The dreaded coyote attack

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pioneerMan
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The dreaded coyote attack

Post by pioneerMan »

Close to a month ago there was a coyote attack on our property. Fefe, one of my favorite cats, was killed. It was a miracle I found some of her remains, because there a ton of trees on these 160 acres.

cat-fefe.jpeg

Her daughter, Sandy, was also attacked the same night. I found her the next morning laying on the ground when I went out to feed the cats. I'm guessing the coyote(s) went after Sandy first, and perhaps Fefe joined the fight to save her daughter, when she was overpowered and dragged off, leaving Sandy behind nearly dead.

cat-sandy.jpeg

All my cats are outdoor cats, but after this attack I brought Sandy inside so she would have a safe quiet place to recover. She slept almost nonstop for several days. I thought she was a gonner for sure, doubting that she would even be alive each morning I went to check on her. But she continued to hang in there. During the day I would turn her about every hour, so she wouldn't be laying one one side for too long. I also used an eyedropper to get water in her, and to moisten her eyes, because in the first few days she wasn't blinking much. Fish broth was also given to her by eye dropper, until I later upgraded to a fish smoothie using a food syringe.

After about 3 days I decided to take her back outside during breakfast time so she could be with her cat buddies. She perked up a lot and did her best to interact with them. She received nerve damage from the attack, so she was kind of wobbly when trying to walk around. Since it's over an hour drive to get to the vet, I sent him this 4 minute video to see if I should even bring Sandy in, knowing that she was on death's door.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/a7q0ir2g ... y.mov/file

After viewing it he called me back and said not to because there is little a vet can do to fix nerve damage. Sometimes a cat will make some recovery, but it's rare. He advised that I keep doing what I've been doing. Soon it will be a full month since the attack, and I continue to feed her at least twice per day using the fish smoothie (mackerel) via syringe. She loves mackerel and it's been her primary food source since she was a kitten.

Sandy has definitely made some progress the last few weeks. She can now walk around better than what you saw in the first video. She can pee, poo, clean herself, wave her tail, use her tongue, blink, and swat me with her paw because she doesn't like it when I clean her eyes. She just can't fully make use of her jaw to chew food. This short 2 minute video demonstrates how solid pieces of fish are put in her mouth, and she kind of chews a little, but most of fish just falls out of her mouth every time. She also doesn't even attempt to eat from the food dish that the other cats eat from, because she knows she can't do it. My heart goes out to her and I'm sure it's very frustrating. The video is only 3 minutes long.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/8n31ddsi ... y.mov/file

I sent the vet this second video clip as well and then we got on the phone. He still said there is not much he could do for her and that he realizes I can't feed her by hand forever. He supported my decision to keep going or to put her down.

The reason for this post is because I need to find out if there is any chance Sandy will regain her ability to eat food on her own. If there is no chance she will ever recover the ability to use her jaw, then I think I'm going to have to offer one final prayer to God thanking Him for such a loving little buddy, and then say goodbye. It's already sad enough to see that she can't run around and play with the other cats like she once did. And having to receive liquid food for the rest of her life, when she's only 1 years old, is just over the top and not a good quality of life.

So please respond to this post if you know of any examples where a cat has fully recovered from nerve damage from a wild animal attack.

Thank you so much for reading this and watching the short video clips!
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CarolC
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by CarolC »

Hi pioneerMan,

:group:

There are a couple of people here with extensive experience with wobbly cats and cats with feeding issues, etc., and hopefully they will be along soon.

I just wanted to say, I watched your videos and especially liked the one where you are feeding her. When I saw the one of her walking, it reminded me of cerebellar hypoplasia. You may not have heard of it, but quite a few cats and some dogs are born with a wobbly walk that looks similar to what your kitty has right now. (In fact some are even wobblier.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYQM_-SvuF4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugb411pbmTs

There are groups dedicated to caring for such cats. Here is one group if you want to see what I mean. It's called the CH Kitty Club and you can see they have 6,400+ members. They are people who give wobbly kitties a good life, and some people adopt them on purpose and have more than one.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CHKittyClub/
http://www.chkittyclub.com/

It looks like you are in the high desert in the videos and pictures. I do not know if this would be an option for you, but there is a large rescue group called Best Friends that has western locations including Los Angeles, Kanab, Utah, and Salt Lake City.

https://bestfriends.org/locations (location page)
https://bestfriends.org/sanctuary/plan- ... n-policies (surrender page)

They rescue disabled animals. They do not turn them away beause they are blind or paralyzed, etc. I adopted a little dog from them in 2009 who is partially paralzyed, missing one leg, and incontinent. Here is a webpage from them showing them caring for a wobbly cat.

https://bestfriends.org/stories-blog-vi ... reedom-run

I think it would be worth asking them, because she is only one year old, she is used to be handled (for example all the nursing you did when she was so injured), and it does not hurt that she is such a very pretty cat.

Something else you may not have heard of (and this is just for more context) is there are dogs born with a condition called megaesophagus that require special feeding their entire lives. They can't even drink water without help. (The owners make Knox gelatin blocks so they can swallow water, and make the food into smoothies much like you do for your kitty). Yet there are groups dedicated to caring for these dogs. You can see this group has 13,000 members.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/uprightcaninebrigade/
http://caninemegaesophagusinfo.com/inde ... the-start/

There is also a big Feline Assisted Feeding group with 3,400+ members.

https://groups.io/g/FelineAssistedFeeding

So really, a wobbly walk or needing help eating are not problems that would keep a kitty from being adopted if you wanted to give her a chance with Best Friends or another rescue. There are so many people out there dedicated to giving such pets a good life.

That is quite an image when I think of you searching for your other kitty on 160 acres. I am so sorry this happened to you and your cats. It's a wonder you were able to help this little survivor recover as well as she has with so little support from the vet.

The main thing I can say from experience (with dogs) is that recovery from nerve injury is a slow process. Nerves heal slowly. You can't necessarily tell what you will have 6 months from now, by what you see right now, but I can't speak to your exact situation. My one vet said sometimes the best medicine is Tincture of Time.

I hope this helps a little. Please keep checking back, because hopefully you will get a couple of replies from someone who has actual experience with this.
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critters
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by critters »

:whale: Poor little girls!! :( Not eating isn't typical. I wonder if she had a jaw injury as well? Or maybe some damaged teeth? I, too, wondered if she might've gotten a brain injury from the attack, and trouble eating can certainly come from that. If so, at least some degree of improvement should come in time.
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CarolC
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by CarolC »

It looks like the coyote left a toothmark on the side of her jaw. I have seen a puncture hole like this before when a feral cat I was feeding (Marcie) got attacked by a large dog. It left the same kind of hole (only in her leg).

I was trying to find a good anatomy illustration to see what was affected by the hole made by the tooth. This picture is not a cat, it's a lynx, but it's a good picture.

https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/illu ... -358146450

I would think when she is strong enough, it would be helpful to get an x-ray and see if the jaw could possibly be wired or fixed somehow. It may be a fairly clean separation that could be re-joined, it's hard to tell without an x-ray. If he had her by her head then she probably got some neck strain, but she seems to be recovering from that and doing better, so the jaw injury is what needs a look-see.

Vets do repair jaws all the time due to road accidents. However this vet did not offer to even x-ray her jaw. The vet's response was unhelpful. What does he mean he can't do anything? How about starting with an x-ray?

It just occurred to me, maybe the vet is better with large animals, and jaw surgery on small animals just isn't something he does, so maybe he was being honest. That might be the reason.

I would think a city vet where there are more cars and road accidents and falls from 4th floor apartment decks would have more experience with this. This isn't the first cat in the world who has what might be a simple broken jaw.
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critters
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by critters »

Right!! It seems fairly frequent that they break jaws in falls, too.
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CarolC
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by CarolC »

This video shows a cat with a broken jaw and when they shave his face to do surgery to fix his jaw they find a bite wound. The vet says he thinks a dog or a coyote grabbed his head.

NOTE: They show the surgery. They blur it, but I'd rather not see it at all! Skip over from 4:05 to 6:00 if you don't want to see that part. It's Animal Planet, but it's a little graphic for my taste.

He looks great afterward!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm--Xvy8Noc
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critters
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by critters »

I've only ever seen jaw repairs on TV, but it looks pretty simple--2 little holes and what amounts to a bread twistie. :shock:
pioneerMan
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by pioneerMan »

Thanks everyone for your comments so far. Hopefully someone else will step forward with a really good success story of how their own cat recovered from nerve damage. That is what I'm really looking for.

And an extra thank you to CarolC, for providing all those links to people and organizations who are willing to care for a handicapped animal. I will certainly keep these resources in case I need to turn to them in the future.

To clarify for those who were wondering, my vet has always been open to having me bring Sandy in to see him. It's not like he was turning me away. He was just making it clear that usually cats don't recover from nerve damage. I'm hoping to prove him wrong over time. :D

Reading over the resources provided by Carol, and now understanding putting Sandy down doesn't have to be an option, I have scheduled a vet appointment for Wednesday. But instead of considering an IV, and x-rays, it will be more focused on helping Sandy overcome her respiratory infection and eye infection, which were an issue prior to the attack, but have gotten worse since that time. These cause her to cough occasionally, wheeze because of boogers and congestion in her nose, etc. Plus her eyes look like they have a small little wart like growth on them. But perhaps it's something that just needs to be wiped away, because I haven't been able to prove that the round thingy is attached to her eye vs. just floating on the surface of the eye.

Anyway, I know if I can help Sandy recover from these infections, then more energy can go into actually healing the nerve damage. And even if I have to end up surrendering her to someone who looks after handicapped animals, at least I will be able to hand her over in a better condition and being able to see clearly.

I'll report back after the visit to the vet. In the meantime, I'm still looking for cat stories where they have healed, at least somewhat, from nerve damage. By the way, I don't think Sandy has a broken jaw. I could be wrong, but I think it's more nerve related. Maybe the vet will help determine this tomorrow.

Thanks!
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FYI
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by FYI »

https://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?p=38231#p38231 wrote: RE: cats with spinal trauma can do well

Post by Toni » Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:32 pm

Sorry this is a long one!
I've had at least 6 or 7 cats in the past 17 years that have had partial to full paralysis after being hit by cars or some other accident (we have rescued well over 500 cats in that time frame..not like we have a high percentage of our cats being injured)
The only ones that never improved were the ones that actually had fractures or obvious separation of vertebrae in the spine. All others improved to normal or close to normal function over time.

We did crate rest all of the cats for anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks (depending on the damage...fractures and vertebral separation getting the 6 week time frame). Then small room arrest and strict supervision when not in the crate.

Cats that did not have an actual fracture were given some type of steroid to help reduce inflamation around the nerves.
We gave antibiotics at the same time as steroids since the steroids suppress immune system response. We gave them B-vitamins and good high quality food. We tried acupuncture on a few of them and found it helped in some cases.

Someone brought in their cat that had been caught under the garage door by it's neck at a pet hospital I used to work at. It had it's neck twisted around and had full paralysis of it's limbs for several weeks, slowly regaining function over time. Other than a little bit of a head tilt after 6 months, the cat was fine.

As for the muscle atrophy, one of the things I have done to help minimize this, is "home physical therapy". Check with your vet first. If it is OK, then move the limbs through their full range of natural movements several times a day for 3 to 5 minutes at a time. It helps keep the joints, muscles, tendons and so on flexible to make them easier to use once he can start using his limbs.

If he will tolerate it, you might try using a towel or sling to help him walk a bit, since he can use his front legs. By being in his natural walking position it seems to stimulate the natural walking movement pattern in his nerves an muscles, but without the strain of having to support and balance himself.

Glad you got him shaved...that seemed to work best for me with incontinent cats. Even the short haired ones.

Sorry to not have seen you post sooner. I am still having a bit of trouble getting used to the new forum layout.

If there are any questions you have that you think I might be able to help with, please feel free to private email, or just post..now I will be notified whenever someone posts to this thread.

I have a cat that had his head run over in the parking lot 3 years ago. We thought we were taking him to the vet to be put to sleep. He is deaf now, and has a bit of paralysis on one side of his face, but he is still with us and quite happy!
Another one I have was a kitten dropped on his head by a small child. She has one eye that doesn't close 100% due to a little paralysis left over from that (she was paralysed from her neck down, as well as some facial paralysis when it happened)
Another cat that was dropped by a child when a kitten had a left over "wobble" when he walked and was deaf, but otherwise quite a normal, inquisitive cat.
https://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?p=104841#p104841 wrote:
Post by critters » Sat Dec 21, 2019 1:54 pm

Thanks. Y'all too!

I had a little girl, Tristalyn, who had a brachial nerve injury from being hit by a car. I was about to order her a splint when she suddenly started getting better. She eventually had a full recovery and was adopted as a normal cat.
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CarolC
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by CarolC »

pioneerMan wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 3:03 pm I'll report back after the visit to the vet. In the meantime, I'm still looking for cat stories where they have healed, at least somewhat, from nerve damage. By the way, I don't think Sandy has a broken jaw. I could be wrong, but I think it's more nerve related. Maybe the vet will help determine this tomorrow.
I'll be waiting to hear after the vet appointment. I like the idea of tending to her basic overall health so her body can repair her nerves.

I could be wrong about the jaw, too. That would be nice. Having the puncture right there in that spot is what made me wonder about it.

Just in case the vet suggests surgery, there is an organization that gives loans for veterinary care. I've never heard anything negative about them. The terms are good and most people I know who applied have been approved. They often have the application at the reception desk of the veterinary hospital, or I think there is an online option. You find out very quickly if you were approved. It's called Care Credit.

www.carecredit.com
pioneerMan
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by pioneerMan »

I'm back from the vet, the visit did not go well. I am so disappointed. Sandy's eyes were more than just infected, the vet said that both had experienced a ruptured cornea. The only thing he could suggest is a surgery to remove the eyes. I was thinking of putting her down, and he even left me alone for a few minutes to say goodbye, etc. But then I changed my mind. I figured I would give her one last chance. Not only that, but the vet also mentioned Sandy may need to have teeth removed, but I don't recall why he said this. She's just under a year old, so I don't understand this at all. Surgery to fix things would likely be thousands of dollars. I love cats, but I'm just barely getting by now with my home-based business.

So I'm open to surrendering her to someone else who has the patience to feed her twice per day via syringe, AND cover the cost of possibly removing her eyes. The whole situation is very sad. I just wanted her to live a happy life and to have the chance to be a mother, but I just don't know if that will happen now. We all have an appointed time on this earth. Some die months after being born, and others go on to live a long and productive life. I don't have the answers for why this is, and why some seem to get the short end of the stick. Perhaps there is truth to the rumor that cats have "9 lives". Maybe once they die they come back again in some form of reincarnation, especially if the died early in life. Who knows.

Sandy is an amazing cat, and very loving. I'm not sure how all of this will play out. I just sent an email to the Utah location of "Best Friends". I'll keep everyone posted.

Thank you for your advice.
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CarolC
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by CarolC »

I'm not sure what he might have meant about the teeth either. Did he say anything about her jaw? I wonder if he thought the puncture mark only damaged her rear teeth on that side and missed the jaw itself. That would be a hopeful thing. Dental extractions are much less involved than jaw surgery. If she has a couple of teeth knocked loose or broken on that side by the toothmark the coyote left, they are probably sore and making it hard to eat. Treatment might involve antibiotics and extraction. I am not sure if Convenia would be the right antibiotic for a dental procedure, but it is an antibiotic injection that lasts about 10 days so you do not have to give the cat medicine every day. That would sure be nice.

Critters knows a lot about eyes and I hope she will be online soon. Blindness is not a problem, it just means the cat will be an indoor cat. Blind cats do fine. I do hope Best Friends will be able to work with you on her behalf.

If you remember what he said about the teeth, I hope you'll post back. Perhaps you could email him to get clarification on what he said about that. You have nursed her back this far, and she clearly has strength and will to live, and it helps that she is young and lets you care for her. I hope something can work out for her.
pioneerMan
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by pioneerMan »

I emailed the vet's office last night and just got a reply about the teeth issue:
We asked Dr. Taylor your question and his answer is.... Due to the fact that Sandy can not close her mouth properly, it is causing the probability of increase infection in the mouth. Two of the options are to wire the mouth closed or remove the teeth that are infected. If you have any other questions please let us know.
I'm not quite sure how he concluded that she can't close her mouth, because she can. So the answer is to remove teeth because the probability of increased infection? Isn't the proper answer to only remove teeth when absolutely necessary? This is getting weird.

And something else... Instead of paying to put her down yesterday, I paid to have the vet give her some antibiotics to help with Sandy's eye infection. I honestly didn't think it would do much. But today her eyes are looking a ton better already. Her little nose isn't plugged up with snot and buggers. And I can actually see the blueness of her eyes again. This after just one day of antibiotics? Wow! He said the shot would last for about four days, so I'm curious to see what other improvements happen in that time. I'm now beginning to doubt if she really has two ruptured corneas like he said. I could be totally wrong, but so far her eyes look so promising. I'll see if I can take a close up photo sometime soon so I can get everyone's feedback.

In the last two days I've seen Sandy play with a younger kitten in a way I've never experienced. I'm not sure if Sandy was just looking for a reason to exercise her jaw or what, but she was biting the younger cat. I think this younger cat realizes that Sandy has issues, and so she put up with Sandy's weird play biting. Although out of character for Sandy, surely this is a good sign that she is trying to bite.

I did hear back from bestfriends.org. I was surprised by their reply, "We unfortunately do not take animals from the public..." What is that supposed to mean? They only take animals from corporations? The very small animal rescue near my home also declined to take Sandy. However, now that she has shown so much improvement in her eyes, I have more hope and I'm willing to continue caring for her. I'll still check out some of the other organizations that have been mentioned. We'll see where this all goes.

Thanks everybody!
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CarolC
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by CarolC »

To say that this is good news is an understatement! It is wonderful to read this!

I'm glad they clarified on the teeth, but like you it only gives me more questions. Is the tooth infected, or the area around the tooth? This is all outside my experience.

There are 2 things I do (kind of) know. But I don't know whether they apply to this situation or not.

One is that bite wounds are full of germs. Dog's teeth are covered in germs. That is why when a human or an animal is bitten by a dog, they do not stitch it closed. They clean it and leave it open to drain and heal on its own. The way that might (?) apply is, she clearly had a big "hole" in the side of her jaw from the tooth. She didn't want to chew solid food, but when you gave her the liquid mackerel in the syringe she lapped it right down like she was starved (good stuff!). At first I thought maybe it was a broken jaw. Then I thought maybe it was broken teeth inside the jaw. But now I wonder if it could just be infected tissue in around her cheek, gums, etc. Kind of like an abscessed tooth maybe, but I don't know if it's an abscess, or a tooth, just thinking out loud.
:thinking:

The original picture showed the hole on the right side of her face. I can still sort of see it on the video where she is walking to the feeding dishes, but when you are holding her and feeding her in the other video, it does not show even when she turns toward the camera. It looks healed on the outside. But maybe there is still some infection going on inside her cheek from the puncture wound, even though the outside is better.

I learned something from experience with my dog. She had a swollen spot on her face and the vet said it was caused by a tooth infection. An infection in a tooth can cause swelling in the surrounding area, even the face. But in this case, I'm not sure her actual tooth is infected, or only the surrounding area.

Some other questions would be, will 4 days be long enough on the antibiotic? Usually isn't it longer? But if it's working, maybe he will continue it so you can really get it cleared up, and not just half cleared up.

I hope you're right about the corneas. That is something else I don't know anything about. I don't know if the eye condition is related to an infected bite, or if she just had a flare up of something like herpes virus, which feral cats often carry, because she was stressed by the injury.

Did he give you any ointment? I've had terramycin ointment for cats a couple of times. I have NO idea whether it would be appropriate or helpful in this situation. The vet would have to say whether it is appropriate and how much to use. It looks like they have it at Tractor Supply so maybe you wouldn't have to drive an hour again to go get it. Or maybe he could call in a prescription at Walgreens or whatever is closest to you so you don't have to drive so far. Apparently you don't need a prescription unless you are in California.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... ent-1-8-oz
https://www.1800petmeds.com/Terramycin+ ... 10190.html
https://www.zoetisus.com/products/cats/ ... tment.aspx#

I am attaching a picture of my Betsy when she was very elderly. I don't know if you can quite see her eyes, but they were no longer blue, they were red. She was blind in her old age. She used the litter box, walked where she wanted to go, ate, drank, slept on her heating pad, and groomed herself like she always did. She did fine and was just as much my dear 'Betsy' as ever.

Betsy_000_0143.jpg

I didn't realize that about Best Friends. I thought they used to take from anyone. Now only from rescues and shelters? They don't exactly say it that bluntly on their admissions page. They say they are prioritizing shelters, but they don't say *only* shelters. I'm sorry. If I'd known, I wouldn't have suggested it.
pioneerMan
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Re: The dreaded coyote attack

Post by pioneerMan »

CarolC wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 5:25 pm
The original picture showed the hole on the right side of her face. It looks healed on the outside. But maybe there is still some infection going on inside her cheek from the puncture wound, even though the outside is better.

Some other questions would be, will 4 days be long enough on the antibiotic?

I hope you're right about the corneas. That is something else I don't know anything about. I don't know if the eye condition is related to an infected bite, or if she just had a flare up of something like herpes virus, which feral cats often carry, because she was stressed by the injury.

Did he give you any ointment?

I am attaching a picture of my Betsy when she was very elderly. I don't know if you can quite see her eyes, but they were no longer blue, they were red. She was blind in her old age. She used the litter box, walked where she wanted to go, ate, drank, slept on her heating pad, and groomed herself like she always did. She did fine and was just as much my dear 'Betsy' as ever.

I didn't realize that about Best Friends. I thought they used to take from anyone.
Yes, the hole on the side of her head and on the back of her head have both healed up nicely. No infection, pus or anything else I could see from the outside. I think she originally had some internal bleeding, because the back of her skull was squishy under her fur. That squishiness is all gone now. A good sign I can only assume.

I agree 4 days of antibiotics is not enough. If she continues to show improvement in her eyes over the next 3 days, then I will definitely take her back to the vet this coming Wednesday, as that is the day I'm scheduled to go back into town anyway.

I did not give her any eye ointment because I learned from watching YouTube videos that most people think eye ointment is difficult to work with, because most cats hate it. So I'm hoping the injected antibiotics and the occasional drop of colloidal silver I put in here eyes will be sufficient. But I did make note of the one you suggested, and may pick some up from Tractor Supply just to have on hand. Thanks!

Awww, your Betsy is the same breed as Fefe and Sandy. By the way, do you know exactly what breed this is? Some say Himalayan, but others say that is incorrect.

No need to apologize about suggesting Best Friends. Even though they don't take from the public, they offered some links to other places I can still check out if needs be.

I wonder if Sandy is getting sick of a liquid diet. I had the idea tonight that instead of injecting her food, to put it on a clean plate and see if she will use her tongue to lick it up. Good idea?

Thanks!
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