Need some opinions on my kitten's eyes...

Hi,

I've had my new kitten (6 mos old), Ziggy, for almost 3 weeks. A little history on him: He is an American Wirehaired kitten who was born by c-section. When he was born, his amniotic sack was filled with pus (mom had lots of complications and a similar thing happened with her first litter and was spayed after delivery of my kitten.) I also have a cat from the first litter and she came to me with an upper respiratory infection which cleared after 2 courses of antibiotics.

Ziggy came to me with a chronic infection. His eyes were runny (bloody mucus) and he was sneezing and had bad breath. My vet prescribed over the phone (as he was leaving the office with the flu) the same antibibiotic my other cat had successfully used (Cephalaxin) and after a few days, all seemed better.

I confess I did not complete the full course of antibiotics. I stopped 1.5 days short of the 14 day course as life got crazy, etc, (yes, I'm kicking myself.) I'm not too thrilled with the look of Ziggy's eyes and have noticed a sneeze or two. Wondering if we need a systemic or perhaps eye ointment, or wondering if I'm just a worry wart.

Here's a photo of the eyes (the right eye does have staining from the runny eye):


What would you do???

Thanks,

Cally

Originally Posted by pee-cleaner

Hi,


What would you do???


Cally

Click to expand...

Call the vet and discuss this with him - he'll know what to do. It's very possible your little one needs another round of antibiotics. I've heard others say that it has sometimes taken at least two rounds of meds to clear up a problem.

Back from vet's as I just wasn't happy with the way Ziggy looked today. He put him on clindamycin for 10 days and some eye ointment to be used 3X a day. Hopefully this will fix him up!

Thanks for the input, Yosemite. The vet also said it often takes 2 rounds to fix up a kitty with URI.

Cally

Glad to hear you went to the vet. Hopefully this next round will fix the problem for your fur-baby.

Since you mention URI, I am assuming Ziggy has the herpes virus. One thing you might want to do is add powdered L-lysine to his wet food (250 mg BID). This will slow viral replication and help to get Ziggy's symptoms under control.

It took about 4 rounds of antibiotics, lysine, and time to cure my kitty's URI when we first got her. The biggest problem we also had were her eyes. We ended up having to put eye drops in her eyes and nose to get her URI cleared up. (Talk about fun!!) I say this just to let you know that sometimes it takes time to cure an URI and to not lose hope. As my vet says, "You know your kitty best." When your kitty's not feeling well, you know. When you're not seeing improvements with a certain med, don't be afraid to go back to the vet or call to let them know it's not working.

I also second the recommendation of adding L-Lysine to your kitty's diet. It will help boost your kitty's immune system. It will help with future flare ups, reduce trips to the vet's office for illnesses, and won't hurt your kitty. I get the powder form from the health food store and add approx. 1/4 t to my kitty's wet food once a day. You can get the 500mg tablets from Wal-Mart and crush them up and add to wet food, too.

Stephanie

Originally Posted by Iluvdevons

Since you mention URI, I am assuming Ziggy has the herpes virus. One thing you might want to do is add powdered L-lysine to his wet food (250 mg BID). This will slow viral replication and help to get Ziggy's symptoms under control.

Click to expand...

I was thinking the feline herpes virus too. I'm glad you took your baby to the vet. Jordan has had F.H. since I got him at 4 months old. His eyes have always watered a clear liquid and occasionally have clear mucus. He's had 2 bad flare ups now, but the L-Lysine seems to do the trick for him. I'd ask the vet about dosage. Jordan's 14 lbs & gets 500 mg regularly, 1000 mg when I think he's about to flare up. I would imagine a kitten needs less than a 14 lb cat.