Hello, I'm new here and I'm at the end of my rope, so I was happy to find this thread. My cat Maggie is almost 15. In early December she started sneezing, which developed into a full upper respiratory infection very quickly. One morning she was fine when I left for work, and when I got home, her eyes were stuck shut.
I have tried to give her just about everything, but she is a feisty cat and since my husband passed away in October, I have no one at home to help me hold her to medicate her. I am small and my hands are small and I simply cannot manage her. I tried wrapping her, not wrapping her, treats, petting her to try to calm her down, and when I try to do anything for her she screams and wriggles away. It's gotten to the point that she fears me because it seems every time I approach her it's to do something to her.
She started on an antibiotic for 5 days and ofloxacin eye drops which I got into her maybe half the time. Then she saw a veterinary ophthalmologist who put her on famciclovir, but the tablets are the same size as 350 mg aspirin. I got her to take them in a pill pocket for 2 days, then she got wise. I could not pill her. I could not crush it into her food, not even tuna. She wouldn't eat it. She lost a pound in a week. I got chicken-flavored suspension from a compounding pharmacy, but ended up with chicken-scented stains on the curtains because she would jerk her head away when I tried to use the oral syringe. He also gave me terramycin ointment but I could not get that into her eyes either; she would struggle and claw me and scream at me, then act like she hated me. And who could blame her.
Right now she seems to be recovering from the URI, but her eyes are horribly infected. she will not even let me clean them. I boil water, let it cool to room temperature, use soft cotton balls, and she screams and jerks away. I am at the end of my rope. She has a nasty dark scabby area on the tip of one of her ears and I have no idea where that came from.
My holistic vet had me put her on L-Lysine, and after she would not eat food with the powder and would not eat the treats, I got the Vitalys gel, which she will lick off her fur. It is doing NOTHING to help her.
Oh, and she is also on methimazole for hyperthyroid and she has IBD and gets prednisolone every other day.
I am at the end of my rope. I love her so much and my husband died only a few months ago and I had to make the decision to pull him off the ventilator and I am emotionally unable to make a decision about whether to give up on her. It seems like she just has a cold and an eye infection and I cannot put her down just for that, but I cannot treat her. She is miserable. She is in such pain and I am miserable because I cannot help her. It is horrible and I don't know what to do. Please help me.
I have tried to give her just about everything, but she is a feisty cat and since my husband passed away in October, I have no one at home to help me hold her to medicate her. I am small and my hands are small and I simply cannot manage her. I tried wrapping her, not wrapping her, treats, petting her to try to calm her down, and when I try to do anything for her she screams and wriggles away. It's gotten to the point that she fears me because it seems every time I approach her it's to do something to her.
She started on an antibiotic for 5 days and ofloxacin eye drops which I got into her maybe half the time. Then she saw a veterinary ophthalmologist who put her on famciclovir, but the tablets are the same size as 350 mg aspirin. I got her to take them in a pill pocket for 2 days, then she got wise. I could not pill her. I could not crush it into her food, not even tuna. She wouldn't eat it. She lost a pound in a week. I got chicken-flavored suspension from a compounding pharmacy, but ended up with chicken-scented stains on the curtains because she would jerk her head away when I tried to use the oral syringe. He also gave me terramycin ointment but I could not get that into her eyes either; she would struggle and claw me and scream at me, then act like she hated me. And who could blame her.
Right now she seems to be recovering from the URI, but her eyes are horribly infected. she will not even let me clean them. I boil water, let it cool to room temperature, use soft cotton balls, and she screams and jerks away. I am at the end of my rope. She has a nasty dark scabby area on the tip of one of her ears and I have no idea where that came from.
My holistic vet had me put her on L-Lysine, and after she would not eat food with the powder and would not eat the treats, I got the Vitalys gel, which she will lick off her fur. It is doing NOTHING to help her.
Oh, and she is also on methimazole for hyperthyroid and she has IBD and gets prednisolone every other day.
I am at the end of my rope. I love her so much and my husband died only a few months ago and I had to make the decision to pull him off the ventilator and I am emotionally unable to make a decision about whether to give up on her. It seems like she just has a cold and an eye infection and I cannot put her down just for that, but I cannot treat her. She is miserable. She is in such pain and I am miserable because I cannot help her. It is horrible and I don't know what to do. Please help me.