Second opinion please - cats eye!

Hello everyone - love the forum!

I'd like to get a second opinion about the eye of our cat; we have been to the Vet twice and while they said this will clear up on its own, her eye seems to be getting worse rather than better. I have attached a couple of photos, she is gorgeous of course but the eye is looking pretty bad - you have been warned!

She is a stay-inside cat so I don't think it's caused by something outside the house, the closest she gets to the great outdoors these days is a second-story balcony. We have one other cat, who may be the cause as they are not on friendly terms (after 10 years - you'd think they would learn to get along!)

Anyway the vet has prescribed two sets of medication now, which she has asked us to apply five minutes apart. We have done this for over a week and as I said it seems to not be improving. The last vet gave us a similar regime and it didn't work then either. The vet said there was a blister and did a tear test & some other procedures last time to make sure they were applying the right stuff but we're not sure...

Right now her prescribed medication is is "Neomycin & Polymyxin B Sulfates and Bacitracin Zinc Ophthalmic Ointment USP" which she had been on the first time. After five minutes we have to put a drop of "Cyctosporine" (sp) which seems to be pretty serious stuff as the humans have to put on gloves before applying it?? The label for this has worn down too so I don't have more details on that second one.

https://www.onlinefilefolder.com/2sZXgqgiDTh43V

https://www.onlinefilefolder.com/2sDHq6QXyyd1zg
Anyway my questions to this forum:

1) Have any of you had a similar prescription regime from the vet which has *worked* - are we just being impatient? (she has had this now for >6 weeks which we don't think is very fair)

2) Any idea what the problem with her eye actually is? Has anyone else had a cat with this & if so, what was the outcome / how long to heal?

Many thanks for any & all help

Artful

You cat has, I believe, a feline herpes infection. It's very common (almost all cats have been exposed to it). You need to get her treated with L-Lysine. Your vet likely has it in a tube/liquid form, but you can use the L-Lysine supplements available at any pharmacy. There are others here who can tell you exactly what to look for. The good news is that apparently it doesn't taste bad, so you can smash up the tablets and put it in soft food, and they'll eat it just fine. She'll need about 500 mg per day at first, and she may need an ongoing treatment.

If you don't treat it quickly, she will lose the sight in that eye. It may already be damaged.

@mrblanche: The vet had mentioned that but then ruled it out (I'm not sure why) and came to the conclusion that it was "dry eye" since our earlier treatments for conjunctivitus (their diagnosis on the previous two visits) had proved fruitless.

Maybe I have to goto another vet!

Has anyone on here had a cat with "dry eye" & if so, does it look anything like ours??

Many thanks

Artful

I have to respectfully disagree with the other poster about the herpes eye infection. I've dealt with quite a few eye infections caused by feline herpes and I've never seen anything that looks like that. It also normally clears up with the use of the triple antibiotic ointment that the OP is using. It can take some time for it to clear up but after a week of treatment you should see results.
I could be wrong, maybe it is a very severe herpes infection but I've never seen anything like it. My girl that passed away had feline herpes and almost constant eye infections and they never looked like that. From the picture it looks like the colored part of the cat's eye is red and the eye looks covered by mucus. Is that mucus or is it from the ointment?

The standard treatment for eye infections (conjunctivitis) in cats is the triple antibiotic ointment (the Neomycin & Polymyxin B Sulfates and Bacitracin Zinc Ophthalmic Ointment). I've never heard of the other drug but I looked it up and apparently it's the same as Restatis that is used for humans with chronic dry eye. Your cat looks to have something more serious than that.
I would highly recommend that you see another vet for a second opinion, preferably a veterinary eye specialist if you can or a cat specialist. It's amazing what progress you can make by going to another vet. Not all vets are good in every area. I would not waste any time to get a second opinion.

I hope your kitty gets better soon.

I think you need to see a different vet! That doesn't look like anything that will go away on its own and in fact, it might get worse and leave your kitty unable to see anything in that eye. It looks like an eye ulcer or something like that, which requires medication to clear up.

I just saw that you are in San Fransico (I'm jealous ). You're lucky because there is a great vet eye specialist in your area: http://www.veterinaryvision.com/

Forgot to mention, my Callie used to get eye irritations and her eyes would dry out. She would rub them and they'd water, but her eye would be dry. The vet gave us a rewetting ointment to put in her eyes. Her eyes NEVER looked like that.

Me again here. I just did some quick research about dry eye in animals and I came across a picture of a dog with dry eye which looks quite a bit like your cat. The dog's eye is also covered in mucus like your cat's. The condition also seems to cause red, irritated eyes.

Here is the site with the pics and info, pretty good info I thought: http://www.caminoanimalclinic.com/library/dry_eyes.html

The dry eye site you found was very informative, it said that sometimes it takes a while for the treatment to work.

The photo was taken today just prior to the treatment so unfortunately that is all her eye, we don't want her to lose vision and it must be impacted already

Maybe I am just impatient but it seems to be getting worse not better

Artful

I'm not a vet, and I don't play one on a TV show, but that eye looks identical to the one our resident cat at the shelter, Jordan, had. It, too, continuned to get worse until he was treated with L-Lysine, even though he had been treated for several weeks with antibiotics. After that, he got a lot better in a week or so. Until we started the L-Lysine, I wouldn't have given you a nickel for his chances of surviving another week.

The antibiotics may not hurt, but feline herpes is a viral infection and will never respond to antibiotics.

Besides...what can it hurt? L-Lysine isn't bad for a cat (or a human).

Any updates on your cat's eye?

I haven't seen the pictures but if this is conjunctivitis (also called pinkeye in humans) it is caused by a bacterial infection and Neo-Poly-Bac will clear it up in a week to 10 days.  Typically this type of infection affects the eye lids and not the actual eye itself.  If it is a herpes infection, that typically doesn't affect the eyelids but the eye itself.  Herpes is a viral infection and Neo-poly is not given to treat the infection virus but to treat any potential bacterial infections that may attack the eye when the cat's immune system is compromised by the herpes.  The herpes virus can attach the cornea causing corneal scarring which manifests as the visible portion of the eyeball turning very dark.  Left untreated the result can range from a permanent white scar on the eyeball which is visible but the cat still has vision to the worst that the eyeball ruptures and surgery is required to remove the eye.  Many vets are not familiar with idoxuridine and when one of my cat's eyes turned dark, I researched it and found it myself.  I then gave the information to my vet, he got the meds and the cat's eye was fine.  It is very expensive and 15 ml costs around $50 but it works and I keep it in my cat medicine supplies.  Here are 2 links that discuss idoxuridine and herpes simplex infections.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idoxuridine

http://www.manhattancats.com/Articles/eyes.html

I hope this helps.

Welcome to TCS, FelineGrace!
 

'Don't think you noticed the date on this thread....it's two+ years old!

Manhattan Cats is a great site....did you know that the owner also has a blog? Wiki....well, for me, it's there if I'm really in a pinch...did you know there is a Feli-pedia? It's recently re-named to "VetBook" - take a peek: http://vetbook.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Have dealt with dry eye!  It can cause ulceration  or "blister" on eye.  My vet used a collagen lens over ulcer several times.  Finally referred to Gainesville Fl, Vet College to opthalmologist.  Prescribed application of sterile mineral oil gel (vaseline) OTC every couple of hours and that did the trick.  I hope this helps someone.