Hello-
I had asked for advice with our two-year-old rescue cat, Grady, and have a few more questions than i did originally, so thought it a possibly more appropriate that I start a thread to better address the problems and concerns we're facing - and trying to avoid in the future - with his health.
Grady is a rescue cat who my husband and I adopted at 8 months old from a local pet store, where he had spent six of his eight months in a cage too small for a large cat of that age. But we rescued him, fell in love with him and his unpleasant start became a thing of history. Or so we thought.
We were told when we adopted him that Grady had allergies, which made his left eye weepy most days. Long story short, and many vet bills and specialists later, the weepy eye turned into two weepy eyes and he was diagnosed with ocular herpes at one year, three months.
To complicate matters, our home where Grady had only settled down into two months prior to adoption was destroyed by an F-1 tornado in April of 2015 and we all spent the following five months displaced in a hotel suite (no one was hurt and we thankfully had homeowners insurance). It was a very stressful time for us all, especially, it seems for our boy.
Grady's eating problems started not long after that. Because of our cat's health issue and his history of trauma (though he remains a calm and easy going kitty, surprisingly) we went slowly and gingerly with our approach to his dislike of any form of what is considered a healthy cat diet (He even dislikes fresh-cooked meat that we humans eat and turns his nose fully up to all, including fresh salmon and dark or light meat chicken), so I believe Grady is going to be one of the cats that 1. will take a while to switch completely to a healthy diet and 2. will always be in need of regular treatment for his ocular herpes (started in his left eye in kitty hood and is now in both eyes) on an all-too regular basis.
I went to Petco yesterday and bought: Soulistic's Polynesian Picnic - chicken and talapia along with their Harvest Sunrise Chicken & Pumpkin. My luck, he hates them both. I also picked up their Island Illusion packet of salmon, tuna (and pumpkin) dinner, but have not tried that as of yet. And Applause, it seems, also makes a chicken breast with asparagus in broth packet as well as well that we'll try.
(Soulistic was the only product Petco carries that is on Dr. Pierson's list of acceptable canned food for cats.)
Since we adopted Grady (at 8 months) he has been on Natural Instinct's canned salmon and their chicken, but stopped eating them all together when silly me started giving him a very wee handful of kibble at night (for his teeth lol) a few months back. So, likely, I'm the one who actually started Grady's downhill race away from canned food by re-introducing kibble to him in the first place. It's sure a lot harder getting them back off kibble than it was back on. Sigh.
In regard to his ocular herpes, our vet has stained his eyes a few times over the past few months and the stained tears never travel to his nasa passagel, meaning the infection is so severe that the canals to his nose are too swollen for the stain to pass through and discharge normally.
Also, it is thought that Grady is partially Persian, as you can see, above, that he has a distinctly long, flat face face, much like those of Persians, which both our vet and the specialists we brought him to at at UF Veterinary Small Aimal Clinic, Gainesville, concur likely further complicate Grady's eye condition.
Grady is currently being treated with neomycin polymixin B w/Dex for what is called epiphera. My question in regard to his ocular herpes/epiphera condition is, since the antibiotic drops help Gready immensely--like he's healed and a different and much happier cat-- can he stay on antibiotic-type eye drops full-time in effort to avoid more discomfort and damage to his eyes, or would staying on an ocular antibiotics or anti-viral drugs not be in his best long-term interest? When we stop the drops his misery returns almost overnight and involves his eyes returning to what is much like running faucets, causing him tenderness and redness around his eyes, leaving him miserable and rubbing at his eyes full-time, and resorting to simply going to sleep to avoid the pain. I'm sure me cleaning his dear face (with warm water on cotton balls, tissues to pat dry) three to four times a day just adds to his misery, though we all have to say that, fortunately, he is an extremely well-mannered and easy-going cat by nature--which helps lots, of course.
My husband and I have spent thousands of dollars in vet bills and medications in attempts to help our cat including L-Lysine use daily (which does nothing, in my opinion). We so want to do what's best for our boy--in all way possible. We are dedicated to his health but are not in a position to spend thousands more dollars right at this time, as we've only been back in our home, post tornado, since September, and there is so-so many other life necessities that need our financial attention, as I'm sure you can imagine.
Sorry for such a long response and so many questions. I just wanted to get everything in on this post that would be helpful in determining which and what ways to best proceed in Grady's behalf.
Thank you ahead of time for your quality help and advice~
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/292686/herpes-eye-in-cats-need-some-help-information
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/288501/can-anyone-enlighten-me-on-natural-balance-dry-food
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