The Kat House

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Cruella was squinting her left eye. I looked closely at it a number of times but never could see anything. When I took her to UT for surgery last week, I mentioned it to them. They looked at it, couldn’t see anything wrong, and didn’t want to further stress her by staining the eye. They told me that if she continued to have problems with it after the surgery, that I should bring her back in.

Last night, I noticed the squinting again. I moved Cruella into a better lit room and held her head so that the light directly hit her eye. And as she moved it around, I saw a small round hole in the cornea! I remembered reading about corneal ulcers, and this seemed to fit the bill. I quickly Googled the affliction, looked at a few photos, and felt pretty sure that I had diagnosed the problem correctly. Oftentimes the ulcers are not a serious problem, they can be extremely serious – resulting in a perforated cornea and even loss of the affected eye. I quickly called Cruella’s regular veterinarian, who told me that this should be treated as an emergency situation.

By this time, it was about 7:30 and the regular vet hospitals was closed, so I took Cruella to the Pet ER. They stained her eye and quickly confirmed the corneal ulcer. The doctor exclaimed, “Wow. You’re good! I have no idea how you diagnosed that, but you were right!” Fortunately, the ulcer was shallow and should heal relatively quickly. I have two ointments to put in the eye several times each day.

Cruella’s abdomen is healing quite well, and the stitches can come out on Wednesday. Guess who will be removing them? That’s right – me! Right in the comfort of my very home. Wish me luck!

When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a veterinarian. At age 15, I even got a summer job at the UT Vet School and joined a group of like-minded high school students who met several times each month and learned about the veterinary field. Somewhere along the line, I changed my mind and didn’t pursue the profession. I don’t regret the decisions that I made, but sometimes I do ponder how fulfilling it would be to be making a positive difference in the lives of so many animals. But then I remember, and take comfort in the fact that I am making a difference in the lives of two.