swollen eye- when to go to the vet?

I noticed my cat's eye had a little discharge when I got home from work yesterday ( 24 hours ago). When I got home today it had some more discharge and she tends to close it a little more then the other eye. I looked at it and it seems as though it is a little bit swollen but I cannot see anything obviously wrong with it. She is a young stray that we adopted last year when she had kittens on our patio. We took her to the vet in october to get her fixed and get her shots... the vet said she was about a year old. We didn't do any blood tests for feline diseases ( we figured if they had them it wouldn't make a difference in what we did so we didn't need to wast the money). We also kept two of the kittens from her litter. They do play rough sometimes ( I hate when they bunny kick each other's faces) so it could be a scratched eye, but we also had a stray with a swollen/cloudy eye jump on the window screen when she was sitting in the open window about 5 days ago. That same stray was also pretty friendly with my husband and me... but we were super careful to wash hands and changes clothes before we touched our cats if we touched her though. Oh, also, she is an indoor only cat. I can take pictures if anyone wants.

My question- what can I do for her and when should I become concerned (take her to the vet)?

I think @catwoman707  would ask what color the discharge is but we've seen some UGLY stuff here lately. I would guess if you could see the stray's eye was bad you should assume she caught something that needs some sort of intervention asap.

ps-if she's in contact with stray's in the window you might as well call her an outdoor cat!

Very highly likely that she has the uri herpevirus, extremely common, and only prevention is vaccinating very young kittens, although even with that, many have already been exposed from outdoor cats, multihoused cats and shelter/rescue cats.

There is also a carrier state where you wouldn't usually see any signs but it's there just the same.

It is not related to herpes at all, just a nickname for it because as human herpevirus is there for life, so is this uri in cats.

Once the initial uri (cold) symptoms are gone, and the cat has an adult/healthy immune system, this usually is enough to keep it at bay, but in times now and then of stress, it will show up just like your cats eye is suddenly. 

Treatment is an antibacterial eye ointment/terramycin, and/or antiviral eye drops.

An excellent supplement to help ward off these small occasional symptoms is L-lysine.

There is so much great information here on our site as well as many other places, even googling l-lysine, and it will explain it and the dosage.

It is an over the counter daily supplement.

If her eye is just a little irritated, you can use Visine-A in it and it will clear up quickly (my vet prescribed this in the past, I'm not just using human meds in animals without vet advice.)   If it doesn't, then it may be a virus and yes, L-lysine is good at keeping the herpes virus from growing, in people and in cats.  It has no taste to speak of and the tablets dissolve easily in water and can be mixed into her food. 

MyCat- It is just crusty beige discharge, like dried tears. Also, the exposure to the other stray was momentary... the window is about 4 feet off the ground and the cat jumped up on the screen which scared the heck out of all of us inside.. which scared the stray into jumping right back down. They are never left unattended with the open windows because we are aware of the dangers associated with possible exposure to strays. Would you still consider my cat an "outdoor" cat? 

CatWoman-  Do these eye symptoms have a chance of clearing up without antibacterial crops/ointment if it is uri herpevirus? If so, how long should I wait for it to clear on its own I before I should take her to the vet for eye drops? Can they do a blood test for this disease? If so, do you know how much it should cost? Thank you for your help!

no I would not...I would consider him an indoor cat with occasional exposure to potentially diseased visitors.

I finally was one day informed that to get a certain member's attention you page them thusly:

@catwoman707

paging catwoman...call for dr. catwoman...

mycatwasthebest said:

 
no I would not...I would consider him an indoor cat with occasional exposure to potentially diseased visitors.

I finally was one day informed that to get a certain member's attention you page them thusly:

@catwoman707

paging catwoman...call for dr. catwoman...

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Okay too funny! ..... call for dr. catwoman....     

It's cute actually

I wouldn't call your cat an outdoor cat, she is an indoor cat now. 

Her being a former outdoor cat however, she had exposure to viruses already, despite when she was spayed surely she was also given an fvrcp vaccine. Once it's in them, it's always going to be, but like I said formerly, you won't usually see signs of it until some stressor happens. Then it will pop out, just like this.

If the stray you mentioned who jumped on the screen with the cloudy eye was her former pal, believe me, this virus gets all around, as easily to strays as air is to us, literally.

It's not deadly or dangerous except for young kittens. However if at some time she seems to have come down with a cold, it's a good idea to get her on an antibiotic if it doesn't clear on it's own within a week, OR if symptoms seem to get any worse than initially. This is to prevent secondary bacterial infections from taking over, making her much more sick. Cats, unlike people oftentimes get secondary bacterial infections from viral upper respiratory issues.

Whether or not she had a cold when you first got her, or it happened at some point during kittenhood, guaranteed she has had a uri. Highly likely while still a young kitten.

As far as if it will go away on it's own, not usually. It's not comfortable for her to have the eye irritation, but it's not horrible at this point either, so if it's not easy to take her in right away, it won't hurt to give it a few days to see if it clears, but doubtful. 

BUT....please do not allow this to get worse! As soon as you see it more swelled/redness/irritated, or increased squinting, don't wait. It is capable of getting much worse, and harder to get rid of later.

I always recommend terramycin first, it's excellent and works incredibly fast. But lately I have heard vets not having it and so prescribing a substitute antibiotic eye ointment.

If you have a regular vet, he MAY not ask you to bring her in, he might just have you pick up the tube from the office, saving the visit cost.

Once the eye is completely clear and normal again, continue treating for at least a full 3 more days, to be sure the bacteria is completely gone. Otherwise soon enough it will start to return.

Save that eye ointment!

I highly recommend the lysine supplement, this is wonderful at preventing further recurrences.

Daily dosed.

I also meant to say, crusty beige/dried tears look is just what it would look like.

NOTE:  I've heard the same thing about vets not having the eye ointment.  When I told my vet I was using it, he asked where I got it because he couldn't get it.  I said my usual place EBAY!  There's tons of it available there.

Thank you Red Top and CatWoman! I don't want to say it too loud, but I am not seeing any discharge or swelling today (today is my day off) and she doesn't seem to be closing it more than the other one anymore.

That other stray is actually very similar to my cat-- my neighbor finds a kitten in the spring and 'cares' for it and it ends up pregnant within a few months. Last year the cat had the kittens on our patio because the neighbor just locked her outside when she went away for a week and a half. The neighbor then gave the cat and the kittens to us upon her return. Fast forward 10 months and here we are with Bub and two of her kitties. This year we got proactive and had the kitty fixed after she woke us up with her 'boyfriends' one morning last month. This female cat was the one who jumped on the window...I still consider her a stray even though the neighbor is 'caring' for her.  The poor thing is so young and just wants some love so we are trying to find a home for her. 

So anyway, back to my cat- I'll keep an eye on her eye ( hahaha) and if it doesn't continue to look better I'll make her an appointment. I will also look into lysine supplements... We feed homemade raw so it will just be one more thing in the mix (as long as it can be frozen).

Again, thank you thank you thank you!

pisces7386 said:

 
Thank you Red Top and CatWoman! I don't want to say it too loud, but I am not seeing any discharge or swelling today (today is my day off) and she doesn't seem to be closing it more than the other one anymore.

That other stray is actually very similar to my cat-- my neighbor finds a kitten in the spring and 'cares' for it and it ends up pregnant within a few months. Last year the cat had the kittens on our patio because the neighbor just locked her outside when she went away for a week and a half. The neighbor then gave the cat and the kittens to us upon her return. Fast forward 10 months and here we are with Bub and two of her kitties. This year we got proactive and had the kitty fixed after she woke us up with her 'boyfriends' one morning last month. This female cat was the one who jumped on the window...I still consider her a stray even though the neighbor is 'caring' for her.  The poor thing is so young and just wants some love so we are trying to find a home for her. 

So anyway, back to my cat- I'll keep an eye on her eye ( hahaha) and if it doesn't continue to look better I'll make her an appointment. I will also look into lysine supplements... We feed homemade raw so it will just be one more thing in the mix (as long as it can be frozen).

Again, thank you thank you thank you!

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VERY welcome!!

Yep, just add the lysine in the mix

@Red Top Rescue  just an fyi-a few months back, unfortunately ebay stopped selling it for some darn reason,  I get it straight from Turkey now. Order a ton at once, super cheap too but allow a good 3+ weeks to get it.

Well, it's back on eBay again.  My search just now for "terramycin ointment" brought up 114 results.  Half of the ones listed come from Thailand, and they have no outer box.  The rest are from US sellers, some with boxes, some without.  Prices vary widely, as do quantities.  If you use a lot, best deals are for multiples.  Thailand is of course cheaper.  Expiration date when mentioned is 2018.  It's probably like the "flea kits" they banned because Bayer didn't like it, but people will always find a way, so now there is one person who calls it FLEX-KIT and doesn't mention Advantage at all, and the Frontline ones are still OK as long as the "flea" and "kit" do not appear next to each other evidently.   The guy who does Flex Kit got clever and mixes in a little baby oil and repackages his with printed labels and seems to be doing a huge business.    I used to do a modest business with these, buying the large amounts and selling half in kits, thus making enough to keep my own group in flea meds for free, but Bayer's directive killed it.  So annoyiing. 

Wow it sure is back!! What the heck was up with that?!! Crazy......

Well great to know!! I've been buying it there for years