- Joined
- Jan 23, 2018
- Messages
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Hello all,
New to the board but I've seen some really helpful threads here so I'm hoping for some advice.
On Saturday we adopted a new kitty from a shelter. In the few days we've had her, she's spent all her time hidden from us in an igloo, which is pretty much as expected. I've already noticed slow improvements in how much she comes out when we're not around (from the first day when she only emerged at night, to today where she's clearly been out pretty quickly after I've left the room to scoff all the food!) and I've seen signs she's been exploring and even playing. However if approached or looked at she gets a bit shakey and nervous and so we've been letting her take things at her own pace.
Except that it seems she's having a flare of conjunctivitis in one eye. Now, she was being treated for this at the shelter - however, she was given the all-clear by the vet a couple of days before we took her. While we don't have all the details, shelter staff did say she'd had a few sniffles as well when she came in and that the conjunctivitis was something that might flare during stressful times, so I suspect herpes. She was ever so slightly squinty in the bad eye still when we got her, but then presumably with the stress of moving the eye has gotten watery and more squinty.
I contacted the shelter (who are very good, local RSPCA) to ask if maybe she needed more eyedrops, and also mentioned I guessed it was the stress that was the issue. They've said it probably is the stress and to wash the eye with warm water and see how it goes over the week. Except of course the poor little love is totally not up for being approached, especially not near her eyes!
She seems to be up and down with it - yesterday it looked worse in the morning but then better over the course of the day, today it seemed decent this morning but this evening is very watery and she's quite squinty again. Given how scared she is, having to retrieve her from a place she's only barely getting to feel might be safe and force eyedrops into her is pretty much going to traumatise her severely, and as far as I can tell washing with warm water isn't going to do much good except maybe soothe. Her eye isn't obviously red or swollen (red is hard to tell as she's mostly black and hiding in an igloo), but watery and given the squinting maybe quite sore.
I feel like I'm stuck in a catch-22 where whichever decision I take will be the wrong one. If we need to give her drops, we're going to have to force her out of her safe place and restrain her to get them in, which is going to make it a thousand times worse. On the other hand, I'm afraid to delay treatment because, well, eyes, and also because if the eye is sore it will be harder for her to start to settle in. Maybe I'm just a very nervous cat momma.
Would appreciate any advice.
New to the board but I've seen some really helpful threads here so I'm hoping for some advice.
On Saturday we adopted a new kitty from a shelter. In the few days we've had her, she's spent all her time hidden from us in an igloo, which is pretty much as expected. I've already noticed slow improvements in how much she comes out when we're not around (from the first day when she only emerged at night, to today where she's clearly been out pretty quickly after I've left the room to scoff all the food!) and I've seen signs she's been exploring and even playing. However if approached or looked at she gets a bit shakey and nervous and so we've been letting her take things at her own pace.
Except that it seems she's having a flare of conjunctivitis in one eye. Now, she was being treated for this at the shelter - however, she was given the all-clear by the vet a couple of days before we took her. While we don't have all the details, shelter staff did say she'd had a few sniffles as well when she came in and that the conjunctivitis was something that might flare during stressful times, so I suspect herpes. She was ever so slightly squinty in the bad eye still when we got her, but then presumably with the stress of moving the eye has gotten watery and more squinty.
I contacted the shelter (who are very good, local RSPCA) to ask if maybe she needed more eyedrops, and also mentioned I guessed it was the stress that was the issue. They've said it probably is the stress and to wash the eye with warm water and see how it goes over the week. Except of course the poor little love is totally not up for being approached, especially not near her eyes!
She seems to be up and down with it - yesterday it looked worse in the morning but then better over the course of the day, today it seemed decent this morning but this evening is very watery and she's quite squinty again. Given how scared she is, having to retrieve her from a place she's only barely getting to feel might be safe and force eyedrops into her is pretty much going to traumatise her severely, and as far as I can tell washing with warm water isn't going to do much good except maybe soothe. Her eye isn't obviously red or swollen (red is hard to tell as she's mostly black and hiding in an igloo), but watery and given the squinting maybe quite sore.
I feel like I'm stuck in a catch-22 where whichever decision I take will be the wrong one. If we need to give her drops, we're going to have to force her out of her safe place and restrain her to get them in, which is going to make it a thousand times worse. On the other hand, I'm afraid to delay treatment because, well, eyes, and also because if the eye is sore it will be harder for her to start to settle in. Maybe I'm just a very nervous cat momma.
Would appreciate any advice.
