A few days ago my beloved cat, Socks, developed glaucoma in one eye. According to the Glossary of Feline Terms, glaucoma is a disease of the eye "caused by pressure within the eye as a result of an inbalance between production and drainage of aqueous humour, a fluid produced by the eye" and is the major cause of feline blindness.

Now, my kitty is fifteen years old and has been already been blind for the better part of a year, so aside from potential complications and some discomfort on his part, it looked like he was going to be just fine. My family took him to the animal hospital in Southport, where, after a bunch of blood work, the vet said the glaucoma wasn't the result of any other disorders (like kidney failure or thyroid problems) and that, aside from his eye, Socks was a very healthy cat for his age. She gave my mom some pills and salve to take home, and at first it seemed like his eye was getting better.

Unfortunately, last night in the short span of time between when Steve went to bed at 1am and Dad woke up around 7am, the eye got much worse. When Socks went to the vet this morning she said the eye is unsaveable now. There is no other solution: tomorrow morning my cuddly cat will have one or both of his eyes removed.

The prognosis is relatively good, although there are no guarentees. Socks will have to stay in the animal hospital for a few days, but hopefully he'll be back at home with his plastic collar by the time I get there on Friday night. In the meantime, I wish I could be there, but at least it's only four days now...

On the brighter side of things, today is my dad's birthday. Happy 55th Daddy!