padfoot update

we had padfoot back at the vet's last night for our follow-up appointment.  the vet was very encouraged by the improvement she's seeing in her eye.  she said the swelling looks to have gone down a bit and it seems markedly less cloudy than it was on sunday.  she did tell me that the antibiotic she gave her is to treat toxoplasmosis.  even though we didn't test her for it specifically, she felt that that was most likely the cause for the infection, so she decided to use the strongest antibiotic possible.  i'm glad she did that, even though it was probably significantly more expensive to do it that way.

we stopped the oral liquid antibiotic, because i told the vet that it was absolute torture to get her take it.  instead we're going to give her 2 pills and an ointment.  the pills are probably smaller than birth control pills, so the vet told us to give them to her in some baby food.  my first thought was, like, banana baby food and i was thinking "yeah, right, she won't eat that!"  but then the vet brought in a jar of chicken with chicken gravy baby food, and she ate it right up.  this morning i hid the 2 pills in there and she took them, no problem.  yippee!  she also was a very good girl when i gave her the ointment this morning.  i have to basically squeeze out the ointment right onto her eyeball.  i would freak.out. if someone was doing that to me, but she just sat there calmly and let it happen.  she's such a good girl.

i'm to call the vet on monday to follow-up and let her know if things are still looking good.  hopefully we'll continue to see improvement.  as it stands, the vet feels that she'll fully recover and there shouldn't be any lasting issues.  i'm so relieved! 

poor padfoot

yesterday i noticed that padfoot's left eye was looking a little bit funky.  she kept squinting it and her eye looked cloudy.  i also noticed that her inner eyelid looked pink and irritated.  yesterday i told matt that if it didn't look any better today, i was going to take her to the vet.  well, it didn't look any better when we got up this morning, so i called and made an emergency appointment at a local vet office and took her in.

it was obviously our first trip to the vet, and i'm really pleased with the office i chose.  everyone i dealt with there was really sweet, and the nurse and the doctor were both just great with padfoot.  after careful exam, it turns out padfoot has some inflammation in her eye, most likely due to an infection.  the vet wants to just treat her and hope it clears up.  if not, they'll have to test for which infection it is and then treat more specifically, possibly with iv antibiotics.  anyway, they did a complete eye exam.  i mean, like checked the pressure in her eyes and everything.  it was incredible.  and all through it, padfoot stayed calm and (mostly) cooperative.  i can tell you, she is not a fan of eye drops!


the vet is concerned she may have toxoplasmosis.  if you recall, toxo is the reason why pregnant women should not handle kitty litter.  the vet warned me that if i'm pregnant or trying to get pregnant, i should steer clear of padfoot's litter box.  so this afternoon, when we got home from filling her prescription at target (can i tell you how weird it felt to fill out a patient record for "padfoot [lastname]?"), i showed matt how to clean out and change the litter box.  matt is officially on litter box duty.

anyway, i now have to give her antibiotics (by mouth) twice a day, a pain relief eye drop twice a day, and steroid eye drops 4 times a day.  poor kitty is going to hate me!  she got pretty mad at me when i gave her her first sets of drops and antibiotics today, and it's only going to get worse as she starts to recognize it.  but i can't look at this little face and not want to make her feel better!

hopefully she just has some random infection and not toxoplasmosis.  and hopefully she feels better soon!

kitty!

yesterday, matt and i picked up our new baby and brought her home.  friends, meet padfoot!

 

i am completely in love with her.  we picked her up yesterday afternoon and brought her home.  right now she is staying in our guest bedroom (aptly named the blue room).  everything that i've read says that you should leave them in a room on their own for a day or two so they can get acclimated to the sounds and smells of the house.  so she spent most of the day yesterday in there, all last night, and will probably spend most of the day in there.  matt has the day off, so he may open the door and let her come out and explore on her own. 

she is such a little lovie, you guys.  when we first walk into the room (i went to visit her a few times yesterday and then a couple times this morning), she hides under the bed.  but once i get down to the floor and talk to her a bit, she comes around and comes out.  as soon as she feels comfortable with who i am, she starts purring.  and she never.stops.  she is a purr machine!  i've never heard a cat purr as much as padfoot does. 

i brought her up onto the bed with me, and she was crawling all over me.  she was sniffing me out, nudging up to me, laying on me, and kneading me with her paws.  she has yet to meow but occasionally there will be some tone to her purring. 

she didn't eat all day yesterday, but when i checked her bowl this morning, it looks like she ate a bit overnight.  she hasn't used the litterbox yet, but i'm assuming that will change now that' she's eaten. 

i can't wait to get home today and play with her some more.