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Cats eye is bloodshot

Justyna
October 8th, 2006, 10:19 AM
Hi everyone. I'm new, just found this website today, and I have to say this is an awesome sight. Unfortunately I came upon this site because my cat has a problem. I don't know what happened. I have 4 cats total, ranging in age from almost 1 to 15. They are all indoor/outdoor cats (besides the two oldest, they lost interest in outdoors). Anyway, they came in last night before I went to bed, were only outside for about 2 hours if that. Nothing seemed wrong although I didn't examine them. This morning my husband woke me up to show me our little baby who will be 1 in a couple weeks. His one eye was all red and bloodshot. It looked horrible. It looks like his eye is bleeding but he doesn't seem to have any discomfort. He started purring when I put him on the bed with me and then ate his morning meal etc. Now he is sleeping. He kind of seems to keep the bloody eye shut but doesn't show any sign of pain when its opened. I even examined it to see better what was going on and if I could see a puncture wound or something but it looked clean except the blood and he didn't really object to me looking at it and touching around it. Of course, he's my baby, so he's going to the vet today but not until 3pm which is killing me because I want to know what's wrong and make sure he's ok. I'm worried that he might be bleeding inside his head but we figured he can't be because he would have died by now since last night. The emergency receptionist at my vets office didn't seem too concerned with his bloody eye so I thought well maybe he just popped a blood vessel, but this has never happened to any of my other cats and I CAN'T WAIT TIL 3PM. Does anyone have a clue as to whether this could be a normal thing that sometimes happens? Has anyone seen this before.

Thank you.

Prin
October 8th, 2006, 07:45 PM
Sorry nobody got here in time... How was the vet visit?:fingerscr

(it's a long weekend here in Canada...)

LibbyP
October 8th, 2006, 08:41 PM
Yes this did happen to my old girl on occasion, when the vet examined her they didn't have an explanation, gave her drops - went away then about 6months to a year later it came back, gave her the drops again and it didn't come back after that, it seemed to 'flair' up when she was under stress (she had URI) when she was a kitten and every once and awhile it would reappear. Not sure if this is the same thing, her eye looked like it was clouded over with rusty blood colour, squinty, and teary. Hope everything goes well with your trip to the vet, keep us posted :fingerscr

Justyna
October 9th, 2006, 11:42 AM
Libby,

Yes that's almost exactly how his eye looks except the color was more purple than rusty yesterday but today it looks rusty and a little better, atleast I think. The vet didn't say much. He said there was definately a puncture wound in his eye so he might have been in a minor catfight (although he was ok everywhere else and there's not many cats in my neighborhood except mine) or he might have gotten poked by something outside. That we'll never know unless he learns to speak human to tell us. Anyway, the vet gave eye drops to help but did say he might go blind from this. That's all. I hope his eye gets better because he's not even a year old. I've had him since he was a kitten, I nursed him from a bottle and I would just hate to see him loose his sight in one eye, although I'm sure he'd be ok with it and adjust quickly. I should have never let him out, but he got curious and started going outside with the other cats. I want them to be happy so I let them go outside but they're safer inside and will live longer. But will they have a happier more full life if they get to go outside? What's best for them? Who knows. I think there is probably a thread about this indoor/outdoor what's best, so I'll have to find it and read up.

Thank you for your reply. I'll keep you posted on Oreo's progress.

dogmelissa
October 9th, 2006, 02:00 PM
Indoor vs outdoor: every study, vet, and generally most people will tell you that exclusively indoor cats will live longer. That is because they're at risk of so many things when they're outdoors; cars, weather, other animals, picking up diseases, etc etc etc. Many cities & towns also have laws against cats running loose (my city included) and these animals can be trapped and taken to the shelter. If they are claimed, the owners will be fined for violating the law, plus if the cat is injured, then there are vets bills to pay.

That being said, if you want to let your kitties outside, they're not going to die instantly (generally), and will be *so* much safer if you can confine them to your yard, a cat run, or even keep them on a harness & a long rope. My mom's cat started going outside when he was about 6 months old (gramma threw him out), and was out almost exclusively on a rope from that point on. He escaped a few times, had a few fights, etc, and finally a few years ago developed (contracted?) FIV which is the cat version of HIV. Despite that, and progressing kidney failure due to old age, he is currently still alive and 19 yrs old. My 3 kitties go outdoors as well, but I don't tie them up because they don't get out of my yard (the exception being Rusty, but we're working on trying to fix that). I know what's out there, so they can't eat anything bad for them, and I rarely leave them unsupervised, and even when Rusty gets out, she comes back as soon as I start calling for her.

So will your cats be happier going outside? Probably. But you can do things to make sure that their outdoor experiences are safe as well as happy. Here are some links:
Ways to spend lots of money: (a lot less to build yourself!)
http://www.thecatsden.net/enclosure.html
http://www.catsplay.com/kittywalk.php3
http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/catrun.htm (these are all things you can build yourself)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=&aid=331 (a good article)

I hope that helps, and I hope that your little guy gets better soon.
Melissa