July 2011 - Ben Foubister
Ben is a relaxed 18 year old ginger male cat with kidney disease, who was seen at the end of April with mild conjunctivitis.
Upon examination Ben was moderately dehydrated and had sunken, mucky eyes. A dye was applied to each eye to show up any scratches or ulcers. This was negative.
The vet sent Ben home with topical antibiotics and was advised to try increasing his water intake by adding water to his normal food.
One week later Ben returned to the practice, his eyes were still sunken and it was suspected that due to his poor body condition (being a cat with renal disease) the fat pads behind his eyes had reduced, causing the sunken eyes. Ben was put on to renalzin (a food supplement for cats with renal disease to support kidney function).
By July, he had lost 430g, and had entropion (his lower eyelids had rolled inward, so the fur was against the corneas of his eyes) of both eyes, due to his sunken eyes. Ben would need surgery to correct this.
Ben was put under a general anaesthetic using sevoflurane (an anaesthetic gas).
A crescent moon shaped strip of skin was removed from the lower left and right eyelids, this helped pull down the lid margins. These were then closed with silk stitches which would stay in for 2 weeks.
Ben made a great recovery and was hospitalised for a further two nights to make sure that he was fully recovered and eating well. He was then reunited with his owner who had missed him dearly. Ben was checked on a regular basis and 14 days after the operation the stitches were removed and Ben was back to his happy, but sleepy self.
