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Well, poor little Astor is in a kitty collar as of Monday afternoon.
(See pics in following post!)
Late Saturday night I noticed that Astor was having difficulty opening his eyes. He was extremely sensitive to light, his energy was very low, and he had started crouching and hiding again--like he was in pain.
I brought him in to the vet's office Monday afternoon and, at first, the vet was completely perplexed. It seemed a bit like conjunctivitis (which he had had as a kitten once before), but it didn't really fit. It wasn't uveitis (thank GOD--it's another FIP symptom).
Then he thought to check Astor's tear production and, sure enough, his tear ducts were very dry. He then put dye into Astor's eyes (poor kitty) and looked at his eyes under backlight. Big, irregular blotches lit up in Astor's eyes--ulcers on his cornea! Apparently this can be caused by a virus that also attacks the tear ducts. The doctor gave us some medicated eye drops, ointment, and lysine treats. He expressed no concern that the issue wouldn't clear up easily.
Next, he drew some blood, and ran the labs to check on Astor's kidneys. He came back with the results and enthusiastically shared them with me--his kidneys were recovering incredibly well!
One week earlier, Astor was way out of the normal range for two of the tests. On chemical that should have been between around 14-36 (don't remember exactly) was 108. The other should have been between .6-2.4; Astor's was 4.7.
After exactly one week his levels have dropped from 108 to 53; and from 4.7 to 2.5 (just .1 away from normal levels!).
This definitely suggests that he doesn't have any sort of degenerative disease--and FIP is also unlikely. Also, with kidneys, there is a point of no return for recovery--if the damage is severe enough, they cannot regenerate. Considering his dramatic improvement, I have no reason to suspect that he won't make a full recovery
Thank you so much for the support, my dear friends! I will keep you updated.
(See pics in following post!)
Late Saturday night I noticed that Astor was having difficulty opening his eyes. He was extremely sensitive to light, his energy was very low, and he had started crouching and hiding again--like he was in pain.
I brought him in to the vet's office Monday afternoon and, at first, the vet was completely perplexed. It seemed a bit like conjunctivitis (which he had had as a kitten once before), but it didn't really fit. It wasn't uveitis (thank GOD--it's another FIP symptom).
Then he thought to check Astor's tear production and, sure enough, his tear ducts were very dry. He then put dye into Astor's eyes (poor kitty) and looked at his eyes under backlight. Big, irregular blotches lit up in Astor's eyes--ulcers on his cornea! Apparently this can be caused by a virus that also attacks the tear ducts. The doctor gave us some medicated eye drops, ointment, and lysine treats. He expressed no concern that the issue wouldn't clear up easily.
Next, he drew some blood, and ran the labs to check on Astor's kidneys. He came back with the results and enthusiastically shared them with me--his kidneys were recovering incredibly well!
One week earlier, Astor was way out of the normal range for two of the tests. On chemical that should have been between around 14-36 (don't remember exactly) was 108. The other should have been between .6-2.4; Astor's was 4.7.
After exactly one week his levels have dropped from 108 to 53; and from 4.7 to 2.5 (just .1 away from normal levels!).
This definitely suggests that he doesn't have any sort of degenerative disease--and FIP is also unlikely. Also, with kidneys, there is a point of no return for recovery--if the damage is severe enough, they cannot regenerate. Considering his dramatic improvement, I have no reason to suspect that he won't make a full recovery
Thank you so much for the support, my dear friends! I will keep you updated.
I'm glad it's something that can be easily fixed and his kidneys are doing so much better. I hope he is completely healed sooner than soon