Eye Problems!!!

Hello, I'm new to the forums, and I haven't read through any yet, so I apologize if the answer to my question is easy to find.

My cat has been having terrible eye goop for quite some time. I have taken her to the vet and taken her to the vet, switched vets, and taken her some more.

The first vet told me that she has a respiratory infection. He gave me amoxil and sent me on my way. Well, the amoxil cleared it up a bit (though never completely.) I went back to that vet several times and got several refills on the amoxil before I decided to switch vets.

My new vet also told me that Duchess has a repiratory infection. She didn't give me amoxil, but gave me some eye cream. The eye cream seems to help short-term (as in, it lessens the redness and goop for a night) but she's not getting any better.

The thing is, though both vets told me that this is a respiratory infection, I don't feel like it is. I used to work for a vet, and I also have experience working in the animal shelter. On top of that, I have had many, many cats in my lifetime (I lived on a farm, and they kind of over-ran the place! ) She doesn't have any other symptoms of a respiratory infection. She doesn't sneeze. She doesn't lick her mouth and nose a lot. She doesn't act lethargic. It's just her eye that is messed up. I'm aware that I'm not a vet, and that these vets have gone to school for a very long time in order to do what they do, but I can't help but feel like they are wrong.

Honestly, I feel like her hair grows a bit funny around her eyes. I think this may be causing irritation. I looked up eye problems in a cat book that I have and it says that this can happen. Apparently, there is a surgery to correct the problem.

Does anyone have experience with a similar situation?

Only thing I can add is my Boo had conjuctivitis (pink eye, is how it was explained to me, basically) and I was given an ointment for it. His lid was pink and/or red, swollen and he rubbed at one a lot. It only popped up in one eye at a time, but the ointment got rid of it within a couple days. It didn't come back too often. He had goop coming out of his eye as well, but he was a Persian and sometimes it was a clear color and sometimes it was a darker brown color.. he got eye boogers bad, and so does Chickster but those are regular old small crusties in the corner of their eyes (normal for us anyway)
What breed of cat is Duchess and has she ever been diagnosed with conjuctivitis? And what color is the goop and how much?

EDIT: Oh and, has any tests been run on her? Other posters would know what tests to ask for, but a blood panel may not be a bad idea..

My cat has a goopy eye (greenish yellow goop), and it's because of his herpes. that's a common cause of runny eyes. What color is the stuff in her eye?

Well, respiratory infections are caused by feline herpes, which my vet said she must have. (*Sigh!)

The vet also said that she had conjunctivitis, which, like you, I always thought meant pink-eye (as in the disease pink-eye) but the vet said that any time the eye is pinkish--no matter what illness is causing it--it's conjunctivitis. She was a bit confusing..sigh.

They did put some goop in her eye to check for scratches to the cornea (or retina, or whatever...) They also checked her eye pressure, I believe.

Duchess is a regular old moggie (domestic short hair mix). Somebody brought her to me when she was (guessing) about 2 weeks old. They had found her in a vent, and the poor girl was starving to death! I had to bottle-feed her, so she is like my baby. She is extremely sweet, and I feel she enjoys her life, but she is mentally retarded (yes, I am being very serious here.)

Oh! And the goop varies from clear to yellowish to almost pinkish-brown.

L-lysine added to her daily diet will control the herpes virus, but if you are worried about her eye lashes turning in, that is a serious problem, and will need surgery to correct. It's called entropion, and eventually will cause ulcers on the eye.

Do you have a vet college near you where you can see a specialist?

It is smart of you to pursue this. If you suspect entropion, by all means, insist on a referral to a specialist.

Welcome to TCS and please let us know what happens with your Duchess.

Some of her hair often gets into her eyes. However, I can usually slick these hairs back with a bit of water. Does this sound like entropion?

Also, she is 6 years old. If she had this problem, wouldn't we already know? I would think she would already have eye ulcers by now, but the vet said there's nothing abnormal.

Hello and welcome to TCS!! Where in Texas are you? I'm in Fort Worth, but grew up in San Antonio. There's lots of Texas folks on the board.

For starters, just like with humans who have colds or upper respiratory infections, the eyes can be affected since the ear/nose/throat is all connected. Has your baby been tested for feline herpes or the other respiratory illnesses using the IDEXX Feline PCR URD test? If not, you might want to have that done. I have a herpes positive cat and she is susceptible to URIs and gets weepy eyes when stressed, but the discharge is always clear unless she's got a full blown URI.

Has the discharge been sent off to the lab to be cultured and have a sensitivity test done on it since it's not clear? Colored eye or nasal discharge indicates the presence of an infection. The culture will tell the vet what type of infection you're dealing with (bacterial, fungal, etc) and the sensitivity test will tell you which medication will most effectively treat the infection. That's something else to consider having done.

Lastly, don't rule out airborne allergens. Ragweed season is upon us and I have 2 kitties with runny eyes. Also, anytime the air pressure changes and a front comes through, my herpes kitty gets runny eyes and starts sneezing. Adding lysine, as a previous poster mentioned, will help, but it takes about a month to have any real effect long term.

With the URI, has the vet given you any eye drops such as Gentamicin? You can use that in the nose and in the eyes. That's usually what we do with my herpes girl if it's really severe. You can also use plain saline to flush out eyes, but you've got to use it 3-4 times a day for a few weeks to see any effect.

Oh! It's nice to see someone so close to me on the board! I live in Lewisville (just north of you!)

The vets did not do any of these tests! Thanks to you though, I will know what to ask for when I take her in (again!)

The vet gave me a cream for her eyes--but no drops.

I'm going to find a new vet and schedule her an appointment ASAP. Hopefully, now that I know a little more about what to ask, we'll get somewhere this time!

Oh my, another from Lewisville! I think that makes three or four on this board.

I lived in Lewisville when I was a little girl. It was a small town then and we lived on a dead end street called Surf Street. We walked to school through a field and down a dirt road lined with blackberry brambles. There was a Piggly Wiggly across the highway, and we used to slide down the hill on Grapevine Dam using flattened large cardboard boxes.

<edit>Oh yeah, and the young Dallas Cowboys had a training camp there. I've been a Cowboy fan ever since. (40+ years)

There's a few here from Lewisville! I know where Lewisville is as I went to school in Denton and had to drive through Lewisville on my way to Love Field.

Glad we could be of help. Let us know how it goes and keep us posted on the eye situation.

i'm also familiar w/lewisville - just moved to where i am now from sanger [north of denton, btw].
my Pixel has herpes & she usually has some kind of eye goop - when it emerges, it looks clear, but it dries to a reddish-brown color.
she also gets little sores on her face during a flare. she has some now, but i think it's calming down - probably stress from the move. i FINALLY found the feliway diffuser & plugged it in, so that should help.

i FINALLY found the feliway diffuser & plugged it in, so that should help.

Click to expand...

Do you feel like this typically helps with her flare-ups?

I suppose Duchess could be having more stress than I realize. She's always been the weakest of my three cats, but the eye problems really seemed to get worse when we adopted our rottweiler.

She is an amazingly well-behaved, very loving dog and she absolutely adores the cats. The youngest cat (L.S) adores her too, but my older kitties (Duchess and Madeline) really don't care for her. They aren't afraid of her by any means--they just don't appreciate her constantly trying to lick their butts!

I may try the Feliway diffuser. Does anyone else have experience with this? It may sound silly, but I don't want it to cause my cats to get all weird on me...

We run Feliway 24/7 in my house. It's a lifesaver! It has helped tremendously with the stress level and keeping several different behaviors at bay.

Originally Posted by MysteryMama

Do you feel like this typically helps with her flare-ups?

Click to expand...

well, since the flare-ups are brought on by stress, & it's a stress-reliever, i think so... but she's been under a bunch - moving, fleas - i figure it can't hurt, anyway!

I love feliway plug in diffusers. I plug one in any time there is going to be stress in my house. Sometimes I don't remember right away, and when I do the result is dramatic.

Last February I had a young developmentally disabled woman staying with me for a week. Mine and my cats routine were really messed up. They know the young woman, that wasn't the problem, it was just all slightly chaotic. By the third day my cats were starting to look pretty rough around the edges, and I finally remembered the feliway.

I plugged it in and within 24 hours I had relaxed happy normal cats, who were once again bathing and playing and being themselves.

It doesn't always work that fast, but since I use it periodically and my apartment is small it does seem to take affect pretty quickly.