Pogo came to see us because his owner noticed his left eye had been watering for
about 3 days and had progressively gotten worse. He presented with a goopy cloudy left eye and Dr. Sappington suggested to do a Fluorsecein eye stain to be able to determine what was wrong. Dr. Sappington found that he had a 4.5 mm ulcer in the center of his cornea. The doctor prescribed Tobramycin, an antibiotic eye drop as well as another eye drop for pain called Atropineto the left eye. We recommended rechecking in 1 week or sooner if his eye seemed to get worse.
Pogo came back in to us 4 days later to recheck his ulcer because the owner reported that it seemed to be getting worse and getting bigger and cloudier. This time he saw Dr. Forbes and she did the fluorescein stain again and she noticed that his eye now had a 6mm corneal ulcer. The stain also showed his eye was lacking transparency behind his cornea. She then consulted with Dr. Guiliano at the University of Missouri and she encouraged Dr. Forbes to prescribe Famcyclovir (for all cat ulcers and/or ocular discharge) and apply it to the left eye twice a day for 2 weeks. Dr. Forbes also added on L-Lysine and to apply to the eye two to three times a day as well as applying preservative free lubricating tears 3-4 times a day or more to help keep the eye lubricated and more comfortable for Pogo. We suggested to discontinue the Tobramycin drops and sent home autogenous serum, which is Pogo’s blood spun down into a serum to help heal the eye. We suggested rechecking his eye the following Friday to make sure it was healing properly, and medications were working.
Pogo came in that Friday and presented with a large red bulge in center of eye. His eye
appeared to have ruptured and to seal closed on its own. Once an eye has ruptured there is nothing we can do to save the eye. Dr. Sappington suggested we remove the eye and sent a treatment plan home for an enucleation surgery the following Monday. We sent home buprenorphine which is a pain medication to help keep Pogo comfortable over the weekend. We told the owner to discontinue the other medication we prescribed except for the artificial tears to help keep the area moist and to help make it more comfortable for Pogo until his surgery. Pogo came in the following Monday for his enucleation and we removed the eye without any problems. His recovery went well at home and he is back to his lounging, care free, lovable self.
