I'm very concerned about Simba's deteriorating eye symptoms - meds not working.

Some of you may know the story of my 6 month old kitten Simba. He got an upper respiratory infection when we brought him home, and the antibiotics prescribed to him helped him get better. A bit after that, he had a bout of conjunctivitis that caused one eye to become very red, tear and squint constantly, and discharge a small amount of pus, as well as his nictitating membrane becoming inflamed. My parents gave him some of his leftover antibiotics and he got better, but it came back in the other eye. Then he got better again. Since my parents are in denial or blind to the fact that there is something seriously wrong with Simba, it's up to me to get all the information I can and take him to the vet.

About 1-2 months ago, he got another eye problem and I noticed him starting to develop gingivitis. This time, it was his nictitating membrane that is in the worst condition. It started to become bloodshot and developed a distinctive band of dark pink along the edge in both eyes. There was not much tearing, but still some occasional pus. The surface started to look a little uneven. I took him to the vet last week and the vet suspected he has a viral infection and prescribed more antibiotics. His medications are not improving his condition and he's getting worse. I'm noticing that, in his tear ducts, there is a discoloration. They have a brownish-orange color now and look very inflamed. I'm not sure if the iris along the inner edge is being discolored or if it's a shadow or his normal color.

I left a voicemail for the vet and he will be back in the office tomorrow. I have started to get Simba used to cat toothpaste and his gums are starting to look better but I'm very worried about his eyes.

Worry not, I did not hurt him taking these photos, it just looks like I was being rough. I take photo documentation of his eyes in case I need to show the vet and to track the progression of symptoms. I have to spread his eyelids a little to give him eyedrops, anyway. You can't see his tear ducts, but they look very angry and discolored. His eyes looks pretty normal when he's wide awake. Should I get him tested for Feline herpes or FIV? He had his standard immunizations, but he could have become infected before I adopted him, couldn't he have? He was around 14 weeks old when I got him. I don't want him to suffer permanent eye damage or die.

Months ago when he first showed eye symptoms:


A couple weeks ago:

 
Last night: 

Poor baby!  Definitely  looks like something is wrong with that eye.  The vet needs to check his eye to be sure there's not a scratch on it or something like that.  Not sure this is necessarily feline herpes related, but you can always start adding L-Lysine to his diet to help.  I use the powdered kind in the 1-lb. container, either NOW Brand or the Vita Cost brand.  You can find it on Amazon.  Since he's having some kind of flare up, 1000mg a day would be the recommended dose.  Break it up into 2 doses, morning and evening.  You can add to wet food with a bit of water (the powder dissolves easily), mix and serve.  It may take a few weeks to see any benefit.  If you can't get your hands on the powdered variety, you can get pills from the supplement section of the store or a health food store and crush them between 2 spoons and add to food.

I'm curious as to why there were leftover antibiotics...?

The l-lysine that Stephanie mentioned is both inexpensive and safe.

I bought him L-lysine chew treats from the pet store last week. They were pretty expensive. I have to break them up so he can consume them. I started giving him just one per day. Lemme go check the amount in each. Oh, jeez! It's not even worth giving him! each treat has 125 mg of L-lysine. I just gave him 2 treats. The bag was $25! It's the only L-lysine product the pet store had.

There were leftovers because the vet gave us an amount that exceeded two weeks. I think he said to give it to him for two weeks. I didn't pay as much attention as I do now because I thought my parents knew what they were doing at the time. I have since taken both Nala's and Simba's health and well-being into my own hands and keep an eye on them for any changes. I will have to look for the powdered L-lysine online.

You can also find L=lysine CAPSULES that oyu can just open and sprinkle on the food.  I have a bottle of them, Twinlab L-Lysine, manufactured by Ideasphere, Inc., American Fork Utah 84003.  I did not get it online, I got it at some local store, I don't remember which one.  Each capsule is 500 mg.  It was not expensive at all.

Look in a health food store for more concentrated l-lysine. Definitely try the 1000 mg per day in divided doses as Stephanie mentioned.