feline herpes and eyes, need knowledge.

Hello! It's been a while since I've been here. Been hectic and busy. Got NINE kittens adopted out from my foster site last month! But on to the rest of the events... we've been battling Herpes... and some days I believe that it's winning. I know that in many cases when the eye gets ulcerated (i believe the term is) from the herpes it's irreversible. I have a cat that is one of my personal cats who seems to have come down with one such problem. She has a vet visit scheduled for Monday but I want to better prepare my self because I also found an eye lesion on one of the long hair foster kittens.

We treat the water upstairs where the fosters live with Lysine every day, we clean eyes when there is discharge... what else is there to do for herpes in a multi cat situation like I have? I will add a photo of Ollie's eye in a moment, having upload problems, do you guys think this is a herpes ulcer or something else? I can see veins in/around it, not sure if you can in the photo, and she keeps her eye closed all the time.

Reduce stress--feliway plugins perhaps?

Sorry you are having such a struggle with it.

Leslie

I'm sorry about Ollie's eye, Breellablue. (Cool name, by the way.)

As Jack said, reducing stress can be a big help; maybe now that the foster kittens are adopted out, the house will be quieter? Can you take a short break from bringing more cats in?

A really good diet will support their immune systems, which should also help.

My three-year-old siblings, Allen, Rachel and Meghan, were diagnosed with the herpes virus when I trapped them as kittens. Their eyes could get pretty weepy (poor things) but today, nine months after switching to a non-commercial raw diet, there is zero discharge from all but Allen's left eye - and that is only a little smidge. They no longer even need the Lysine. (I know not everyone can embrace such a diet, but I offer this as an example of the affects of improved nutrition.)

I sure hope your kitty is okay... will you let us know what the vet says?

Also, major congratulations on adopting out all those kittens! That's awesome.

Sorry it took so long. I didn't think stress was a problem because for a month now she had no symptoms, then BAM this thing starts growing in her eye.

Good heavens, that looks awful. And painful. Poor Ollie. When is your vet apt?

we have 10 more still waiting to find homes. They eat mostly dry here, but sometimes we mix raw-- They get ground turkey a few times a week when I can afford it. The dry food is made by a woman in the rescue group I work with. She has put years into researching good foods. No corn or added gunk, I'll have to find the ingredients list.

appointment is Monday morning, they're letting me in first appointment. It's grown at such a rapid rate. I'm worried about the apperance of the blood vessels so close to the lens of the eye.

Edit: Also, here is another photo with her eye at another angle. I have googled herpes in cats and many of the eye things I see don't seem to have blood vessels like this does.

I literally had to pry her eye open for the photo, she keeps it shut so tight.



and I do so love the deep orange color of her eyes...

I do not think this is Herpes at all... I am glad you have a vet app. monday morning. I hope that can be fixed easily, please keep us posted

I am kinda hoping for herpes... the alternatives seem to be far worse.

I'll let you all know what they say tomorrow.

We'll be here!

I'm so sorry. That doesn't look at all like Flowerbelle's ulcerated eye did. You're right about the blood vessels, though she was so small and her eye glued shut, maybe we just never saw them.

I know there are several people on here that won that battle. Flowerbelle did not, and we had her eye removed. She doesn't miss it and her energy levels went up a million percent when we had it out.

But other than lysine, a high quality diet and low stress (Feliway may help), I have no suggestions. Have you checked around to see if there's a cat specialist - even a cat eye specialist anywhere near you?

To fight the ulcerated eye, she received meds (sorry, so long ago I don't remember what), and she had her eye sewn shut with meds in it several times. I'll search for the thread on here where they were able to save the eye - maybe you can PM that person.



Laurie

Here, I think this was it: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ghlight=herpes

The vet is suspecting herpes because of her past history of RI's and conjuctivitus. I know some of the fosters have herpes so it's totally possible.

The secondary diagnosis is some kind of puncture wound to the eye. I was afraid of this, Halloween having been so recently and all but didn't notice any problems till the 4th.

She's getting erythromycin ophthalmic ointment to the eye three times a day, and he perscribed a pain medicine because he suspects based on her behavior that it is causing her some pain (its a THING in her EYE, i would think she'd be in pain...)

Did you go to a regualr Vet or an Eye Specialist? If it was just a regular Vet I would recommend a specialist. They do things totally different and have equipment, as well as training most Vets don't. I have been dealing with Feline Herpes for 6 months. One eye has a sequestrum from the ulcer, if I had gone to a specialist in the beginning she wouldn't have it. My regular Vet is very good but she did not suspect Herpes or Sequestrum. Both eyes have spontaneous ulcerations if I don't keep them treated daily. They had to upgrade the antibiotics to much more powerful ones. The thing that cleared it up is oral Famvir, which is an antiviral and antiviral eye drops, Iodoxuridine(spelling?) along with antibiotics. Now she has eye drops 2-6 x a day, depending on if she is flaring up, tears ointment, and Famvir if she has a flare up. There is no doubt in my mind she would be blind if I hadn't gotten to a specialist.

When Sparky's eye was cloudy like that it was because of bacteria, we tryed 5 antibiotics. With a corneal ulcer, or sequestrum, it is normal to see blood vessels, that is how the eye heals itself. But it could be something else also.
Sparky has a good diet, is on immune supplements but can't tolerate lysine. It doesn't help, she needs daily meds, she has not had a major problem for 4 mos. Good luck.