[Closed] Advice please - cat needs an eye removed

It's just a cat. You can have one of ours for nothing if you want. You can always give the £1k to the local pet rescue if you feel guilty about it.

Our cats have donated their dreamies for the next couple of weeks to help 🙂

hols2
Member

euthanasia

Small donation made. Cats are great. If it was 15,16,17 years old perhaps not but an otherwise healthy 10 year old cat has another 10 years with a bit of luck.
We had a dog that lost an eye at 3 years old. Lived happily to 15.

I think it’s easier for dogs as they’re not as independent. When I’m walking our dog we quite often meet a dog that’s had both eyes removed. He can follow his owner & brother no problem, even walking around objects on the track.

Our cat (the eponymous Hamish, who is alas, no more) had this op when he was about 15, recovered fine and lived well for another 2.5 years. He was an outdoor/indoor cat and we had to keep him in for a couple of weeks and then all was fine. Was about 3.5 years ago. I think the OP needs a different vet though as it cost us less than £300. Maybe rural Devon is just cheap for vets.

Chipped in too. Cats are great.

When I’m walking our dog we quite often meet a dog that’s had both eyes removed.

Please tell me its owner is a Guide.

Good on you. Chipped in. And good luck Ted.

There’s another tenner for Ted. Good luck

Good work chap. Just put a little in, in honour of our first rescue Bilbo who himself had to have an eye removed. It didn't stop him or hinder him at all.

Donated

I just checked the page, we have saved Ted! To all the "it's just a cat" people I am sorry but you are wrong. Pets are members of our family, well mine is. I hope he lives a happy life with you. Well done singletrack world another small victory for a caring society.

Give the wee man a chance. I’ll donate too.

Good luck Ted; and well done STW.

I first had a cat when I was 12. She was integral to my life, part of the family, from that age until I passed 30. Think about that for a moment: she was my pet and companion from aged 12 into my 30s.

At the end of her tenure I had to make That Decision on an eighteen year old kitty due to her rapidly declining health and she died in my arms following a lethal injection that I'd commissioned. It was the right thing to do but was the hardest thing I've ever done and I wailed "what have I done?!" as soon as it'd happened. Over the years since, I've shed more tears over my little Brandy than over any human. I'm tearing up typing this now.

To all the “it’s just a cat” people I am sorry but you are wrong.

I'd challenge anyone to say "it's just a cat" to my face rather than via the medium of hammering keys on an Internet forum. Not to be threatening but rather just to see if anyone actually had the stones and catastrophic lack of empathy to say it in person.

I like cats, but most feral cats have miserable lives and die horribly after a few years. They don't live to be 15 or 20 years old like indoor cats. Spending 1K that you can't really afford on a 10-year old feral cat is objectively not a smart move. That 1K would do much more good for cats if it was spent on neutering strays so that more kittens don't starve. Of course, people don't make cold, objective decisions, that's fine, but the OP was asking for advice and the objectively best thing to do if you like cats is to euthanize that one and spend the money helping other cats.

If it's relevant, I have a couple of young cats that were rescued as stray kittens. The woman who rescued them has been trying to catch the mother, but shes' too canny and they can't catch her, so every few months they have another litter to try and place. That's the ones they can get to in time, most of them starve to death before they can catch them. I know I'm going to outrage everyone, but having that mother cat executed would be doing a favour to all her kittens that keep dying a horrible death due to starvation.

Well. The target has been smashed. Ickle Ted will be booked in for the operation.

We have been stunned by the generosity demonstrated by the good folk of STW. Honestly, I was expecting £100 at the most. This morning the total has exceeded £700 and we're totally
flibberpoopledibbed (<made that one up).

Thank you so, so much for all your words of support and your incredibly generous donations towards Ted's treatment.

We will keep you informed of his progress.

N&M

GWS, Ted.
Donated

Just stuck something in the kitty too.

<RSPCA enters chat>

OP- sorry to hear about Ted's woes, and that the meds etc haven't worked. Our pug had a corneal ulcer, from insufficient teardrop production; she then ran into a protruding door hinge and ruptured the eyeball(!!). In hindsight it was all fairly horrendous, but at the time we just kinda pulled through; she refused to open her eyelid in the immediate aftermath, so at least some eyeball integrity was retained. And we're bloody-minded enough that we refused to allow the vet to remove her eye though, and kept at 3 times a day with plasma and 2-3 types of meds, and now her eyeball's in pretty good shape.

Appreciating that cats are different (more difficult to administer meds to, for starters):
- I'd talk to the vet more. Why does the eye "need" to be removed? What would be needed in order to keep it? Corneal ulcers do heal with suitable medication, patience etc - how practical is that in this case?
- if the eye has to be removed, Ted will in the long-term adjust and be OK. His distance perception may be reduced, but they're amazingly versatile and adaptable animals. I'd be more concerned about the short term, like the immediate 1-3 months after surgery. He'll need a lot of care, which may be difficult with him being an outdoor cat.

Donated as know how much pets mean to people - a few years ago we had 2 male cats who were brothers and not insured, one had an over-active thyroid and was losing weight rapidly and the medication (about £90 a month and very difficult to administer the pills orally) wasn't working so after about a year so we opted for radiotherapy thyroid op which meant he was away for about 4 weeks, successfully cured him and he lasted another 5 years, cost around £2k. Soon after his return we discovered his brother had same thyroid issue and was also diagnosed as having Feline HIV (expected to have been picked up from fighting as was neutered) so rather than waste time on meds he had the op too, and lived another 4 years. We were fortunate to have the £5k in savings, but was worth every penny. The replacement cats we got are insured although reading the t&cs it doesn't actually cover much if they had similar thyroid issues.

Just stuck something in the kitty too.

Bet he didn't see that coming.

We have a one eyed HH who visits the garden....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/49875132368/in/photostream

Has Al moved onto veterinary surgery now?

It wasn't a spoon 🧐

That should be the title of your memoirs!

but most feral cats have miserable lives and die horribly after a few years. They don’t live to be 15 or 20 years old like indoor cats

But Ted isn't like most ferals. As per our ex feral Eddy, they've adopted a human/food slave to give them food and a shelter.

Hard as nails are cats. Our old cat can't see and has arthritis, but she's still pottering around the garden and house. In the last week she's managed to somehow scramble up the conservatory to get out the window, and into our 'cat run' - (the other 4 cats are indoor - 3 pedigrees and a rescue with cat flu), and then somehow negotiate the various climbing platforms to get into it (there are big gaps between the platforms).

Do you still need donations? Happy to put some money in if you do

Can someone supply a link to the page and I'll throw in some 'recovery treats and toys' money.

I copied it into the OP.

Payment for recovery sweets and toys made. 😀

Donated, hope he makes a quick recovery!

So,, how's Ted?