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When we got back from Nacogdoches, Z and I both noticed that Blue's eye looked pretty bad. We called the vet (which have been busier than usual) and made an appointment for next week, basically the soonest I could get. The appointment is on my birthday, but that's fine. It'll take an hour or so and it won't be a big deal. Right? Wrong.
Monday comes and Blue's eye looks worse. The doctor says that his eye is insanely close to rupturing. They show me his eye and show me that there isn't much left between the globe and the actual eye part. They say it could burst at any second and to get to an emergency ophthalmologist.
All of the eye doctors, even at an emergency basis in Austin are full. We make calls and Texas A&M, two hours away, can take him. They're one of the few ERs that have an ophthalmologist. I'm almost reluctant to go to an ER eye doctor that day, but the vet says that it needs to be done today if I want him to keep the eye.
I am given medicine by my vet. I was told to still give them to him before the drive. When I get home, I start the drops. The first two are fine. He's not happy but its fine. The last one though, he yowls in pain. When he yowls, he's a bit of a drama queen, but I don't think he's faking it here. He runs all over the house, knocking things over, trying to hide. Eventually he is comforted by us. We give him the pain meds. He calms down a little. We can't tell if his eye has ruptured or not, but it sure is weepy.
We make the drive. He's quiet most of the time, but I don't think he's happy. He mostly was grooming himself. Maybe the pain medicine was mellowing him out too.
When we get there, things actually move pretty quickly. They triage him, the eye doctor sees him, and they say that his eye did indeed rupture. He is in pain. He has to stay. They have to do surgery. Its not good.
We get an option. They could patch his eye, but it would not be usable. Additionally, for him it would only be a success rate of 50~60%. The other option is to get rid of the eye.
Honestly, I'd pay the extra thousand dollars and keep the non-functioning eye if it had a high chance of success. But it would practically be torture to do that and have it fail. and it would only be cosmetic anyway. The obviously better choice, and honestly the choice that involves less pain for him, is to completely remove the eye at this point.
At this point I'm realizing that the last drops probably were what caused his eye to rupture. I just feel awful. I've always been able to save his eye (this eye has always been kinda troublesome but never like this) and I figured I always would be able to do whatever was necessary to save it. I feel like I should have sent him to an ER on the 5th instead of waiting for the 12th. I didn't know. Skittles almost lost her eye too. And this one progressed so quickly. it was real bad. I just feel sort of like I didn't do enough and now he has to lose an eye because of me.
I know that persians have these eye problems. Its completely an expected thing with persians that are smoosh faced. But I still feel so sad. Lots of other senior persians can keep their eyes. He's such a sweet boy and didn't have the best of starts in life. It sucks he has to lose an eye. I will protect his last one with everything I can.
We left Blue in college station and went home. Its been so sad and lonely without him here, even though I have two other cats. Snowball seems worried that he's dead. I keep telling her that he'll come back, but I don't think she understands me.
The vets have called. They've all been great, and they really do think he is so sweet. The pain meds have just made him a lover purring up a storm, which is just peak Blue. he is the poster child of enthusiastic joy despite adversity. They put him under and the surgery went well, but he was very slow to wake up from anesthesia, so they want to keep him one more night to make sure he's all right. He apparently was pretty snotty and just sort of too slow moving for them to feel comfortable discharging him. I miss him, but I'd prefer him there if its safest.
I'll be getting him tomorrow and I'm excited and scared to see him. I worry about what I'll think about his new look. But on the other hand, I think he could look like a gremlin and I'd adore him. I still am battling the guilt of feeling like I did something wrong here.
Some birthday, huh.
Bigger entry later, but I wanted to post about this.
Monday comes and Blue's eye looks worse. The doctor says that his eye is insanely close to rupturing. They show me his eye and show me that there isn't much left between the globe and the actual eye part. They say it could burst at any second and to get to an emergency ophthalmologist.
All of the eye doctors, even at an emergency basis in Austin are full. We make calls and Texas A&M, two hours away, can take him. They're one of the few ERs that have an ophthalmologist. I'm almost reluctant to go to an ER eye doctor that day, but the vet says that it needs to be done today if I want him to keep the eye.
I am given medicine by my vet. I was told to still give them to him before the drive. When I get home, I start the drops. The first two are fine. He's not happy but its fine. The last one though, he yowls in pain. When he yowls, he's a bit of a drama queen, but I don't think he's faking it here. He runs all over the house, knocking things over, trying to hide. Eventually he is comforted by us. We give him the pain meds. He calms down a little. We can't tell if his eye has ruptured or not, but it sure is weepy.
We make the drive. He's quiet most of the time, but I don't think he's happy. He mostly was grooming himself. Maybe the pain medicine was mellowing him out too.
When we get there, things actually move pretty quickly. They triage him, the eye doctor sees him, and they say that his eye did indeed rupture. He is in pain. He has to stay. They have to do surgery. Its not good.
We get an option. They could patch his eye, but it would not be usable. Additionally, for him it would only be a success rate of 50~60%. The other option is to get rid of the eye.
Honestly, I'd pay the extra thousand dollars and keep the non-functioning eye if it had a high chance of success. But it would practically be torture to do that and have it fail. and it would only be cosmetic anyway. The obviously better choice, and honestly the choice that involves less pain for him, is to completely remove the eye at this point.
At this point I'm realizing that the last drops probably were what caused his eye to rupture. I just feel awful. I've always been able to save his eye (this eye has always been kinda troublesome but never like this) and I figured I always would be able to do whatever was necessary to save it. I feel like I should have sent him to an ER on the 5th instead of waiting for the 12th. I didn't know. Skittles almost lost her eye too. And this one progressed so quickly. it was real bad. I just feel sort of like I didn't do enough and now he has to lose an eye because of me.
I know that persians have these eye problems. Its completely an expected thing with persians that are smoosh faced. But I still feel so sad. Lots of other senior persians can keep their eyes. He's such a sweet boy and didn't have the best of starts in life. It sucks he has to lose an eye. I will protect his last one with everything I can.
We left Blue in college station and went home. Its been so sad and lonely without him here, even though I have two other cats. Snowball seems worried that he's dead. I keep telling her that he'll come back, but I don't think she understands me.
The vets have called. They've all been great, and they really do think he is so sweet. The pain meds have just made him a lover purring up a storm, which is just peak Blue. he is the poster child of enthusiastic joy despite adversity. They put him under and the surgery went well, but he was very slow to wake up from anesthesia, so they want to keep him one more night to make sure he's all right. He apparently was pretty snotty and just sort of too slow moving for them to feel comfortable discharging him. I miss him, but I'd prefer him there if its safest.
I'll be getting him tomorrow and I'm excited and scared to see him. I worry about what I'll think about his new look. But on the other hand, I think he could look like a gremlin and I'd adore him. I still am battling the guilt of feeling like I did something wrong here.
Some birthday, huh.
Bigger entry later, but I wanted to post about this.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-14 12:25 pm (UTC)From:Lots of cats lose an eye for all sorts of reasons and they're fine after. Especially Persians because congenital disorders. It sounds like you did everything you could.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-14 07:32 pm (UTC)From:It makes me think of my Sheldon he's so sweet, because we think they've had some trauma they are just extra loving and snuggly and need that love and give it, too. Sheldon is so... empathic. He can tell if someone's upset and rushes up to snuggle to make them feel better (and I think he's good at taking that energy - like _ here, let me feed off that stress and get some intense rubs!)
I'm sure it'll be a shock, as long as his personality is still intact I think you'll be closer than ever <3
Hope you can have a day to make for your bday!