Farley's Latest Eye Visit

Since April 2009, Farley has been in to see the eye doctor several times. We took him in on September 2, and again today on September 30th. On the 2nd, we lowered his blood pressure medication slightly, but since then, it seemed like the gains he'd made in his vision may have been lost. Today, his blood pressure was back up higher than we wanted: 165/130. It had been holding around 120/80, so this wasn't too good.

The vet also said there was more reflectivity in his retina, which I presume means what it sounds like--or the light is bouncing off his retinas rather than being processed correctly. There also seems to be more edema (swelling) in his eyes, so that could cause some problems too. Finally, he said there seems to be scarring around the optic nerve in his left eye. That basically means that the information may be hitting his eye well enough, but it's getting lost in transmission to his optic nerve. Bummer.

So, we are bumping his blood pressure medication back up and we are increasing his dosage of Lasix (Furosemide) to every 3 days instead of just once a week. Hopefully that will fix the blood pressure spike and clear out some of the swelling in his eyes. With a little luck, he might be able to see a tiny bit better again, but it doesn't sound like he is going to recover much vision anymore.

It makes me sad to watch this video, but I'm happy I recorded it. This was just 3-4 months before he stopped seeing. Y_Y

Email About Farley

I sent this email to my family, it sort of summarizes the story of late...

Last weekend, we noticed that Farley was suddenly blind. He bumped into a few things, and he didn't realize when we'd pull his favorite toy out to play with him. We took him to the regular vet on Monday, and they didn't see anything obviously wrong, but they sent us on to see an animal ophthalmologist.

We had to wait two days, but in that time, we read about cat blindness, and became worried that because of some spots on his eyes, Farley might have iris melanoma, which is very aggressive cancer in cats, and could mean that we'd have to have his eyes removed.

Fortunately, Farley does not have iris melanoma, so no need to remove his eyes.

Unfortunately, Farley's blood pressure is dangerously high, and it caused hemorrhaging in his retinas and the pressure caused them to separate from both eyes. We learned that high blood pressure often comes along with kidney failure in cats, so it isn't a big surprise. The vet said that it looks like this has been in the works for a long time, so we don't know exactly how well he has been seeing until he couldn't see at all.

Anyway, Farley is now on Norvasc, Lasix, and Prednisone to see if that can help lower his blood pressure, clear out any swelling, and hopefully allow his retinas to get reattached to his eyeballs, which may allow him to regain some of his vision. If you were curious, his blood pressure was 275/152, and it should be closer to 130/80 or so. We also have to get his blood pressure down before he has a stroke.

Other than that, Farley does have some cysts in his eyes, but they are benign. He also has a very small tumor on one of his eyelids, so we have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get too big.



I never knew that cats could have high blood pressure, but now I do. And Farley seems to be doing okay. He sleeps a lot, but he is a 13 year old cat, so who knows. He is getting around really well--even without being able to see. He's smarter than I gave him credit for.

winston

Bummed Out

Waiting to take Farley to the eye doctor is driving me crazy. I want them to see him now, today, or yesterday, even.

He is such a sweet cat, and it breaks my heart to think he might be feeling confused or disoriented about why he can't see. I'm worried that we might be too late to fix anything, but I'm trying to stay positive. If they can't save his eyesight, maybe they can give him a super bionic eye that sees infrared like the Predator.

I'm also nervous what this is going to cost, but money will not be an obstacle when it comes to my babies.

Farley's Vision Part 2

farley
Originally uploaded by farlykat

We took Farley to the vet this morning to check on his vision. They didn't see anything physically wrong--his pupils reacted to light well, and based on what they could do there without the specialized equipment, his retina looked ok. There was apparently some pigmentation in his iris, which can be a bad sign of a disease I won't even mention, but hopefully it is nothing.

Anyway, we were given referrals to two animal opthalmologists. Dr. Millichamp and Dr. Shifrin. Dr. Millichamp is out of town until April 10, so we called Dr. Shifrin. Dr. Shifrin was available, and we'll be taking Farley in on Wednesday at 12:30.

This sucks.

Farley's Vision

So Farley's vision seems to be impaired. He walked and jumped into a few things in the last couple of days, and he isn't able to follow toys or the laser pointer very well.

We are calling the vet in the morning to see what is going on. A quick bit of googling suggests it might be hypertension. It might also just be old age. Whatever it is, I'm not pleased.

Jezebel's Insulin

On Monday February 23rd, we took Jezebel in because her "third eyelid" had been up and her ears were dirty. The vet didn't know what was going on with the eyelid, but suggested she might have fleas and said to use Advantage. I'm hesitant to use Advantage on her because she's old and has diabetes. He also said to increase her insulin to 3 units twice daily. That is up from 2.5 units twice daily.

So that is a bummer, but with the new dosage, her eyes are looking better, so maybe its a good thing.

Sophie is Limping

We don't know why, but Sophie started limping yesterday, so we took her in to see the vet today. They had to sedate her and do an x-ray. She's been favoring her front left paw. The vet says that the toes seem to be curled up a bit on that foot. I told them that she had to be redeclawed after I got her because whoever had her first did a bad job. They said that could do it. They also said that if she jumps down from a high spot, it could be really hard on her feet since she's missing her front toes.

We forgot to update the blog a few weeks ago, but the vet also says Sophie is heading into thyroid disease territory. I'm still in denial about that one.

Poor cat.