Baby kitten has horrible eyes, Idox vs. Ofloxacin?

I sure miss TCS, just managing the hurricane kitten season...still..

During adoptions today a lady brought in a young kitten, maybe 2.5-3 weeks old, no more than 3 weeks though.

She had her wrapped in a towel saying she found this baby on the side of the road with something wrong with her eyes, she took her to the vet and was given Ofloxacin and Erythromycin.

I can see her eyes are badly infected and she also has dried nasal discharge.

One eye is extremely bad, it was so hard to see but through a tiny space where it wasn't sealed shut from gunk I can see her eyeball is not good, enlarged, not good.

My thoughts are this, first off there is def. a chance she is going to lose that eye, but I'm wondering, I have always had great success with Idox in herpe cats/kittens, even to the point that one kitten's eye was terrible and in danger of losing it, over time I got him completely healed and normal.

So it seems to me that maybe the vet did not carry the Idox, as some do not, so she was given Ofloxacin instead. I am not very familiar with this drug, I know it's an antibiotic, but I tend to think since it is an URI going on that perhaps it's wise to give the Idox instead.

There is not much time for this eye if it is even remotely savable.

Any thoughts here?

Thanks!

Most folks I know with herpes kitties that have eye problems really prefer the Idoxuride drops.
 

Oh yes! I agree! It's been the only real cure for Herpes eyes.

I'm just wondering why the vet would NOT have given it for this poor little kitten girl. Why he would give the Ofloxacin instead, thinking maybe he didn't have any Idox...

It's obvious to me that it is in fact the URI Rhinotracheitis, which is Herpevirus.

Just better contact the vet who prescribed this med for her, maybe it will solve the mystery

As I said, there is no time to lose with her eye.

Thanks.

Hmmm, according to a quick google search, Idoxuride is no longer available in the U.S.

If it's so effective for herpes of the eye, I would have thought my vet would've mentioned it to me, as we are struggling with a latent herpes infection.

(I'm in Pennsylvania, U.S.)

I am clueless at to why you read that Idoxuride is not available in the US, I get it regularly from my vet, have it here now...

It is the only thing we use for herpes infections, sometimes accompanied by Terramycin ointment. It's fast acting, the swelling is down in the first day or 2, and it can take a seriously ill looking eye healing to normal in a weeks time. I don't mean an infection, but an eye with red/swollen inner membranes, enlarged/protruding eyeball and swelling, bad cases.

I am confident it has saved many cats the loss of an eye.

Accordng to this:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a601062.html

It may be just referring to human use?

It looks like a website branch ultimately associated with the National Institute of Health - governmental;

not to say they can't be wrong.

I dunno.

I actually was able to speak to the vet who saw her last saturday, he said he gave Erythromycin for the URI and Ofloxacin for her eyes because he didn't have any Idox. He asked if I wanted him to call in a prescription for it and I said I already have some. We both agreed it may be a big help.

My hunch was correct this was why he didnt give this to her.

He actually said she may be blind in both eyes, at least the one, but we will see about that! (heard this before) Fingers crossed.

I believe if anything will save them it's good 'ol Idox! Liquid gold.

About how much does it cost, how big is the vial, and is it specifically made for animal use, or can you get it at a people-pharmacy?

It comes in a very small bottle, but goes a long way since the bottle is designed to dispense 1 small drop at a time.

The bottle is 10ml. Cost is approx. $35.00. Not sure if it's our reduced cost or not.

The name is Idoxuridine.

Finally getting back to this thread -

I had a vet check out the stubborn herpes eye infection for my new stray,

and he confirmed that it is indeed herpes, and not bacterial clamydia of the eye, because my cat's tears stain brown/reddish brown on the tissue.

He also did a luminal type test where he put flourescing drops in his eye and waited to see if it showed up in his mouth/throat.

Nothing appeared, demonstrating he had plugged up tear drainage ducts.

Apparently eye fluid naturally drains into your mouth.

Learn something new everyday, eh.

Unfortunately, he states that the cat must go under complete anesthesia to have the ducts surgically reopened.

He also says that sometimes the ducts are malformed from birth, and if so there is nothing that can be done permanently.

In that case, the duct has a bend in it that backs up eventually with dirt/diseased matter.

I also asked him to prescribe Idoxuridine for me, but he doesn't do that, saying he believes it can be toxic to cats.

I'm not sure this is the most informed doctor around my podunk town, however.

Anyway, I'm encouraged that even though I'll have to pay for a surgery, there's a good chance he won't be tearing and gooping up his face for the rest of his life.  Once he's draining properly, I will likely come to find he's not in active herpes eye mode. His peepers look very good otherwise.

Doc likes that I'm giving him daily lysine.

If tears staining is a sign of herpes then just about every Persian I've seen has it, which strikes me as rather unlikely.

However staining is a sign of blocked tear ducts, which should drain into the nose hence when you cry you have to blow your nose.

Have you asked if he's done this surgery before?

Well not just tear-staining per se,

specifically a brown, kind of burnt sienna stain - it's actually bits/partially in the tears; it's not that the cat is weeping thoroughly brown fluid like, say mud water.

It does look different than ordinary dirty gunk from the eyes.  Hard to describe, I wish I had kept the link which did a better job.

I'll try googling it again; maybe there's photos out there.

However, Persians are brachycephalic, iirc -

and their mutated anatomy in the face may make them partial to plugging problems, and in that case, they may just have dirt accumulated.

I now think he misunderstood my question about the anti-viral topical Idoxuridine,

and only heard "antiviral",

because it seems like he meant the references I'm now seeing -

the only proven safe oral for cats is Famcyclovir, and also Acyclovir (though that is now considered safe, but not effective at dose examined 200mg PO BID-TID).

I reading warnings that state one should consider any others, like Valacyclovir, to be "hepato/nephro/myelo toxic" and potentially lethal to cats.

Okay.

Woof -

I just got a price quote from my Walmart Pharmacy (my vets don't have anti-viral drops)

and for Trifluridine, similar, it is $162.54 for an 8 ml. bottle!

How can that beeee?

Apparently I would have to go to a compounding pharmacy to have Idox made - they are checking on a price for me.

I read that Cidofovir is similar as well (not as well tolerated after 6 weeks of continuous use) is great because it is needed only 2 times daily.

The others including Idox need to be administered 6-8 times a day (according to a 2009 CVC proceedings report: "Feline keratitis and conjunctivitis"),

which seems hard to comply with.

I'm curious to know what state you are in? I can NOT imagine Idox being unavailable to us, as we deal with herpe eye all the time and it is liquid gold. I have saved many eyes with this.

I do know there are some vets in the area that do not carry Idox, but some will order it for you.

Lucky for us our vets do carry it!

Also I have never used these drops 6-8 times a day, in general it is 2x a day, and in extreme cases where the eye is looking clouded and swollen, up to 4x a day but only for the first 3 days, for aggressive treatment.

(I feel like I want to send some Idox to you!) Jeezz..

I'm in rural northwest Pennsylvania.

Those prices are a real kick in the teeth, eh?!

It's ridiculous.  It's "people" medicine I'd be getting - and thus isn't covered under insurance.  So I guess that's the "raw" cost of things ... ?

But that doesn't make sense either, since you all buy it from a vet, who naturally marks the price up a tad, and you're only paying ~ $35 bucks.

I think this is the page you are refering to:

http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.com/avhc/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=604608

And it says:

Trifluridine, idoxuridine, and vidarabine need to be administered 6-8 times daily until effect and then slowly tapered thereafter, treating one week beyond resolution of clinical symptoms.

Click to expand...

Wow, up to 8 times a day, that seems overkill, but who am I to challenge experts! I only know what has worked miracles for us and never used it more than 4 for very serious cases. Also they say to use it for a week after all symptoms are cleared, we do it for 3 days after the eye is completely better. I'd say the week is to err on the safe side against recurrence.

And yes, $35.00 is great, and I had a lady buy some from her personal vet pay $40.00, so ours isn't really discounting for us, at least not much.

Yep- that's the literature.

Compounding pharmacy just called back - $125 dollars for 10 ml. Idoxuridine.

Great googly-moogly.