Eyes Watering After Vaccine?

[whittwhitt]

Hi! My 8 year old siamese, Tommie, had his rabies/FVRCP combo vaccine about two weeks ago (on June 5th). I noticed about a week after the vaccine that his eyes have been watering a little. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Maybe a side effect of the vaccines? Maybe just allergies or he picked up a URI at the vet? He's got no other symptoms; he's been eating/drinking/acting normally.

He's going to the vet tomorrow morning for a pre-anesthetic blood test and dental consult since he's going to get his teeth cleaned next week. I'm going to ask them tomorrow what they think it could be - but I'd love some suggestions from you guys as well.

Also, I'm super nervous about the dental cleaning as this is his first time getting his teeth cleaned as well as his first time going under anesthesia - so any dental advice would be great too. I'm thinking about starting to brush his teeth after he gets them cleaned, so any toothpastes, dental treats/etc recommendations would be great!

Thanks!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I'm not the least certain about this, but cats can have the same issues with allergies that humans do.

As for the dental...Tommy is reaching the "senior" age group, but if he is otherwise healthy, he shouldn't have any problems. BE SURE TO MENTION THE WATERING EYES BEFORE THEY SEDATE HIM! Since we don't KNOW what is causing it, better safe than sorry! They might want to put off anesthesia until they are sure there are no underlying factors that might be detrimental to him.

 

[whittwhitt]

I'm not the least certain about this, but cats can have the same issues with allergies that humans do.

As for the dental...Tommy is reaching the "senior" age group, but if he is otherwise healthy, he shouldn't have any problems. BE SURE TO MENTION THE WATERING EYES BEFORE THEY SEDATE HIM! Since we don't KNOW what is causing it, better safe than sorry! They might want to put off anesthesia until they are sure there are no underlying factors that might be detrimental to him.

Thanks so much!! I'll see what the vet says about his eyes in the morning - I'm thinking they might want to run a blood test (if not a more thorough one than they originally recommended) and see if anything is abnormal. Some sites said it could be due to weather changes as well, it could be that but I'm thinking since it started a week after going to the vet it's something he picked up there.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Don't forget an update!

 

[whittwhitt]

Don't forget an update!

Sure thing! So the vet said that she didn't think his eyes watering was anything serious, she thought it might be allergies, like you said. They did the blood test though and they're suppose to call me in the morning when the results are back - I'll make sure to update on that tomorrow!

As for his teeth, she said he might needed two extractions (one premolar and one molar). Tommie actually had a dental consult at another vet two weeks ago and they said his teeth were fine, he just had a lot of buildup, and a cleaning would be enough. I was thinking about maybe going to another vet to get a third opinion? I'll get them extracted if I need to, but I feel terrible about him having teeth pulled. After he gets his teeth cleaned I'm going to start taking better care of his mouth and start him on a brushing routine. Since the vet said he "might" need them removed I'm thinking there's a possibility I could save them by just taking better care of his mouth from now on.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Yeah, removing teeth is a major procedure in cats, since it has to be done under a general anesthetic. I might consider a third opinion, too, and go with the best two out of three. That said, if they do need to be removed, cats can almost always eat perfectly fine after the extractions are healed. The cat down the row from me (apartment complex) has no teeth at all anymore (rescue from a hoarder situation) and chows down on kibbles. Apparently, he has cast iron gums.

 

[whittwhitt]

Yeah, removing teeth is a major procedure in cats, since it has to be done under a general anesthetic. I might consider a third opinion, too, and go with the best two out of three. That said, if they do need to be removed, cats can almost always eat perfectly fine after the extractions are healed. The cat down the row from me (apartment complex) has no teeth at all anymore (rescue from a hoarder situation) and chows down on kibbles. Apparently, he has cast iron gums.

That's nice to know! He eats mainly canned food at the moment so he should be fine during the healing process if they did need to be extracted. I've been trying to switch him over from dry to wet food since he has FIC episodes about twice a year. I'm looking into a third vet at the moment to get another opinion, going to call some clinics on Monday.

They called to tell me about his blood test results but I wasn't home this morning. They didn't leave a message either, which is kind of worrying. Seems like if everything came back fine they'd leave a voicemail letting me know. Either way I'm calling them Monday morning to find out if everything's alright.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Don't worry overly much about the lack of a message. Some medical facilities just don't, regardless of results. They want to be certain that results, good or bad, go to the proper person. Let us know what they say!

I'd love to switch Hekitty to canned food, but I've seen her starve herself for 3 days rather than eat canned. She's a very finicky girl. She likes kibbles, and she wants CHEAP kibbles. Friskies, to be exact. I've spent a fortune on canned food and expensive, premium dry foods that ended up at the SPCA in the next county (there isn't one in this county). I've given up.

 

[whittwhitt]

Don't worry overly much about the lack of a message. Some medical facilities just don't, regardless of results. They want to be certain that results, good or bad, go to the proper person. Let us know what they say!

I'd love to switch Hekitty to canned food, but I've seen her starve herself for 3 days rather than eat canned. She's a very finicky girl. She likes kibbles, and she wants CHEAP kibbles. Friskies, to be exact. I've spent a fortune on canned food and expensive, premium dry foods that ended up at the SPCA in the next county (there isn't one in this county). I've given up.

So finally got his results back - he has a high amount of glucose (177 mg/dL- normal range is 72-175) and low neutrophils (2,454 uL - normal range is 2,620-15,170). Everything else checked out fine. They're suppose to call me tomorrow to discuss the results with me. They gave him a young adult blood panel for some reason even though I told them he was 8 years old, I'm going to go back and see what the senior panel includes and run that as well.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Good. I believe that the tests are not quite the same, and the expected numbers vary slightly as well. Going on memory on this, I could be wrong, but better safe than sorry!