Eye injury

[olefebvre]

Hi,

I'm owner of 6 cat two of which are pretty old ladies having passed their 17s, as well as four younsters being two years old.
Two days ago one my cat got home panting heavily and mewing in such a way that i knew something was very wrong... the way she ran under hte sofa made fear the worst. I managed to get hold of her and saw that one of her eye was bloodied, but before i could do anything (not that i could do much since it was 10pm) she ran under the sofa.
I preferred to leave her there and calm down.
Yesterday morning i tried to get her to the vet but she ran away, she seems really disturbed. It was not until today that i could manage to get a glimpse of her.
Her to eyes are open but the bloodied one appear black at a distnace, and unfortunately i can reach her as she run away and hide in a nearby shaddy building.

Is there anything i could do ? Has her eye been utterly damaged or will she recover with time ? and will the eye will revert to her usual yellow color ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,
Olivier

[puddypaws100]

Well my rule is NEVER take chances with the eyes. I believe conditions can occur very quickly in the eye such as blindness or glaucoma, etc. You really should take her to the vet asap. There could be trauma to the eye.

[olefebvre]

I wish i could but she seems to have undergone a most traumatic experience and i simply can't get anywhere near her at all. From what i saw of her reactions i fear it might take a few days until i could get hold of her again.

I don't know how she get injured, but since i did not hear her screaming (it would have been the case if she had fought an intruder) in the garden i'm under the belief that she either got hurt by her brother with which she plays a lot or while playing among the rosebushes.

I'm really at a loss on what to do next.

[puddypaws100]

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize she's an outdoors cat. That does complicate things. But still I wouldn't give up. As soon as you can get her take her in. Is there an emergency hospital in your area that is open at night? These things always seem to happen late at night after the vet is closed. It's very good to have an emergency vet on hand. She'll most likely come home tonight I'll bet if that's her habit but don't let her out!!

[olefebvre]

Unfortunately no emergency vet in my area, i'll check whether there are any a bit farther.
If she come home for eating/drinking i hope i'll still be awake, but i fear she won't come in until very late. I'll try to stay awake as long as possible so as to close the door behind her if she go to the kitchen.
Thanks a lot for your help on this matter.

[Tambrey]

If you still cannot seem to get close enough to her, see if you can maybe borrow a live humane trap from your vet or the local humane society or rescue shelter...maybe you can trap her in that and take her to the vet?

I am remembering a cat that I saw got hit by a car....grrrrr...and I held him in my lap until we could find a vet to put him out of his misery (ours was at a ball game and unreachable until 3 hours later)...anyways, he had a definite head injury, which caused his eye to dilate to the point it was completely black and no colour could be seen...

I would definitely catch her as soon as possible and get her to any vet that you can to rule out possible head injuries and to check her eye and the rest of her body...

Best of luck...

[olefebvre]

When she got back home just after the "accident" i managed to get a close look at her from let's say 10-20cm and except for the bloody eye she seemed alright. I do not think she could have been hit by anything since she was probably in the garden when it happened. The only possibility would have been a fall from the stairs coming from the garden to the house, which is at its highest 2.5m meter high (on the garden side the house is one floor higher than on the road side hence the need for stairs).
I'll see if i can get the live trap, i used it when they were young (before those wild beasts where tammed ) so as to neuter them. But there is only one and sometime it takes days or weeks to get it... And the animal care services in our area are not very helpful either, they do not even give a damn when you want to neuter stray cats that stay within your garden. I attempted to get a trap from them when there were the 7 cats to neuter as well as their mother and they replied that they did not care...

Olivier

[puddypaws100]

Why don't you call around to vets in your area and ask if they can lend you a trap? My vet does this for people because he doesn't like to see unwanted kittens born to strays. Or are there any animals shelters in your area? They might be able to lend you a trap. It's worth a try. Sounds like you've gone to a lot of trouble to help the kitty population out there. Don't feel too bad. I think she'll come home soon and then you can have her checked. Please let us know.

[olefebvre]

Animal shelters are unfortunately not very helpful in my area , the vet is still the best option if the trap is available.

here is a picture of the little beast

[puddypaws100]

She's BEAUTIFUL! Such a pretty lady!