Of Feline Maladies

Not a good day for my little black cat, Phoebe, whom I shuttled off to the vet this morning to investigate a case of goopy eye with an ick factor of about 9. The poor thing has been walking around with one eye closed for a couple of days and let's just say, a one-eyed black cat staring you down with her good yellow eye is not the most comforting sight when stumbling to the bathroom half-asleep in the wee small hours.

Phoebe's vet at the lovely Nob Hill Cat Clinic informed me that goopy eye (not the actual medical name for her condition but one I'm sticking to for its sheer preciseness) could signal the presence of an ulcer. She then carted Phoebe off to the dreaded "back room" for tests, leaving me to wonder just how in the hell an indoor cat develops an ulcer? Is living with me so stressful that huge holes form in my pet's stomach as a result?

Turns out Phoebe's just fine; she just got something in her eye that caused the irritation and resulting goopitude. Of course, I was commanded to purchase a tiny, $22 tube of ointment, a dollop of which I was instructed to rub on Phoebe's affected eye twice a day. Oh, the hatred that will ensue. (And the vet, of all people, should know that--after the first application--the clever little bugger will learn to flee every time she sees me approach with evil tube in hand, primed to spread icky stuff on her face.)

Meanwhile, the test they use to determine if an ulcer is present consists of instilling drops of iodine in the affected eye in order to "stain" the cornea. The fun part of this is seeing a black cat with bright green teardrops dotting her tiny face, looking like someone washed her eyes out with anti-freeze. Yes, the wee one hates me, alright.

Posted by ayelet at August 15, 2006 02:04 PM