoPolyGram or NeoPolyBac drops/ointment) are typical recommendations from a vet... these are expensive, drops more so than ointment. The tobramycin is on the $4 list at many human pharmacies, just needing to be prescribed by a vet after corneal damage is diagnosed. The sooner either an infection/inflammation or corneal injury is treated, the less meds will be needed, saving some money and heartache in the long run.

Hope it's just a little clear drainage, thanks to pollen debris hitting the corneas and increased tear production washing the foreign debris away, all too common right now.

Thanks alot all for the answers.

The current situation is, that we have decided to take her to the vet in the morning.

She usually hangs out in the garden all day and during the night sleeps in her house but is out frequently to play with me when I go into the garden (I go to bed very late) but today she was hiding all day long and only came out around 7 or 8 to get her food. She is also more apathetic than usual. I cleaned her eye with a cottonball and she let me do it. She does not seem to have pain and does not seem to scratch the eye either but it looks swollen and the third eyelid comes out farther than it should.

Now she is in her house, with the head on the pillow, looking outside but doesn't react very much or comes out. She is clearly not behaving normal. The eye also looks bad to me. No white discharge but swollen and battered. My understanding is that white discharge would show an infection so I was hesitent, I thought without that it might just be some injury that heals without help but I am now thinking I have to take her to the vet.

It will be quite some commotion for us, but we try to arrange for it. Like I said, she has never been in the house for more than 10-15 minutes and is not used to it. Yesterday night she got more agitated and was scratching at the mesh door to get out, which I eventually did, but I guess when I get her inside later this night, I just will have to go through this whole thing and hopefully she will get used after a few days. I have a box here from my other cat with a hole and inside it has carpet, so I'm putting that in the corner where she usually strolls around when she is inside. My hope is she will go inside and just hide there and calm down.

I'm also going to by an extra litter box tomorrow, just to be sure.

So here is what happened.

I did not get any sleep last night, I got the cat in around 2 when she came out of her house and came inside, which is unusual because she normally is hesitant and needs some time to decide whether to come in or not. So she was doing fine until around 4 or so when she started to meow and look for an exit, scratching the steel mesh to the garden etc, it was quite some commotion. I could hold her for a while but she would try to escape and then continue.

Also she peed on a blanket I put on the floor for her, but after I put catnip on it and she got aggravated a bit. I dont know if that was due to the catnip or to protest her capture. But it remained a single occurrence.

At 8 I was able to take her to the vet, a very nice man, I found him through reviews on yelp.com, He diagnoses a bad eye infection and I was amazed to see how red the inside of her eyes was when he cleaned it out. He said he was looking for some kind of plantseed that has barbs and often gets into animals eyes or under the skin, but there was nothing.

Now she has an antibiotic injection, I also got all her vaccinations and a deworming injection, He also put her on a tranquilizer that made her quite wobbly and sleepy. He also gave me tranquilizer pills for the next days to calm her down and antibiotic eyedrops, which I should also give to my other cat for prophylaxis. 

I prepared a box for her to sleep in but she is now in a closet with folding doors that can't close all the way and is staying in the angle space between the door wings. I also bought an extra toilet and cat litter thats supposed to help attract cats, made from walnut, I hope she goes soon and uses one of the toilets.

That's all for now, I have to keep her inside for the next two weeks and give her the eye drops twice a day, I hope she gets used to it

I'm glad it was nothing more than an eye infection. Well done for getting her to the vet...I know it isn't easily done with ferals.

FYI - catnip amplifies the mood/emotions that the cat is already in. Give it to a scared/stressed cat and they will feel more scared/stressed. That could explain the increased aggravation. Feliway diffusers/spray are a much better way to add a little calming influence.

If you're able to get hold of a dog crate (the bigger the better), you might find she's easier to manage confined it that (set it up with water,litter box,bed etc). Then she wouldn't be able to throw herself at the screen door and you'd know she was somewhere safe and appropriate. Ferals often feel more secure if they have smaller 'safe' space just for them. This is the set up I started with for my new addition (who'd been living a feral lifestyle, but was very friendly and trusting despite that)
She is so lucky to have found you. You're doing a wonderful thing for her. Hope she settles reasonably while she's inside.

Thanks,

it is currently pretty good. She seems to be ok, I have a box for her but she now sleeps mostly on the dinner chairs which are pushed under the table so there's a small space where she is spending the day.

Last night I saw her use the cat toilet and she peed in it, so that's also positive. Currently my only concern is that she doesn't seem to drink very much, but then I'm mostly feeding wet food, she and my other cat mostly ignore the dry food now since I always open a can when they demand something. Since I'm having my other cat on a special diet that means I have to give her the same food, but I don't mind even if it is a little more expensive, it makes things easier. I guess as long as they eat the wet food, there's no worry of dehydration.

"I took her to the vet for vaccinations she was traumatized (they shaved her belly to see if she was spayed and when the vet came back with her she was very mad). So back then I wasn't able to keep her inside and let her out and she was gone for two weeks."

Who are these felines who get us to worry that they're pissed off, especially when we're trying to help them!

Well I'm sorry, she's just going to have to understand that this is a grown up problem and her only job is to get better not worry about whether the vet is trustworthy.

I do know how you feel though - I was a complete wreck trying to get my mother stray trapped and to the vet.  I had her jailed in a dog crate in the kitchen for a few days before we could get her in to be spayed.  The guy who was supposed to help me get her from the cage into the carrier that morning got stuck in traffic and I had to do it myself.  I am forever thankful to the vet tech who taught me to stand the carrier on end, scruff them and put them in butt first.

Now my parents have her and she's the most loving, relaxed wonderful cat.   If you kept her as an exclusively indoor cat you might be pleasantly surprised.  My stray drove me nuts wanting to go out for a few months and then one day she got outside and I was sure she'd be gone for hours.  She was back in less than one and has never asked to go out since.   I think that little taste of her former life (she spent at least one terrible winter and had one litter that left her totally drained and so thin) that she decided a little boredom was worth her now very comfortable life. 

Again, this was a cat I couldn't get near for months and then she would try and bite me.  Same with the tom cat we took in. To paraphrase @catwoman707, under all that fear and trepidation is a cat who wants a family.  I truly believe she is right. 

playerdark She's gorgeous
Sounds like you're doing well with her. I wouldn't worry too much about hee mot drinking a great deal. My little rescue (ex semi feral) doesn't drink much either. Keep in mind that cats are designed to get 80% of their water requirements from their food. If you do become concerned about dehydration, you can always add extra water to her food.

Thanks again all. I have another question with regard to her, I posted in the behavioral section here. If you would like to read and perhaps help me again with advice, that would be nice

Thanks all.