Scruffy Sees a Kitty Specialist

Not that Dr. Dight of the Skagit Animal Clinic isn't a specialist. He's just not a kitty eyeball specialist. Who would have thunk? Who would guess that it's possible to even get a degree in veterinary eyeballs, much less a steady job staring at animal eyes?

But that's who Heather and Scruffers visited on Thursday - a veterinary opthalmologist. I'm sure Scruffy liked the drive to Bellingham.... But that's not what this is about. Why I am writing is to share the good news. No, it's not that the kitty opthalmologist was free, it definitely wasn't that! So the good news is not about Heather's wallet (unless she wants to brag about how much weight it lost on Thursday).

The good news is that Scruffy shows no signs of FIP. None. His eyes are still inflamed because of a stress response. Here's the funny part: Scruffy has kitty herpes! Ha ha ha! The herpes virus is reactivated during stress, just like shingles and cold sores in humans. And boy, has he been stressed! He had the eye inflammation when Craig found him residing under our deck. It's why he never opened his eyes at all. Then he was sent to the Humane Society and he stressed even more and that led to his immune system's poor response. Hence the Upper Respiratory Infection. And then he came to live with us and he still hasn't calmed down all the way and that has caused the herpes virus to flare again and affect his eyes. So, the other good news is that once he relaxes, he should get over this stupid eye problem. And here's the kicker: to help him relax we're supposed to get catnip every day! OK, he's supposed to get it, but there's no one he can have catnip every day without me getting some too. Yay!

The bad news is that Scruffy was so malnourished that he suffered from a taurine deficiency that was causing his retinas to deteriorate. I guess the doc said the deficiency has to be pretty advanced for that to happen. Poor guy. He must have been living on his own for a really long time. In fact, the doc seemed nervous to handle him because she was sure he was completely feral. She said in all her years of practice it was really rare to see the retina deterioration from malnourishment. She didn't really want to touch him. Poor guy. I'd touch you if you'd let me. Just in a friendly kitty way.