Expert: Jessica - 8/26/2010

Question
My parent's have a really special cat that senses when my Mother is not doing well and has become her special friend.  The cat has helped my Mother deal with her own brain tumor.  However, he has developed a lump or abcess behind the eye.  We don't know exactly what is there, but he has received a biopsy and they are waiting to hear back.  A hole was punctured into the cats cheek to hopefully drain this.  Unfortunately the drainage is not really going through his cheek, but down his throat and making him nauseous.  His mouth is full of heavy mucous.  We think that is why he doesn't really want to eat.  Needless to say he has lost some weight due to this.  He is on a few medicines.  One of which was to keep the hole in his cheek from closing and another was to help with the nauseousness.  He has also received some shots.  His eye is usually shut, but when it is open it has a film over it.  My parents have been giving him human eye drops to keep his eyes moist and to keep them from drying out.  He has seen two vets and my parents nor the vets know what to do for him. In April or May he had a tooth pulled from decay and has since taken this turn.

Thank you in advance for all your help you can provide for us.  Also I read through some of your answers to previous questions.  One of which stated you have a recipe for Kitty Glop for sick cats.  Can you please supply that to me through email?

~Dawn  

Answer
Hi Dawn,

Sorry to hear such a special kitty is going through this.  As far as the eye, be sure to mention any changes to the vet.  Sometimes the eye can become so badly infected that it simply has to come out due to complications.  A film over the eye can indicate complications of an eye infection, and the kitty should probably be on an prescription eye ointment if the drops your parents are using weren't specifically prescribed by the vet.  But if the eye doesn't respond or continues to worsen, coupled with what's going on behind the eye, you should talk to your vet about whether trying to treat the eye is the best option, or if removing it would provide the cat with a better quality of life.  Cats adjust to using one eye just fine, and most cats with bad eye problems have lost sight in that eye, anyway.

Vets can usually place drainage shunts in areas where there are bad infections to encourage the infection to exit a desired location in the skin.  The shunt is sutured into the skin so that it stays in place until the vet removes it.  The disadvantage with these in cats is that cats will try to remove them by scratching or chewing, so they must wear an e-collar.  However, since your parents' cat seems to be doing poorly, I wonder if having a shunt placed might be possible for the location of the infection, and if it would be beneficial for him.  It's something that you could ask the vet about.

If the kitty doesn't seem to be improving, he may need to be on a stronger antibiotic or he may even need to have a couple days of IV antibiotics to get the infection under control.  Your vet may not agree to put him on IV therapy until the biopsy confirms that this is strictly an infection.

As for food, I wouldn't recommend kitten glop for this kitty.  Kitten glop is essentially a milk replacement for newborn kittens who've lost their mom.  It isn't nutritionally balanced for an adult cat and has a lot of lactose in it, which is likely to cause him diarrhea.  Instead, I would recommend that you talk to your vet about getting him a prescription food such as Hill's a/d or Royal Canin's Recovery RS.  These are both canned foods that are mild on the stomach and have an appetite stimulating aroma.  They're smooth enough to be force fed with a syringe if necessary.  Just heat it to room temperature (if it has been refrigerated) and mix it with a little bit of water.