6/29/22 – Panda Update. Panda is now being seen by Dr. Blasses, Orion Animal Hospital, who examined him last week, June 23. Dr. Blasses has been one of our ‘go to’ doctors for many years and she and Dr. Zalac are very experienced in eye issues. After last week’s appointment Dr. Blasses called me to give me her report. First, Panda has glaucoma and the eye pressure in his ‘good eye’ was 40! Now for those of you who aren’t familiar with glaucoma (like I am because I share the disease with Panda), normal eye pressure should be below 20 so you can see the concern we all had when we found this out. Interestingly enough, the eye pressure for the eye, which may need to be removed, was normal. Dr. Blasses explained that glaucoma in a kitten so young is very unusual and usually it is the result of an underlying infection. Consequently, a full blood panel was going to be done to determine what that might be. Dr. Blasses also said that the ‘bad eye’ appears to have been ulcerated at one time but that seemed to have ‘healed’ over. Panda does appear to have some vision although it may be murky. Panda was given eye drops (the same I use) for the high eye pressure and medication for the other eye. Yesterday Panda had a follow up visit and Dr. Blasses called me today and reported that the eye pressure had already returned to normal and she believed the other eye would eventually need to be removed but the final decision would be made when she received all of the results from the blood work. She did say that the results she has received thus far was very good but she had not yet received the results for toxoplasmosis.
Also, both Gina, our vet tech co-founder, and a few others on our page have asked about the use of “autologous serum eye drops”. I did ask the doctor about that and she said that the vets there do use the serum eye drops for diseases/issues such as eyes which have been ulcerated but she had not seen any research on its use with glaucoma (I have not been told about that either from my eye specialists). But she said that she would do that research and let me know what she learns.
So, in summary, Panda’s one eye will probably need to be removed but with someone so young, the longer we can wait, the better. For the eye with high pressure (glaucoma), he will need to be treated with the eye drops for the rest of his life. Consequently, we are all seeking out that very special person who can give Panda the love and care he will need. And, lastly, everyone is falling in love with this very sweet, very active kitten. Anyone interested should contact me at: [email protected] and I will pass the information on to his foster/rescuer. I will continue to update our followers and I, once again, want to remind everyone that without donations from our followers, we could not give these orphans a second chance at life. – diana.
