Cat has poorly eye - sad news

Bagpuss741

Not sure whether this helps but chamomile is good for the eyes, you could use a chamomile teabag to make a tea and allow this to cool and then prepare a compress. This may help soothe the eye. Hope you little madam is ok.

hev_2

Shadow is losing weight, and her eye seems no better, or a little worse. She is sleeping a lot. She is being a right madam about eating anything that might be medicinal. She begs for food, takes two licks, then wanders off. Then about an hour later she begs for more.

DS actually pulled her tail twice yesterday - I was juggling with a load of things and Shadow positioned herself between him and me - and she was fine! She just let him. Now, I did stop him as soon as he started and tell him off and he also stroked her 'nicely' but she was fantastic. But she really is showing her age. The fourteen year old 'kitten' is still hurtling around and being a s*d but Shadow is struggling. There is a steep flight of steps between the fire and the litter tray, and I think she feels it. A cat was sick Tuesday night on my (new at Christmas) chair. I suspect it may be shadow. They were also sick on the carpet. Cats are sick, in inconvenient places, but I worry.

DH is taking her to the vets Saturday morning. She is eating (more or less) and drinking but she does seem to splutter and sneeze afterwards - the real problem is in her jaw so I wonder if that is causing a problem. She is losing weight. At what point do you say that she needs to stop suffering? At the moment she shows no sign of distress - she isn't crying and doesn't seem in pain. But she didn't show that with an incredibly rotten tooth and a load of necrotic tissue. I don't want her to suffer, but I don't want to be too quick to tell the vet to - I can't even type it.

Anyway, yesterday she was well enough to cope with DS pulling her tail (briefly) and last night she was well enough to INSIST that the fire was put on, so fingers crossed. If the vet says she isn't suffering, then that will be okay.

Not coping as well as I would like.

tishywish

I'd see what your vet says. From my (sadly many) experiences with sick cats they don't cry or complain, they just withdraw into themselves and go very quiet. I've had to deal with this on many occasions as I've ended up adopting a lot of older or sick cats in the past and it's never easy to deal with.

Shadow doesn't sound as if she's too bad in herself though! She sounds like an old cat feeling her age and if the vet says she's OK for now I'd trust his judgement. Can she have painkillers? She could be arthritic as well if she's struggling with stairs and maybe some Metacam drops would help - assuming she'd eat them!

Give her a very gentle hug from me, she sounds a sweet little old girl

hev_2

Shadow has a clicky leg, which she will play on, limping up like someone at death's door :rolleyes: Then she forgets about it and goes hurtling round on the catnip - or she did until recently.

I suspect she is feeling her age and I am humouring her - she is such a character. I wouldn't say she was exactly sweet - she has been a strong character since we got her.

She has a knack of looking up from whatever she has stolen, like sneaking to drink from a bowl of tomato soup, to say 'what? It's here, get over it' and then just carry on. She learned quite late in life (around 14) that if she sat up and lifted one paw she looked gorgeous, pathetic and in need of a cuddle. She got so many cuddles that way - especially from strangers as she looked up pitifully with one paw raised. If you failed to cuddle her quickly enough a spikey prod to the side would usually get a reaction. She doesn't mind sinking in the spikes when you are trying to ignore her begging for custard either.

She is just so good with DS. He can do stuff that would get me sent to A&E. We got her from the RSPCA and she was old enough to be neutered so we never had to make the decision about kittens. I think she would have been great.

Thank you for your good wishes - I am such a worrier. We'll just keeping dragging her back to the vets to make sure that she's okay and get on with it. I think painkillers may be a good idea, but only if they are granules. She gets very spikey at tablets.

Thank you again, I will keep posting.

tishywish

All cats are sweet It's just that some choose to hide the fact Mine will sit beside me with a paw raised, too, but he doesn't wait long before he digs his claws in instead!

Isn't is strange how some cats are so tolerant of children? A cat I used to be owned by would let children do anything with her but would take your arm off if an adult at her the wrong way!

Ref painkillers, Metacam is a liquid that you put on food, some cats will eat it OK and others (mine for one) won't. But I don't know how safe it is for older cats - I'm sure the vet would be able to come up with other ideas though. You sound as if you've got a good vet which is priceless in this sort of situation.

sandy2_2

With my old boy when he's being picky with his food I mash it down and add a bit of water to make it more like a soup when his mouth is playing up, then he can just lap that up. I've also started to give him spoonfuls of sweetened greek yoghourt, which he likes, also triangles of cream cheese.

hev_2

Shadow seems to be having trouble drinking milk.

I hardly ever put it down because our old cat would love it, drink it and chuck it IYSWIM. I just thought it would be a harmless treat for her. She seemed to like it but she also seemed to be struggling

Food and drink seem to be a bit of a problem for her. She hasn't moved off the chair yet and I've been up for two hours. 23 hours and 55 mins to the vets appt.

deedeeliz

I'm sorry Hev, i'm sniffling at work for you and your friend

I hope she can bounce back from this, as long as she's eating something thats good.

We bought this food from the vet full of additional calories, cats can develop fatty liver syndrome if they dont eat for a few days so try to encourage her as best you can

tishywish

I'll be thinking of you both tomorrow, hope the visit goes OK and the vet can be encouraging for a while yet.

hev_2

Thank you so much for your posts.

She has stirred herself a bit more, and I am wondering if the weather is bothering her or she is just feeling a bit creaky. I swing from one extreme to the other.

The vet said things like heart & kidneys (the vets can do their own bloods) are in really excellent condition, and she is licking the gravy of catfood, so I suppose she is getting something.

Pilchards in tomato sauce for her tonight. Last time she licked the tomato sauce off and left the fish, but she may feel like nibbling at an extra treat, and I will try her with some cottage cheese.

I can't say how much I appreciate your posts - it means so much.

Thank you again.