Small Dilemma about My Cat's Runny Eye

Hi everybody! Long time, no see.


After going to different vets for months for my cat's leaking eye trying to figure out what was wrong, the last vet did a dye test and found that my cat's tearduct was clogged. (have no idea why the first one's didn't do that)

He's been on lots of different ointments and drops and actually, she gave me the same medicine that another vet had given me only in drop form instead of ointment and some Lysine paste for him to eat to try to see if it would clear up on it's own.

Other than that, she said the only option was to sedate him and unclog it manually.

Here's the thing though...

I am very leery of putting him under anestesia if it isn't 100% necessary. I'm a scaredy cat like that. Trust me, if something could go wrong, for me... it would. :|

She said he could live a perfectly happy life with it clogged as long as I could stand to see the small bit of 'gunk' on his face forevermore.

I feel like on one hand, he just turned 1. I hate to see the poor kitty have to walk around with a leaking eye for the next (hopefully) bunches of years. But on the other hand, like I said... it is sedation and I'm quite frankly, scared of that. I mean REALLY scared of that. I know he's been put under for neutering but I didn't have him yet so that's a little different.

If it was your cat and it had this problem, what would you do?

A.) Throw caution to the wind and let them put him to sleep to unclog it and pray and hope for the best?

B.) Let him have a little bit of a drippy eye and just be happy with him like he is?

I'm really leaning towards B. He's such a happy little kitty, I don't want to take any chances with something going wrong...plus, I don't want it to be my own vanity as in not wanting a cat that is somehow not 'perfect' making me decide to let them go ahead with it.

Of course though, A. Keeps popping in my head too. Poor kitty has a leaky eye. That can't be all that comfortable.

what to do..what to do

Thanks,

Cindy

 

Does he have herpes?

My youngest has herpes and also had the clogged tear duct (left eye)which they would have had to put him under to unclog. I was going to allow this if we could'nt get it unclogged alternatively because it was cauing him discomfort. My vet also said that it would likely block again even after they unblocked it because of the herpes.

As a last resort my vet gave me Idox drops that I had to put in each eye 6x per day and this helped greatly, redcued the swelling and his tear duct seemed to unblock. It still gets a little runny though which the vet said it probably would, some days worse than others but I don't think it is blocked anymore because it has'nt gotten as bad as it was before. By wiping it with a damp cotton ball, giving the Idox drops 2x per day and a 500mg lysine supplement daily it seems to be managable so far.

If I were you, as long as the gunky eye did'nt seem to be causing discomfort and you could manage the gunk by wiping it I would probably go with B.

 

If he is a otherwise healthy cat, I would probably go for option A. But if his eye isn't dangerous for him, or bothering him, in any way, you could always decide to decide later. Give option B a try and see how you both will do with it :wink:

 

Has he already been neutered? I like to "batch" procedures...like have more than one thing done while they're under. Maybe wait until he needs a dental or something like that?

 

Did you read my mind???? I was going to suggest that also. I have to admit, unclogging a tear duct is not something Im familiar with so Im just wondering, would the cat have to go under full anaesthesia or can it just be a light sedation, it sounds like a non-invasive procedure....that said though I do worry whenever the eyes are involved as a sudden involuntary jerk can cause big problems...but I dont know how its done.

 

Well I know nada about sedating cats.....but a baby obviously has equal ignorance about medical procedures being for their own good.
My mom has told me that when I was a baby I had a blocked tear duct. They would have done surgery if a "probe" didn't work...which it did. Anyhow, mom says they strapped me to a papoose board and didn't give me anything - she could hear me screaming so loudly from the hallway that my dad had to restrain her.

Luckily I don't remember this :lol:

 

Rowdy! Great to hear from you! Sorry about Tiger's running eye. Pumpkin and Rene has it too on occassions. I've never treated them and they seem ok with it. I agree with others about getting the procedure done with dental cleaning/ neutering. :mrgreen:

 

Hi vene! Great to see you as always!!

Thanks everyone. You know, I hadn't even thought of that doing it with the dental until you guys mentioned it. It reminded me that I'll have to put him under for dental some day. EEEKKK! Just no getting around the sedation thing, I guess. My kitty Rowdy that died, I never did much dental on him which I was made painfully aware of when he was close to the end by me worrying about his gingivitis and the vet saying, "Well it's too late for that nooow isn't it?" :roll: I felt so small.

TabbyLover you poor thing!! Definitely a good thing that you don't remember that.

Hmm... I wonder if the vet meant just sedation (whatever that would be) or full fledged surgery with heavier stuff. I should've asked.

Nern, thanks for the reply! Well, I asked the vet if she thought it was herpes but she said no. I don't know how she could know that he didn't have it without doing some sort of test though. The dye test, I think, was only to see about the clogged duct. Wow! So your kitty's eye clogged again!? Sorry to hear that. Thanks for the tips on degunking!!

Well, I think I've got it now...I'm going to wait it out and decide later. (thanks Bente lol) I have plenty of time to decide. I'll try the drops and Lysine for a bit and when I have to do the dental, then I'll do the unclogging since he'll already be under anyway.

*whew* That's a load off my mind for now. Thanks so much everyone!!

Tigey says Hi. lol

 

Booger gets occasionally runny eyes due to alergies I think. I just hold her head and take a wet swab to clean it. She doesn't like me cleaning it but I'm sure she feels better afterward.

I'd say if there's no sign of infection or other medical condition I'd just consider it a daily grooming thing and possibly take care of it at a later date like if she needs to have some other proceedure done.

 

Tiger is such a cutie!

 

He is ADORABLE!

My life will be complete when I've had a grey tabby and most especially an ORANGE tabby! I'm so jealous :x