Sidetracked

Sometimes the best laid plans get sidetracked. I was very busy during my "vacation" home with very little time for internetting, so the blog entries I'd carefully begun preparing never happened. And then, after a rough trip back to Salem, THIS happened on Monday night. We noticed Iris rubbing her eye around 6:30, and she was keeping it shut and it was turning pink and red, and also weeping a little. Rob called our vet, but they were already closed, so we were directed to an emergency vet a few towns over. Rob called them and they advised we bring her in because it was her eye and could've been major. We got there around 7:30 and were there until 11--didn't get home until 11:30. Ugh. So much for a quiet night at home after my "vacation"!

Iris has an ulcer in her eye. They did a corneal stain and found the corneal ulcer. They said this could be due to eye trauma (a scratch or something) or could be secondary to a viral infection. She had a fever of 103.8* when we brought her in, which is why they suspected a virus. They checked Iris's eyes for glaucoma but she was fine. They gave her an injection of fluids under her skin for the fever--it was a big ball of liquid in her scruff and was very weird. But it seems to be mostly gone today. She has to wear an Elizabethan collar (we call it her "princess crown"--though today it looked to me more like a "Little House on the Prairie bonnet") so she can't rub at her eye. We are giving her antibiotic ointment in her eye three times a day, for ten days. Ick.

Here's a close-up of her icky eye from yesterday. Poor little Beansie. Rob said she's sad because she can't play. But she is loving the pets and snuggles and is purring a lot. She has an appetite and is frisky (though frustrated) so seems to be fairly normal aside from the eye. She's having a hard time navigating the cone, though. It's going to be a LONG week and a half, so I hope she figures it out soon. There's no way we can take it off her--she just goes right to rubbing that eye :( She's pretty sneaky, though, and managed to escape from it four times yesterday! But she hasn't gotten out since I re-tied it last night. My mom suggested Super Glue, but I just don't think that's a good idea...

Bellow is very curious and is following her EVERYWHERE.

At any rate, they said she should be much improved by the end of this week and will need another corneal stain to make sure the ulcer is reducing or gone. Hopefully she gets better and it doesn't turn out to be a bacterial infection or anything. I'm just glad that (knock on wood) it's nothing more serious. She has a follow-up appt. on Friday with her regular vet and we will see then if the eye is improving. It seems to us that it is, but we've also been having a hard time getting the goop right in her eye.

So, I've been playing nursemaid at home to our poor, sweet little girl. She is loving all of the pets and snuggles she's getting from this, and the treats for putting up with the eye goop and the re-tying of the collar. We will all be happy to see her return to her kitteny, playful self soon.

I hope to fill in those promised blog entries soon, but it may be a while before they're posted. Sorry!