On Wednesday I thought that there was a slight improvement with Flame. On Thursday she seemed worse. She spent most of the first half of the day with her eyes closed and her head under her wing.
I decided that it was time to take Flame to the vet. I got an appointment for three o’clock.
When it was time to put Flame in the cat box she was enjoying a lovely dust bath with her right eye closed. I tried rattling the sunflower seeds and calling her but she was enjoying her dust bath so much that she ignored me.
I had to lift Flame out of her dust bath. She didn’t shake herself so I stood her on the chicken’s patio and tried my best to pat some of the dust off her. It doesn’t work nearly as well as a chicken shake but it couldn’t be helped as it was time to go.
The lovely vet put some drops in Flame’s eye so that she would be able to see if there was any cut or scratch. She couldn’t see anything. She lifted her eye lid and couldn’t see anything there either.
The vet gave me some eye drops for Flame, Isathal, which is an ointment rather than liquid. The drops have a bit of pain killer in them too. The vet applied the first dose to Flame’s eye while I held Flame steady. They need to be applied twice a day morning and evening but I could give Flame a second dose later that evening.
The vet asked me to call on Saturday with a progress report.
As soon as Flame was back in the run she continued her dust bath. After that she was pottering around the run and her eye was open. Flame looked as if she was feeling better already.
I couldn’t believe how much better Flame looked after just her first eye drops. Her eye is obviously now feeling more comfortable. I kind of wish I had gone sooner but I am just glad that I went when I did. Hopefully Flame is now on the mend.
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That’s a relief – so glad she’s improving! xx
I am amazed how quickly the drops worked. This morning she has her eye open and looks back to normal. xx
Great to hear.
Flame has been so much better today. No sitting with her head under her wing and her eye open all day. Luckily Flame is so calm and trusting with us that the drops have been easier to administer than I had thought they would be. Flame doesn’t mind me picking her up at all and I hold her against my body with my left arm and hold her head with my right hand and she stays perfectly still and calm. Then Richard drops the drop above her eye and she blinks it into her eye.
I did wonder if it would help her to have drops to put in her eye. I know our Sam uset to get sore eyes sometimes, drops allways cleared it up quite quickly. I am so pleased that it has worked.
I must admit that I thought it would be much more difficult to put the drops in her eye than it has been. Also because the day before she seemed to be improving I thought that she was on the mend. I am so glad that we now have the drops for her.
How is she now?
She seems back to normal. She laid her egg today. She hasn’t had her head under her wing since the first drops and she has kept her eye open. It says on the instructions to continue for a further day after it’s better but as it’s proved easy to give them to her we will continue for a couple more days to be on the safe side.