my cat Pumpkin Face is going to vet for eye issues-worried

Hello fellow peeps.

I have a 12 yr old kitty who was recovering from an URI for the past month and my vet prescribed eye ointment as she had some discharge in the left one and it looked sore-we started it 10 days ago-the discharge is gone but the left eye looks a hair puffy-the eyelid shuts but she squints alot and she fights me hard when i put ointment in that eye. she tolerates the right eye much better, this one looks better.

When I look at her face-the eyeball on the right side-her left eye=the outter shape looks abit further out than the other eye=this almost looks like something is pressing on it to push it forward-its very faint-I didnt really notice until last night when I was examing her eye as we have reached day 10 of that antibiotic ointment to treat pink eye and infection from upper respiratory illness-every winter she gets it-probably from forced hot air and cold temperatures. Its now march and the air is getting warmer and more moist-I just don't know why I didnt notice this sooner-If I have to say a measurement-probably 1/32 to 1/16" difference-the bf didnt notice anything different. I dont have any photos of her face closeup but will take one tonight before we go to the vets.

Today at 5ish we have an appointment. I want to know what to ask and would xrays show any kind of infection behind the eye?

She is eating and drinking fine. But acting kind of tired more than usual. She also suffers arthritis which we treat with nerve meds via a solution flavored by beef, which she hates.

So hopefully no fever or anything, we had a warm day the other day and she normally sleeps on the deck in the sun-not that day, that was Wednesday. Wish us luck.

foxxycat said:

 
She also suffers arthritis which we treat with nerve meds via a solution flavored by beef, which she hates.

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Hi foxxycat !

That arthritis pain med......is it gabapentin?

Yes!

We got taken care of well! Pumpkin face is still fighting an uri and herpes flareup. They changed eye meds to two different drops. One an antibiotic and other a pain reliever type.


She ended up having an ulcer on the right eye-the one that didn't look as swollen. The left eye had some redness down below the lid. No fever. No sneezing. We go for a recheck in a week.

Now the second part of the appointment was with a technician getting laser treatment for pain. We had to wear goggles. And even kitty. She wasn't too happy with it but once she saw that she could still see she calmed down. They only did left shoulder and elbow. We wanted to do more but I wanted see how she put up with this. Its a 2.5 minute session of light waves on each section. We will do more next time. Will try both left and right shoulder and elbow areas. I noticed a big improvement when got home. She still kind of limped along but sje didn't favor the left side as much. She's been laying on the side so maybe it is helpful.

Next week is three sessions then the following week is two sessions then once a week. Then figure out what to do from there.

I had them assist me with the first dose of eye drops and it definitely seemed to help. Poor pumpkin face.

This morning she was walking much better-and eye looks better-still blinks but not as much. We had to do two dif meds of eye drops which she tried to wiggle out with more strength in the past-so the pain must be getting better. I also upped the lysine in a tablespoon of tuna=this is my fish kitty-she will NOT eat any other wet food other than a lick here and there-well she must have tasted the lysine as she didnt lick the juice-I mash it with a big fork and add water to make it like a slurry...nope she sniffed took a lick and yuck. She will get more when i get home from work and i will do half of the amount or i will use babyfood and mix it in there along with dasquin and have to put it in the cheek of her mouth which she only tolerates about 4-5 times then its game over-she will wiggle away. Never had such a picky eater!!

We will keep trying.

The laser therapy is for pain management-I forgot to mention earlier=so they said I should see improvements 12-24 hours after the session-this morning on my way to get ready for work-she was sprawled out on the floor laying on her painful shoulder-and walking better..hopped up on the couch several times-I usually carry her to the box and couch when the storms come-so now hopefully it continues to work...we wont use adeqan unless the therapy doesnt work.

and we still have the liquid gabapentin if all else fails--I am leary on daily use of this due to kidney values=but every vet I have asked has said its not a big deal and most cats tolerate it well. So for now-she is doing good. the eye looks less swolen already.

tthe antibiotic is tobramycin ophthalmic solution-the other drops looks like something like sterile saline solution with something in it for pain-can't remember the name-will type it up tonight-we were doing that gel triple antibiotic eye ointment 3 times a day-it helped but didnt make it go away.

GRRRR I hate Herpes and upper resp illness! So hard to keep on top of!!!

White Shadow said:

 
That arthritis pain med......is it gabapentin?

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OK......here's why I asked....

You already said that she hates the flavoured gabapentin. I used gabapentin for 6 months with Stryker who was in palliative care mode. The first lot of it was compounded by his attending Vet (and, from Stryker's reaction to it, I knew it was near intolerable)....then, I heard from a local pharmacy that they regularly prepared this and, that many of their customers preferred the unflavoured preparation (and, it was considerably cheaper there). From  then on, I used the unflavoured preparation (which was less offensive to his taste)......but.....I followed it up with 1-2ml of a honey-water mixture which cleared his palate of the foul taste. I used 1-2 tablespoonfuls of pure liquid honey - Billy Bee - mixed into 1/2 cup of water. Now, while cats have no taste receptors for 'sweets', it did rid his mouth of the foul-tasting gabapentin....so, no drool, no further upsetting the cat.

Maybe that will help.

That's interesting. I know that the first time we used it they had me open the capsule and mix with 1ml of water then mix well. Syringe up .2ml which is 20 mg. I tasted it just to see how hard it will be to give and it was nasty. Its easier to syringe .2ml than 1ml of foil tasting mixture. Too bad I don't know how to get the pharmacy to make it more concentrated so it goes down easier.

She was walking around better today. Hopefully it continues to work. Got another cat who needs her knees done.

Tonight we went for our check up for her eye.

The ulcer is GONE! So we got another session with laser treatment for her arthritis done. It seems to not be helping as much Right now. The first appointment seem to be the best. But after three days she was walking sensitive on her paws. Now I have to focus on her loosing two pounds. They said that the weight really affects it.

We will see.