Eye ulcer. Cat depressed, any suggestions?

[CleverLemonCat]

So, my poor kitty has been having treatment since mid December. Originally thought to have stemmed from a cut in her cornea from fighting. She was on antibiotics and anti inflammatories, that cleared the wound but didnt touch ulcer. 2nd treatment with pain killers, anti inflammatories, antibiotics and a serum from her blood by the vets eye specialist still didnt work. Now on 3rd level treatment with an eye ointment, Virgan as finally diagnosed with herpes virus. The treatment is thankfully working and the ulcer is clearing but not yet gone completely.

Poor little thing has been having drops 6 times a day now for 3 months and is so depressed, and has lost her appetite. The feliway dispenser worked for a while, Cat TV amused her for a period and laser light doesnt wash at all now.

Worst thing is, when I approach her now she darts away as she knows the eye drops are due. Am at my wits end, and have run out of ideas to tempt her to eat. She currently has Sheba fine flakes, gourmet non petit intense and purina biscuits on her plate ( she wont eat from a bowl anymore!). We have done the cooked chicken and ham but she turns her nose up now.

Does anyone have any other ideas? She cant go out due to the ulcer and I am convinced that seeing the sunshine is affecting her mood. She coped with staying in whilst the weather was dreadful.

This is a picture of her looking cross!

Ok. Just read post and the serum was def made from the cats blood. Not the vets lol.

What's the vets' reasoning behind keeping her in for months on end? Is that so her eye doesn't get scratched or infected?

When mine had an ulcer he was allowed out at as normal.

I think it's to prevent further infection. Vet has been very insistent that she remains indoors. She did have a cone of shame on for a while, but vet trimmed her nails at last appointment as I wanted to remove it. How long did your cats ulcer take to heal? There was a worry before the current treatment that she would need an operation to remove it.

Ah okay - that must be so miserable for all of you.

It took three weeks of twice-daily drops to clear it - it felt like forever at the time!

Glad your boy healed so quickly :-)

Is the ulcer smaller? If it’s not after this time I’d be having the eye removed.

Your poor cat. Does she like catnip?

Yes it is. Initially it covered her whole eye, but now its reduced to just a tiny area. The vet did say it could take months to heal but I thought she was exaggerating! She was very pleased with her progress at the last visit.

She loves it! I have a couple of plants and give her a leaf everyday as a treat! They are on the kitchen windowsill out of reach lol.

6 times a day is so horrible for both of you. Nothing useful to add but I'm so sorry.

You could try her with a catnip toy?

Alas, she just isnt interested. Hence the plea for suggestions. Have run out of ideas to entertain her. She is on my knee at the moment, knowing that I will sit like a stone in an attempt to make her happy!

What about a table tennis ball for her to bat around? Assuming her vision is okay, of course. Ours go crazy for them.

In terms of food, have you tried things like tuna, lick-e-lix and cat soups?

That's a very good idea. Will pop and get one tomorrow. As to the food suggestions, have tried them all and she turned her nose up at all 3!

My cat had a really severe ulcer. It wouldn't have been fair to her to try and treat it. So the eye was removed. My priority was to get her out of pain asap. She was 12. Healing was tricky. But we got there. And it was absolutely the right decision for her.

Good news from the vet today. Rosie can finally go outside! She still has a tiny bit of ulcer and infection remaining, but this should clear on it's own.

She went outside, sniffed around a bit then went upstairs to bed lol.

Thank you for the kind suggestions. I can now breathe and stop worrying x

That’s good news.

Oh that's good! I'm not surprised she doesn't want to go out now she's allowed though