It’s been more than 3 weeks since Bunny first had his eye inflammation problem. It was a very stubborn slow-healing eye ulcer in his right eye. For the first week, he wasn’t on the e-collar and the eye got worse, so for the next two full weeks, he had been on the e-collar with strict supervision during collar-off grooming time.
After one-and-a-half weeks, we noticed a slight improvement. The ulcer was finally subsiding. Bunny could already open his eye much wider too.
By last Saturday, Bunny took the collar off by himself. That was already the 14th day on the collar, so we decided to let him be. All was well and Sunday marked the last day of his antibiotics (Doxycycline). His eye drops is still on-going until his finishes the bottle. As advised by the vet, I began tapering down on the painkiller too (Tramadol), from twice to once a day.
The medication had definitely affected Bunny’s defecation as well. So that was another problem that I had to deal with. We all know that all antibiotics destroy the healthy flora in the gut and apparently, Tramadol can have an adverse effect on defecation too.
I could finally breathe a sigh of relief after three very challenging weeks of managing his eye problem. Bunny was off-collar already. Now that the antibiotics has finished, I could start regulating his defecation again. It took me more than a month to regulate it last July, from being very constipated to being able to defecate every day. I’m trying my very best to avoid enemas, manual evacuation and drugs.
This photo was taken on Sunday. It’s his right eye that was inflamed with the stubborn ulcer.
So things were finally looking up, or so I thought…
Last night, out of the blue, Bunny decided to suddenly paw at his eye. It was barely two seconds as I was watching him, and his eye immediately became inflamed again! He was squinting and could not open the eye.
Oh no….
Just two seconds of pawing could do so much damage?
I quickly applied the eye drop, put him back on the e-collar and applied the Tramadol to his ear. I monitored him all night and he was still squinting.
This morning, thankfully he could open his eye, but it is still inflamed. He’s back on the e-collar for today.
Although it’s a soft cushiony collar which is more comfortable than the plastic e-collar, I still need to give him time off to groom.
How do you explain to a cat that he is not supposed to paw at his eye so that it can heal completely? You just can’t. It’s instinctive to them.
How I wish I could exchange eyes with Bunny!