Bacterial Conjunctivitis... Again

Hi!

I was looking for some insight from others as to how my 7 month old kitten, Syrup, contracted bacterial conjunctivitis for the second time.

Background:  Syrup was diagnosed with bacterial conjunctivitis in her right eye over 6 weeks ago. The veterinarian that diagnosed her assumed that she became infected when she was getting fixed at their hospital. She recovered from the infection in about 4 to 5 days, but now (47 days later) she has bacterial conjunctivitis in her left eye. I was wondering if this was due to the bacteria living in my apartment from the previous infection, if this is a symptom of something much worse, or whatever ideas you all may have? She is an inside cat and has no exposure to other felines other than my other cat (Pancake) who has never gotten conjunctivitis, and I am not around any other cats so I have no idea how she would have gotten it again. I cleaned and disinfected the entire apartment during and after the previous infection (including washing all rugs, sheets, anything she could have come in contact with) and I have been keeping up the same routine this time as well.

Medications: The first infection she was prescribed eye-drops (Neo/Poly-D) and I was instructed to give them to her 2-3 times a day. This worked very well and the infection cleared up very quickly. Now they have prescribed her, refusing to use the previous eye-drops, an ointment (Vetropolycin HC) that I am supposed to apply to her eye 3-4 times a day. 

I am very interested to hear feedback from you all, and I will keep this updated for anyone else who may be in the same situation as I am. I am a bit of a worrier so this may all be for nothing, but I'm sure everyone on this site cares as much for their cat as I do and will hopefully understand the concern!

Thank you for your time, I greatly appreciate it!

She probably has herpes and they're flair ups. 

I'd get her on a l-lysine supplement and see how she's does with that.

Otherwise she just had bad luck and got an eye infection again. Which could have come from a zillion different things...

Thank you for your reply!

I was really hoping it wasn't herpes, but since the antibiotics have been working I am not quite sure. I definitely am not going to rule it out though. It is just a bit odd that it came back after being gone for over a month. 

I remembered last night that I did not completely finish her prescribed eye-drops from the previous infection, and I have a small amount left (which is bad on my part). I had stopped a few days after it appeared to be gone. Could that have any connection to what is happening now? I wasn't sure since now it is in a different eye.

It's possible.... . Or she managed to get something in her eye and cause the infection. You might want to treat both eyes to be sure this time. It shouldn't hurt the good eye to get the meds either and that way you'll know for sure it's cleared up.

ReiKitty said:

 
She probably has herpes and they're flair ups. 

I'd get her on a l-lysine supplement and see how she's does with that.

Otherwise she just had bad luck and got an eye infection again. Which could have come from a zillion different things...

Click to expand...

That sparked my interest. I looked up the symptoms for that in it sounds oddly like what a formerly feral eight month old cat developed last week. I think he was in a fight with an older stray in the neighborhood that I broke up. I couldn't really tell it was him because the other cat looked black and white, he is grey and white but he showed up sick the next day. I have a vet appoint scheduled for Thursday to find out what is going on. Another cat/kitten also had a cold or respiratory infection but is doing better now.

After I started caring for the sick cat/kitten my cat came down with red watery eyes, seems lethargic and more agitated when he's usually very docile and gets along with other cats and people. His breath also smells funky and not like typical cat breath.

Something like fifty percent of cats are thought to have herpes, but in most kitties it's dormant. Stress and health issues are big triggers to cause it to flair up. 

I don't know if they actually have a test for it, but if they have eye infections or upper repositories that won't go away it's pretty much assumed to be herpes.  

It's very possible your cat caught a cold or something from the kitten. I'd keep an eye on him and if he gets worse I'd take him to the vet for some antibiotics but most likely he'll get over it on his own.

Hi!

It has been a few days so I thought that I might update the forum on the situation!

So I forget to mention that Syrup was also diagnosed with Keratitis both times, and she has been on antibiotics for about a week now. Unfortunately, for the first few days I was unaware I was putting the ointment on her eye incorrectly (I was spreading it on the outside, which is easy to rub off and most likely will not get into the eye).

Now I am doing it correctly. So she has for sure been getting the antibiotic for 4 days now.

ADDITIONAL INFO: She also does not have any discharge or sneezing whatsoever. She eats regularly, goes to the bathroom normally, and is extremely active. The only symptom of conjunctivitis she has is squinting. The first time she was diagnosed she did not squint at all though after the first day and the Keratitis was mainly what caught my eye whenever I looked at her.

The Keratitis was noticeable the second day and is already gone now. She squints a little bit every now and then and most of the time now her eye will look completely normal. I believe the antibiotics are helping her so hopefully this is some random bacterial infection, but if it occurs again or she is not healed in another week I am going to ask for her to be tested for anything viral.

I'm glad shes doing better.

Hopefully the meds clear it up 100% and she is herpes free!