Cat Claw Meets Dog Eye

It's been a rough week. A really rough week. On Tuesday morning I was taking a shower and Jake came in and asked if I'd noticed anything weird about Zulu's eye. I had just seen her a few minutes earlier and all was fine. I got out of the shower and took one look at her and told Jake to take her to the vet. He took her, but the local vet was unable to really assess the situation so the referred us to an animal eye specialist in Santa Rosa. We took her that afternoon, but the vet wasn't able to see too well into the eye either. She gave us 3 different eye drops and 3 oral medications to give Zulu and told us to return on Thursday. She suspected she would need to do surgery at this time, but told us there was a chance the eye would heal itself and not need an operation.

On the way home I realized how Zu's injury happened. Right before I got in the shower that morning I noticed that Zu had the cat in a corner. I tried to pick up the cat to move her, but she was already on the run. She slipped out of my hands and her back paws went into the air. Zulu's face was in the wrong place at the wrong time and one of the claws caught her eye :(

We took extra good care of Zu over the next day and a half and then returned to the eye specialist on Thursday. Luckily the vet thought she'd improved a lot and did not think surgery was necessary at that time! However, she told us that after 3 weeks, she'd be able to see all the way to the eye lens. If the lens is scratched, then it will have to be removed and she'll be unable to see out of that eye. She has another appointment on Monday and we hope to get another positive report.

The poor thing just looks so pitiful and our hearts break for her. She is making me a nervous wreck too. Any time she walks around I'm so paranoid that she's going to run into something. I semi baby proofed the living room so that I had a little less to worry about, but there are plenty of things she could still run into. I'm also super paranoid that the cat is going to swat at her face if she gets too close. She doesn't have front claws, but even just a swat to the face could permanently injure her eye.

I'll be so glad when she is healed completely and we can breathe for a second. She's been such a trooper and I wish I could take her pain and discomfort away. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I really wish I could trade places with her.