Kitty News

This is about our visit yesterday on behalf of Esther's health. Referred by our regular veterinarian, we took her to a veterinary "clinic" (don't be fooled; the thing was a veritable hospital, in size, scope and prices) for a visit with a veterinary ophthalmologist.

Esther extends a foot in greeting

Esther, usually the most sociable of cats (with us and even with visitors to the house), had begun sticking tenaciously to her favorite place in the music room... moved from there by Stella, Esther would promptly return there. Looking for a cause, Stella noticed that one of Esther's eyes has some milky-cloudy spots in it. Our regular vet (actually her assistant vet) was somewhat concerned, but said their general-practice clinic did not have the necessary equipment to make a determination, other than to eliminate a few simple things by blood work.

The clinic/hospital didn't have that problem. They had special cameras to photograph Esther's eyes and lights to shine in them (both much to her annoyance). They had an ophthalmologist who IMHO was very impressive in the depth of her knowledge and her ability to express it.

So we started on a prioritized sequence of tests and treatments, prioritized starting with the least drastic in terms of difficulty of test, severity of disease, and cost of everything. It's a multi-week, multi-visit process. At the least (and most hoped for), it's some sort of inflammation that should be alleviated by a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory ointment (think: ibuprofen in an ointment) which Stella is applying this week; at the worst, it could be feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), which is fatal and incurable. Only time, preliminary treatment, and the application of large amounts of money will tell.