Cat with eye infection - confession

[Gingermum]

On Sunday morning I noticed Stan had a sore gunky eye. Knowing I couldn't get to the vet until Monday, I bathed it and applied a tiny bit of Chloramphenicol ointment. Over the last week, I'd had a nasty stye and this particular antibiotic was given to me.

The next day I took Stan to the vet and confessed I'd used a human antibiotic, but the vet said that in this instance it was fine as this antibiotic is one of those broad spectrum antibiotics, often used for dogs, horses and cats. He gave me some drops for Stan, but ironically drops are proving much harder to get into his eye as he wriggles like a giant furry eel.

Just sharing.

In this instance things were ok, chloramphenicol is used in cats anyway (it can't be the first line drops we prescribe however due to licencing laws but that's another debate!).

However, there are human over the counter medications that can be very damaging to other species, doses vary widely etc. We have patients hospitalised most months due to owners dosing them with human medication.

Your vet is duty bound to provide 24 hour care- you could have phoned on Sunday, and asked for advice as to whether what you had available was suitable or not. Phone advice can be limited due to not having all the facts (not being able to examine the animal) but still worth checking to avoid disaster.

Hope Stan is better soon!

Thanks Bubs. He does seem to be on the mend now, although I have to wrap him in a towel to get the drops into him.

Cat burrito is a very effective technique I tend to sit the cat facing away from me on my knee or a table, use non-dominant hand to hold the eye open, and then dominant hand to squeeze the drops, sneaking the bottle/tube from the side of the eye (just outside of the cat's field of vision) rather than pointing it from in front where the cat can see it. Hope that description makes sense!

Ooh - thanks Bubs. Yes you're right - the second Stan sees me armed with damp cotton wool and tube of hell he growls and tries to scarper.

What's nice is that Bunty my other cat can sense that Stan isn't too well and is curled up next to him.

Dont try them on paracetamol though for gods sake.

Fluffy - not that I have any intentions of giving either cat, paracetamol, but why?

It's very toxic, I think it stops the oxygen binding to haemaglobin and they die.