Any Advice for Putting Eye Drops in?

[Kwik]

It’s been getting so much easier each time I put the drops in - even if my purrito skills have a lot of room for improvement! She’s taking it rather well thank goodness, so hopefully this is the method going forward.

I’m so sorry to hear about Max! But I’m so glad to hear it’s being managed and your other cats haven’t appeared to catch it. Morgana is the only cat in my household, but thinking back that eye has always been particularly weepy - I’m guessing it may have been from the breeder or her mother was a carrier, but Morgana also does go into boarding when I go on holiday so there’s a chance she picked it up from there? It only appears to be impacting her right eye. I don’t know why I’m so upset and in a bit of a flap that she’s got it - researching it it seems manageable. Just being paranoid! It’s comforting to hear stories though about cats that have had it and lived long, happy lives. I’ll just have to monitor what causes her to flare and avoid as much as I can and treat when it does. Eye doesn’t look as bad this morning but still red and sore on the outside sadly.

Never apologise for talking too much, it’s been really helpful having an insight.

You're so kind- but thst was a long one- rofl!Really though I want you to be comforted and confident about this,it's really not such a big deal managed....even my Vet commented on how many people have herpes virus and though it's not cureable it is certainly treatable

He also mentioned thst before the use of anti- virals Lysine was actually prescribed ( he's old like me,lol)- lip balms and such for people with herpes contain Lysine so you should as your Vet about it.....

Very possible Morgana got it from her Mama cat or at where she's boarded,it's as common and contagious for cats as a common cold is with people so be assured " you got this"!!!

Did your Vet not recommend treating both eyes,that was the problem with Max when I first started with him- tye opthamologist said always treat both( for a Conjuctiva) becsusd it will inevitably pass back n forth to both eyes.... after I treated both simultaneously it has not returned- knock wood!

 

[Morgana’s Human]

You're so kind- but thst was a long one- rofl!Really though I want you to be comforted and confident about this,it's really not such a big deal managed....even my Vet commented on how many people have herpes virus and though it's not cureable it is certainly treatable

He also mentioned thst before the use of anti- virals Lysine was actually prescribed ( he's old like me,lol)- lip balms and such for people with herpes contain Lysine so you should as your Vet about it.....

Very possible Morgana got it from her Mama cat or at where she's boarded,it's as common and contagious for cats as a common cold is with people so be assured " you got this"!!!

Did your Vet not recommend treating both eyes,that was the problem with Max when I first started with him- tye opthamologist said always treat both( for a Conjuctiva) becsusd it will inevitably pass back n forth to both eyes.... after I treated both simultaneously it has not returned- knock wood!

I do wonder if she managed to pick it up - I’m 95% sure her vaccines covered this, but if she got it from her Mum then not much I can do! Apparently parents had been tested but….

I had to google Lysine - a good idea! Morgs is on psyllium husk as well as adored beast probiotic so one more probably isn’t a big deal. Her tummy has always been rather sensitive! I’ll ask the vet when she goes back for a review. A little worried about the ongoing costs for lubricant and stuff but I can handle it! I’ve been applying for new jobs to give me and Morgana a better quality of life (she’s spoilt rotten, just to make things easier on me!) so fingers crossed.

I’m putting lubricant in both eyes, but it’s just her right eye that is weepy at the moment so that eye only is being treated with the isathal. I have all my fingers crossed that Max continues to be flare up free! I’ll have her checked over when this medication course finishes.

 

[Kwik]

I do wonder if she managed to pick it up - I’m 95% sure her vaccines covered this, but if she got it from her Mum then not much I can do! Apparently parents had been tested but….

I had to google Lysine - a good idea! Morgs is on psyllium husk as well as adored beast probiotic so one more probably isn’t a big deal. Her tummy has always been rather sensitive! I’ll ask the vet when she goes back for a review. A little worried about the ongoing costs for lubricant and stuff but I can handle it! I’ve been applying for new jobs to give me and Morgana a better quality of life (she’s spoilt rotten, just to make things easier on me!) so fingers crossed.

I’m putting lubricant in both eyes, but it’s just her right eye that is weepy at the moment so that eye only is being treated with the isathal. I have all my fingers crossed that Max continues to be flare up free! I’ll have her checked over when this medication course finishes.

Well you cannot Vax for FHV so there's that -so who knows,right?

I'm not sure about the UK,what you have available there & what you can purchase but if you don't have a Walmart then there's Asda,right? Thats a subsidiary of Walmart

The Opticare lubricant I was prescribed for Max was $23 usd,I found on Walmart ( no Rx its OTC) for less than half!Also the Alpha Paws Lysine powdered supplement was half on Walmart com

I got thst particular brand becausd it advertised " undetectable for the finickiest cat".... my Graycie is a Bloodhound disguised as a cat,one drop of anything in her food and she walks away..... they advertised truthfully,undetectable!

Well,extra prayers will be said for you to get a well paying job for a better quality of life for you and beautiful Morgana!

 

[fionasmom]

She is a beautiful little girl!

 

[Morgana’s Human]

Hey guys! Sorry, anxious cat mum here…

We’re on day 4 of Morgana’s treatment and her eye is still pretty weepy and red on the outside. I know we have 6 days of medicine left to go - is this something that still has time to improve? I just feel so bad and worried that I’m not seeing much improvement. Good news is, she’s no longer holding that eye 3/4 open or half open anymore, but it’s still weeping quite a bit. Just feel so bad for her.

 

[cmshap]

We’re on day 4 of Morgana’s treatment and her eye is still pretty weepy and red on the outside. I know we have 6 days of medicine left to go - is this something that still has time to improve?

I can't speak to Morgana's particular condition, but every experience I've ever had with antibiotics of various types went like this: it's not working... it's not working... then one day, it starts working fast. You're not halfway through it yet.

I'd stay the course and take comfort in the fact that it's not getting worse. But I know, "don't worry" is a meaningless phrase to throw around among us cat people. Myself included.

 

[Morgana’s Human]

I can't speak to Morgana's particular condition, but every experience I've ever had with antibiotics of various types went like this: it's not working... it's not working... then one day, it starts working fast. You're not halfway through it yet.

I'd stay the course and take comfort in the fact that it's not getting worse. But I know, "don't worry" is a meaningless phrase to throw around among us cat people. Myself included.

thank you! i’ll do my best not to panic and just… wait and see how we go! thankfully she’s not rubbing it or anything like that, so hopefully it’s not painful or bothering her too much. I’ll probably get a little cotton pad and just gently remove those eye boogers she gets though, just a little warm water. can’t be comfortable!

 

[cmshap]

I’ll probably get a little cotton pad and just gently remove those eye boogers she gets though, just a little warm water. can’t be comfortable!

I would imagine that the medicine will have greater effectiveness if you always gently clean around her eyes before applying it.

It's like a gel, right? From my understanding, after you apply drops/gels like that, the residual medicine that gets around the edges of the eyelids will get further applied to the eyes as they blink. So you probably want a clean eyelid area every time you apply the medicine.

I'm not an expert, but it would make sense to me to gently wipe around the eyes with a cotton ball or cloth and warm water, then pat dry, before applying the medicine.

Edit: I'm doing a lot of speculating here, so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Morgana’s Human]

I would imagine that the medicine will have greater effectiveness if you always gently clean around her eyes before applying it.

It's like a gel, right? From my understanding, after you apply drops/gels like that, the residual medicine that gets around the edges of the eyelids will get further applied to the eyes as they blink. So you probably want a clean eyelid area every time you apply the medicine.

I'm not an expert, but it would make sense to me to gently wipe around the eyes with a cotton ball or cloth and warm water, then pat dry, before applying the medicine.

Edit: I'm doing a lot of speculating here, so correct me if I'm wrong.

You could be right! My vet didn’t mention anything about cleaning the eyes before hand, but I suppose it makes a lot of sense. I’ll give it a try for tomorrow’s meds - I can’t see any harm!

 

[cmshap]

You could be right! My vet didn’t mention anything about cleaning the eyes before hand, but I suppose it makes a lot of sense. I’ll give it a try for tomorrow’s meds - I can’t see any harm!

It was on my mind because when I was giving Willy antibiotic ear drops for an ear infection, I was instructed to gently clean the inside of his outer ears every now and then, with a slightly damp cotton ball (with minimal moisture so as not to get water inside his ears).

And now I give him mirtazapine, which is an appetite stimulant transdermal gel that gets applied to the inside of an ear. And I'm supposed to clean before applying, every time. That's not an antibiotic, but the premise is the same... maximize the drug's potential effectiveness.

 

[Kwik]

Hi,I have sterile face/eye wipes ( for cats & dogs)thst come in a little jar( like eye makeup up remover) that I use on my cats to clean their eyes .... I buy them on Walmart.com ( 100pk inexpensive)

If after the next 6days there's little improvement your Vet may prescribe another week- you'll have to wait and see,some infections take longer to clear,some sooner so it's hard to say

 

[Morgana’s Human]

Morgana update! Very rapidly turned a corner and is looking so much better this morning! It’s still quite “weepy” compared to her other eye, but it appears to be just an overflow of tears now - this has been the normal for Morgana since I’ve had her. I’m just so glad it doesn’t look as sore! She’ll get mad at me in a minute as I do my morning ritual of removing the eye booger….

 

[Kwik]

Morgana update! Very rapidly turned a corner and is looking so much better this morning! It’s still quite “weepy” compared to her other eye, but it appears to be just an overflow of tears now - this has been the normal for Morgana since I’ve had her. I’m just so glad it doesn’t look as sore! She’ll get mad at me in a minute as I do my morning ritual of removing the eye booger….
View attachment 467152

She's such a pretty girl

 

[fionasmom]

She is so pretty and her eye looks as if it has really improved.

 

[Morgana’s Human]

Didn’t want to make a new thread, so hopefully it’s okay if I pop what happened to Morgana in here today for some opinions?

Morgana had her lunch at about 3:30pm today - at 11:30pm, bless her, she started retching and ended up throwing up for the first time! I was shocked, she was struggling for a while. I had a good look (sorry for TMI…) and it looked like it was just a small undigested part of her lunch. She had MACS chicken with whole hearts (this has been a long established part of her rotation). Only things that have been different is her pain medication, last given last night, and for lunch I mixed about 10% a new food - chicken and duck pate from Lily’s Kitchen.

I won’t provide pain medicine tonight as the instructions were to stop if vomiting occurs, so I’ll simply add it to her morning feed tomorrow morning if her stomach holds steady. She’s always been a food mad girl. I don’t think she’s gotten into anything she shouldn’t have (and nothing but partially digested lunch in that throw up anyway…). She needs to have another meal tonight (I always give her one right before I go to bed), so I’ll give her MACS only and see if she holds it down. If she throws up again (I’ll add extra water, I always do to her meals but make sure she replaces what she’s lost), is it too early to ring my vet in the morning? Otherwise, I guess sometimes we do feel a little sick but was just so shocked by it! First time for everything I suppose!

 

[cmshap]

Morgana had her lunch at about 3:30pm today - at 11:30pm, bless her, she started retching and ended up throwing up for the first time!
[...]
If she throws up again (I’ll add extra water, I always do to her meals but make sure she replaces what she’s lost), is it too early to ring my vet in the morning? Otherwise, I guess sometimes we do feel a little sick but was just so shocked by it! First time for everything I suppose!

Do you mean this is the first time she's ever vomited?

Cats vomit, a lot. Some much more than others. But it's extremely common.

I'm not saying to just look the other way and ignore it. But in my experience, every cat is going to vomit sometimes. It's good to make sure she's hydrated though, that's important.

I'm sorry I don't really have helpful advice, and again I'm not trying to say to just ignore vomiting... but I was just trying to clarify.

 

[Morgana’s Human]

Do you mean this is the first time she's ever vomited?

Cats vomit, a lot. Some much more than others. But it's extremely common.

I'm not saying to just look the other way and ignore it. But in my experience, every cat is going to vomit sometimes. It's good to make sure she's hydrated though, that's important.

I'm sorry I don't really have helpful advice, and again I'm not trying to say to just ignore vomiting... but I was just trying to clarify.

Sorry, yes! It’s the first time she’s ever vomited and she’s 2 in April so I guess I’ve had a really good run of it so far? Can you tell I’m the paranoid first cat Mum who panics over every single thing?

She seems all good! She’s just had her meal as per usual and currently curled up with me in bed as I do my genshin impact dailies, so I’m probably panicking for no reason! If she is sick again tonight or within the next 24 hours I’ll probably be more concerned… I think the noise of cat gagging is now ingrained into my soul, I have never sprinted to the room so fast!

 

[Kwik]

Awww- personally I never think it's "too early" to call your Vet,even if it just gives you piece of mind.... do I think it's necessary to call,not yet,no.Highly likely her medication has made her tummy upset.But as I mentioned,call your Vet if it will ease your worries- I'm sure your Vet will appreciate the phone call and your concerns about Morgana- you are following your Vets instruction and are one terrific pet parent- we are all a little paranoid when are babies are unwell.... big hug to you

The undigested food is probably regurgitation from nausea,a common side effect of so many meds-

 

[cmshap]

Sorry, yes! It’s the first time she’s ever vomited and she’s 2 in April so I guess I’ve had a really good run of it so far?

I'd say, lol

The most common reason cats will vomit is for regurgitating hairballs. But I know you mentioned undigested food. I'm just clarifying that when a cat coughs up a hairball, you may see the same wretching/vomiting activity. And hairballs are very common (although there are dietary changes that can help with that if it becomes a problem).

There are lots of other reasons for occasional vomiting. My cat, for many years, would vomit undigested food just from eating too fast, when he was particularly hungry. I had to adjust his feeding schedule to more frequent, smaller portions. But that was just his case.

Awww- personally I never think it's "too early" to call your Vet,even if it just gives you piece of mind.
[...]
The undigested food is probably regurgitation from nausea,a common side effect of so many meds-

I agree about both calling your vet just for your own sanity (they all expect to be called constantly, in my experience). Also with the hypothesis that it was just nausea from meds.

I'm no expert but I feel like cats are kind of like hyper-vomit-prone. Meaning if they feel a little nauseous, they have a hard time holding it in.

That's a completely unscientific way to put it, and I may not know what I'm talking about. But since I've had my cat, of 10 years, and especially since he now has cancer, I've talked with many other cat owners. And I have family members with cats.

Everyone's cat vomits from time to time. That's just kind of my expectation/understanding. Of course, when it starts recurring and becoming more frequent, that's when you should really pay attention.

 

[cmshap]

Just wanted to add to my above post a little more about what I said regarding vomiting undigested food.

My cat was a stray who experienced a starvation event before being rescued, so he was always a scarfer when it comes to food. He tries to eat all available food as fast as possible.

And that is what led to many of his vomiting episodes. He'd eat so fast he'd throw it up. And if I wasn't home when it happened, he'd almost always re-eat it (gross, I know).

But you mentioned that Morgana is food-motivated (I believe you put it as "food mad"). If you experience vomiting more, consider looking at her eating pace, and quantity-per-meal.

This was a very frequent issue with my cat Willy, since right after his rescue around age 1. He's slowed down over the last 9-10 years, but he was such a scarfer in those first few years after being rescued (he probably went through so much trauma that he thought every meal could be his last) that he threw up all the time, right after eating. Until I figured out the right feeding schedule.