CeCe's First Vet Visit :-(

We took poor CeCe kitten to the vet this week. She had all of her shots and check-ups when we adopted her so there hadn't been a need to bring here in...until now.

A couple weeks ago Jason and I noticed that she had some puss in one of her eyes but then we never saw it again.

We've also been noticing however that she tends to squint that eye more than the other and when I came home one day this week I noticed she was keeping it closed and struggling to open it.

I called the vet and they said to go ahead and bring her in- she could have allergies or a scratch and they'll be able to tell you that.

So I wrapped poor CeCe kitten in a towel and drove her to the vet curled on my lap. She did well in the car ride with only minimal meows, but they were the saddest meows I've ever heard. :-(

The vet took one look at her eye, tested it for ulcers, and declared she had herpes. Say what?!?

Feline herpesvirus type 1 (FVH-1) is an upper respiratory disease that is common among kittens who are strays or have been in shelters. (It's also called cat flu.) And while there is a vaccine (which CeCe had received), it's obviously worthless once they're exposed to it.

Similar to human herpes, she will have it the rest of her life. She may never have another breakout or she might only have breakouts during times of stress like parties (um, yeah, there were 60 people at our house Saturday and she hid in Jason's closet the whole time...), during boarding, during changes in routine, or during times when we are out of town or have a pet sitter (which we will be doing for three weeks while we are out of town...)

We got drops to put in her eye twice a day until it clears up. We also have a gel that we need to put in her food daily, possibly the rest of her life, depending on how she handles it.




Needless to say she was glad to get home!


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