13yr old cat with eye issue - maybe Herpes?

My 13 yr old cat, Salem, has had eye issues for a while now. Vets can't seem to diagnose what it is without suggesting expensive tests that I can't afford. I was reading up about LLysine and may try that. The last vet gave us ointment & eye drops that did nothing. I'm thinking it may be herpes? I have another cat & he's completely healthy. Salem is healthy, eats well, poops, sleeps, is very active but just his eye is drippy and looks like a film over it. I attached a pic. I'm hoping for some advice on the LLysine and what you guys think it could be. Thanks.

Hi

What exactly are we looking at in that eye? Is it scar tissue/cloudy eye or mucous?  Herpes usually comes with other symptoms, lots of sneezing and discharge etc. If your vets are stumped then we may be too....

Cloudy eye. Watery. Brownish pink when I wipe it. He sneezes once in awhile. Eye doesn't clear up at all. I was going to try lysine before making another trip to vet. His other eye is fine. I have another cat who had none of these symptoms

Couple things, did they do bloodwork on your kitty?  Did they check his blood pressure?  Did they check the pressure in the eye?    It looks like scarring of some sort but it is hard to tell from the picture.  Herpes usually doesn't cause the scarring like that. 

No bloodwork first time they put drops in eye as it started off with little black specs on eye. They guessed it cldve been scratch or something irritating eye or could be heroes etc. it has obviously gotten worse over time. If anyone has a cat w these symptoms pls let me know if lysine worked.

Is the bottom eyelid turning in? Could be entropion. The lid could be rubbing on the eye which will cause an ulcer.

At 13 yrs old you should have known before now if he has the herpevirus, as it would be an intermittent, occassional flare-up kind of thing.

For the vet to be stumped seems odd to me. He was at first guessed it might be scratched?! It's an easy check for that, they simply drop this solution in his eye and it instantly shows if there is a scratch and how deep.

I can see by the scar tissue/discoloration this has been going on for a while now.

What has been done so far for treatment?

L-lysine is not your answer to his eye right now, it is healing the eye.

Then in the future, you can either give a daily supplement of it, or the minute you notice a recurrence coming on.

While herpe eye tears/discharge appear brownish red/pink, many times eye discharge has that same appearance.

If it is suspected to be herpevirus, he needs Idox. (Idoxuridine drops)

If your vet doesn't carry this, find one that does or at the least will order it for you.

Idox has literally saved countless eyes from being removed, and I mean this. In rescue I see lots and lots of herpevirus cats and untreated eyes. To the point that they are very swollen, bulging, caked with goop, filmy, unreal. Vigilant treatment with Idox has been a miracle for many, many cats and kittens.

They come in a small bottle, I pay around $35.00 each, it might be a bit more for non-rescue people, but so well worth it's weight!!

Testing for glaucoma and corneal ulcers is relatively inexpensive. Chances are most of us are going to suggest tests. That is the only way to get a handle on your kitty's health. L-lysine will work for feline herpes virus (FHV) and secondary conditions such as upper respiratory infections and conjunctivitis. But if FHV is not what's causing this, then l-lysine most likely will not help.

In this link (http://pets.webmd.com/cats/eye-problems-discharge-cats), the 5th bullet point down talks about what conditions can cause a cloudy eye.

If you Google "feline cloudy eye", there are many other helpful links that come up.

Salems eye has cleared up with the use if steroid eye drops. He now has another issue on upper lip which I believe is indolent ulcer. Vet gave injection of steroid prednisone which helped a lil but but I'm thinking he needs another shot & perhaps antibiotic. It was bleeding yest as he most likely scratched it. I hv vet apptmt tmrw. I posted a seperate nite on this issue.