Update on Zaya, the snow leopard

On 15th January, our keeper team noticed that Zaya, our female snow leopard cub was squinting her eyes and would often have her left eye closed. Our team carefully monitored Zaya to try and catch glimpses of her eye to determine the cause.

When she had her eye open, keepers noticed it was very discoloured and took daily pictures to monitor its condition. After a veterinary examination, Zaya was put on pain relief medication, antibiotics and eye drops six times a day. This initial treatment seemed effective but unfortunately, it’s condition worsened.

With help from The Big Cat Sanctuary’s amazing vets, specialist help was sought. On the 26th of January, Opti Vet Referrals examined Zaya’s eye. Zaya was anesthetised and taken to our vet room in the Animal Resource Centre, where Robert Lowe, BVSc DVOphthal MRCVS oversaw the procedure.

Upon closer inspection, Robert found a significant amount of infection in Zaya’s left cornea. All layers of the cornea were infected with the infection penetrating the middle of the eye. This could threaten Zaya’s eyesight.

After consultation with the team, it was decided there was a chance to save the eye and preserve her sight. The team proceeded with surgical intervention to remove all diseased tissue.

Robert began by creating a graft from a healthy area of the cornea adjacent to the infected area, which would be used to patch the eye. He then removed the infected tissue, primarily from the front half of the cornea, which exposed a deeper infection to the middle of Zaya’s eye. After removing all infected tissue, Robert patched the eye with the healthy corneal graft and secured it with approximately 40 stitches, ensuring it was watertight and sealed.

Source: thebigcatsanctuary.org