Or, as I like to call him, “Special K”
Posted By Russ Emerson on November 3, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Kismet gave me a bit of a scare on Halloween.
I finished work Friday at midnight, as usual, and went downstairs to feed the cats, as usual. They ate like the greedy little pigs they are, as usual. And we all headed back upstairs, as usual. Kismet and Packet got some feather/string and laser play time, as usual. Then they disappeared for naps, as usual.
About 3am, Kismet came out looking for some attention… and I saw that his left eye was absolutely blood red and very weepy. He could barely keep it open; he wasn’t really trying to do so. He seemed to be in a bit of distress — he was rather more subdued than usual.
I took as good a look at his eye as I could; this is not easy to do if he doesn’t want to be caught and held, so I had to coax him close with some Temptations treats, the sound of which, as usual, brought Packet and Mycah scampering, too.
[Yes, Mycah scampers… though she does so in a much more deliberate way than the young boys.]
I could see that Kismet’s eye was inflamed, but of course I couldn’t tell why… so, on the general principle that you don’t take any chances with eyes, I bundled him into a carrier, called the Emergency Pet Hospital, threw on some sweats and a coat, and headed out.
He was, to say the least, unhappy. He knows that a trip in the carrier means that people are going to do unpleasant things to him. His piteous meows are, either by chance or by design, enough to break your heart.
Well, the late-night vet had a good look at him, put some drops in his eye, and determined that he wasn’t injured, but rather that he has some feline variety of a virus. I was too distracted by Kismet digging his claws into my arm to get the full story on that. We were sent home with some medicated eyedrops.
[During a followup call to the vet, conjunctivitis and herpetic keratitis were mentioned.]
The drops seem to be helping. His eye looks a lot better, and he keeps it open more consistently.
Sorry, I didn’t get a “before” picture.
He gets the eyedrops twice a day, which purely coincidentally is how many times a day I need blood transfusions. No connection between those two facts. Nope, none at all.
Make mine O-negative, please.
Mom hates it when stuff like this happens in the middle of the night! We’re happy that it was nothing serious with Kismet…looks like it’s better already!
Ugh! We went through several WEEKS of this with Victor and Nina. It started with Victor, who got 4 vet trips in a week. Then Nina scratched her eye on a Sunday and needed antibiotics by the following Saturday. Whatever virus she brought in from the shelter, it was stubborn. Putting two kinds of ointment in 4 cat eyes for 3 weeks was *so much fun!*
Send some Type A my way, will ya?
Try wrapping the beast in a big bath towel.
Then, all you need worry about is teeth…..
hen,
Oh Kismet in the wars again. That’s a sore little eye you have there fella. I hope the drops sort it and he doesn’t get anymore trouble.