Young feral cat going blind - what should I do?

[P3one]

Thank you everyone for your replies I just wanted to give an update.

I spent a lot of time outside the past few days and gave the cat some food to get a chance to look at her up close (I'm assuming its a female cat). Her eye is not scratched out like I assumed it was before from a distance, but looks more like her third eyelid is inflamed and covers half her pupil area. Also there is some yellow-green discharge from her eye and her nose is runny.

After doing some research I'm fairly certain she has feline herpesvirus. Due to her extremely inflamed eye I think thats what's causing her vision problems. I borrowed a trap and I'm working on bringing her to the vet for some drops in the next few days, hopefully I can earn her trust some more.

If she has the virus that'll be a bummer because I wanted to bring her in but I don't want to risk infecting my own indoor cat as I've read the virus is contagious and a cat that has it can never be cured of it.

I'm going to get her spayed as well after I finish up my semester and come back from vacation. I found a TNR group that does the surgery for free provided you register and attend one of their workshops.

Don’t

 

[P3one]

It is possible to give eye drops to a feral. You just have to be creative. I’ve had to retrap one of my ferals on a yearly basis because he gets so sick. We keep him kenneled in a large two dog dog kennel for up to two weeks. The eye drops are dropped through the top of the cage into his eyes as we grab his attention by lightly tapping on the cage. You have to be quick and predict his movements a little, but it works. Below is a photo of before and after. We also use a Lysine supplement in powder form from Amazon in his food, it really works and we use it religiously in all our ferals and indoor cats food to maintain and for acute symptoms. We cycle it on and off so they don’t become immune to its benefits.

 

[P3one]

View attachment 211625 View attachment 211624 It is possible to give eye drops to a feral. You just have to be creative. I’ve had to retrap one of my ferals on a yearly basis because he gets so sick. We keep him kenneled in a large two dog dog kennel for up to two weeks. The eye drops are dropped through the top of the cage into his eyes as we grab his attention by lightly tapping on the cage. You have to be quick and predict his movements a little, but it works. Below is a photo of before and after. We also use a Lysine supplement in powder form from Amazon in his food, it really works and we use it religiously in all our ferals and indoor cats food to maintain and for acute symptoms. We cycle it on and off so they don’t become immune to its benefits.

 

[P3one]

This feral isn’t ear tipped because he has the calicivirus, but was TNR’d. We could not tame
him at all and he got sick regularly from the stress of being indoors. Every time we re-trap him we have hope that his will be the time, but he is still very feral. The other ferals in my are have been TNR’d and vaccinated so they don’t get sick.

 

[msaimee]

It is not always necessary to administer eye drops for an eye infection. When one of my outdoor feral cats had a severe eye infection, my vet prescribed an oral antibiotic, Orbax which I mixed into his food, which cleared it up completely. If you are unable to trap the cat to get him to the vet, you can order Fishmox online, it is Amoxicillin, which can treat an infection. I can message you privately information about it. Many of us have used this medicine to successfully treat infections in feral cats that we have been unable to get to a vet.

Many cats are carriers for the herpes V virus. If you decided to bring the feral cat in, at least while he is recovering from illness, you could get your resident cats vaccinated with the FVRCP vaccine. It requires a booster a few weeks later. That will protect them from becoming ill from your feral, and if they were to get the virus, it would be a weak inversion, not the full sickness. This vaccination is usually given to kittens when they are about 8 to 12 weeks old. And if your resident cats already had the vaccination and booster as a kitten, they may still be protected. Booster vaccinations can be given every few years if needed. Check with your vet about it.

 

[P3one]

It is not always necessary to administer eye drops for an eye infection. When one of my outdoor feral cats had a severe eye infection, my vet prescribed an oral antibiotic, Orbax which I mixed into his food, which cleared it up completely. If you are unable to trap the cat to get him to the vet, you can order Fishmox online, it is Amoxicillin, which can treat an infection. I can message you privately information about it. Many of us have used this medicine to successfully treat infections in feral cats that we have been unable to get to a vet.

Many cats are carriers for the herpes V virus. If you decided to bring the feral cat in, at least while he is recovering from illness, you could get your resident cats vaccinated with the FVRCP vaccine. It requires a booster a few weeks later. That will protect them from becoming ill from your feral, and if they were to get the virus, it would be a weak inversion, not the full sickness. This vaccination is usually given to kittens when they are about 8 to 12 weeks old. And if your resident cats already had the vaccination and booster as a kitten, they may still be protected. Booster vaccinations can be given every few years if needed. Check with your vet about it.

 

[P3one]

I️ would be interested in getting the information on the fishmox for sure. Would be nice to have on hand. The cat went to a vet as we hv a vet who works with ferals so it was prescribed eye drops.