Kitteh News: Scare!

As some of you may know, I have a little kitteh.

She's about 9 months old, and is an absolute peach.... Well behaved, silly and hyper ball of fun all rolled into one little cat. She's what's called a Patchwork Tabby- which is a fancy way of saying she's a Calico with the distinctive striped markings of a Tabby cat. She's a mush of colors- and as my Mom loves to say- she looks like she was playdough tossed into the blender for a bit.

I love her colors, hence her name- Smudge.

However, she comes running to the nickname (I have no idea what inspired me to say it around her... ) "Peeps"... So either or, they're both interchangeable. A smudge of color in the whole time warp, call her Peeps and she's right there at your feet.

The past few weeks, I've noticed that her left eye waters. Quite a lot in fact... However, I wasn't really concerned about it because there wasn't any discharge that was thick or colored. It only happened every couple days or so, but she'd tear up just enough that I'd notice. So I've been watching her closely... And then. Thursday night, her left eye seemed a little puffy. Friday night it got worse, and she was pretty swollen. I figured that if by the morning it wasn't any better, I'd go ahead and take her to the vet.

Saturday morning came, and there was less swelling- so it was getting better it seemed. She's a pretty laid back cat, so it was easy for me to get a saline solution into her left eye... The right one, well, that was a different story. Let's just say it was sore and irritated enough that my gentle little cat tried to nip and bite me. All in all, I ended up just dripping the saline into/over her eye area and then quickly and gently wiped it off as she tried to blink.

So this morning (see why I hate Monday's?!?!) I wake up... And my little sweetheart looks like a bobble-eye fish!!! I almost cried! She was still acting the same- eating, playing, snoozing, purring like a machine... But she couldn't open her eyes more than a crack. That's IT! Vet time!

Today was her first Vet visit.

(I know, not great when she's 9 months old... But... Vets are expensive!)

She did fabulous with the doctor- albeit really hesitant to come on out of her carrier. She didn't know what was going on, but warmed up a little bit. It turns out I did the right thing in trying to clear up her eye issues first before just bringing her in... As it turns out, she's allergic or gotten into something in here that doesn't agree with her. Translation: swollen eyes and face/ears. Irritation enough to make her have a reaction, but controllable.

So went her first checkup.... Ears are perfect, no mites or unusual discharge. Eyes-even though puffy, are clear and bright- the way they should be. No discharge coming out, so that's a definite plus. She's 7 lbs- a petite little girl, but for her size and how short she is- it's a healthy and good weight for her. She did NOT, however, like having her temperature taken. I don't think many animals do- she squirmed a bit, but then just stayed still. Good news was- no temperature!

We left with her getting her first distemper shot, and a steroid shot that will help reduce the inflammation in her head/eyes/ears. If she doesn't get better, then we have to go back in 5 days. With the new prescription drops she seems to be doing a bit better already- they went in about an hour ago, and both of her eyes are a little bit more opened right now. The vet said I was lucky I brought her in when I did... Had it been any more swollen, she might have lost an eye. SO glad it didn't come to that!

At this moment, she's not thrilled with me for putting her through that ordeal... Buuuut... She's come over and played with me, which means I've been forgiven.

She's sitting on my windowsill right now,

content and watching the birds.

**These pictures are from a few months back...

I didn't want to post bobble-eye cat!