Herpes Eye in Cats: Need Some Help, Information

Hello, all-





Like many here, my 11 month-old kitten Grady has all the symptoms of herpes of the eyes. Grady, a shelter cat, was adopted by my husband and I this past October after our dear cat of 11 years Alex passed from complications of bowel disease. 





When we first brought him home, he had some of those back-to-back sneezing attacks herpes is famous for and one weepy eye. Over the past two months, our vet (who is also the vet of the shelter where we got Grady) tried a few antihistamines, some anti-viral and some antibiotic pills to treat the situation to no avail and then told us we were most likely dealing with herpes. After that news, I then started Grady on L-Lysine (thank you Cat Site!) and his sneezing dissipated and the one eye cleared. But now the other eye (his left) has started weeping furiously--much worse than the right one did, causing him last week to manage to rub all the hair from the corner of that eye, And the eye is still running wildly,





I again called the vet and this time discussed the idea of using both Cidofavir eye drops and Erythromycin eye ointment before bringing Grady to an ophthalmic vet as she had first suggested. Today is day two (only his 4th dose) and he seems a bit better, though the small cut in the corner of his left eye, of course, remains.





The only instruction the vet gave was that if the drops or ointment irritate the condition further to stop. My question is, should I be overly worried about that cut in the corner of his eye? Is that part of eye herpes symptoms or should that be treated separately?





Thanks for your help!

we are treating piglet as if she has herpes (when we suspected herpes, there wasn't an easy/affordable testing option) and she has responded well.  her left eye is more likely to be the weepy one but her right will get weepy once in a while.  sometimes when the virus is most active, piglet's left eye will get like super weepy and she will lose hair in the inner corner. i always feel bad for her but it never seems to bother piglet.  we have used terramycin at those times and it helps.  i don't know that i've seen any, like, CUTS in piglet's eye, but she's rubbed little spots raw in the past  still, never seems to bother her.

how much l-lysine are you giving?  we generally try to get piglet to ingest 250mg/daily (we're not always successful as she's the pickiest freaking cat ever), at least 500mg when she's symptomatic.  i have found l-lysine treats from pet naturals of vermont that have 250mg of l-lysine that piglet will eat.  she won't eat any of the viralys pastes/gels/powders, and is very picky with treats (seems to prefer certain textures over others and will leave what she doesn't like).  

Thank you for your input on your Piglet's experience.

It seems that Grady's eye are much like your Piglet's, since what I first thought was a "cut" in actually just the corner of his eye being rubbed raw and leaving it bright red. The good thing is, I have not once seen him go at his eye at all, so I am therefore hoping that the redness will fade quickly once the continual tearing is held at bay.

Today is day 2.5 of 5 days of  treating his eyes with the two eye meds, so we're hoping to see some improvement sometime early this coming week. 

In regard to Grady's L-Lysine dosage, we have him on 500 mg daily (250 mg given in his food at breakfast and dinner). Though he has been on the Lysine for about three weeks now, it in itself has not yet given him any noticeable improvement,

If this eye regiment brings him no relief, it seems we'll have to stress him even further with a trip to the cat oncologist an hour away from home at many dollars more than my regular vet's prices. I suppose we'll both be stressed if and when that day comes,

Does anyone have any idea how much an ocular vet charges nowadays?

FYI, i have spoken to vets who say up to 1000mg/day while symptomatic is safe - you may want to call your doctor and ask about that.  we're lucky that piglet seems to respond to 500mg/day.

Gradys Mommy said:

 
Thank you for your input on your Piglet's experience.

It seems that Grady's eye are much like your Piglet's, since what I first thought was a "cut" in actually just the corner of his eye being rubbed raw and leaving it bright red. The good thing is, I have not once seen him go at his eye at all, so I am therefore hoping that the redness will fade quickly once the continual tearing is held at bay.

Today is day 2.5 of 5 days of  treating his eyes with the two eye meds, so we're hoping to see some improvement sometime early this coming week. 

In regard to Grady's L-Lysine dosage, we have him on 500 mg daily (250 mg given in his food at breakfast and dinner). Though he has been on the Lysine for about three weeks now, it in itself has not yet given him any noticeable improvement,

If this eye regiment brings him no relief, it seems we'll have to stress him even further with a trip to the cat oncologist an hour away from home at many dollars more than my regular vet's prices. I suppose we'll both be stressed if and when that day comes,

Does anyone have any idea how much an ocular vet charges nowadays?

Click to expand...

http://www.vetvisionofva.com/fees.html
http://www.eye-vet.com/Frames/faq.htm

Our standard examination fee starts  at $135. This includes a complete ophthalmic examination of both eyes, using slit lamp biomicroscopy and indirect ophthalmoscopy and Tonometry (measures pressures of the eyes). Any additional diagnostic procedures that are indicated for your pet's particular problem (such as tear testing, fluorescein staining of the eye, etc.) are not included  in the standard examination and charges will be incurred for any other diagnostic tests in addition  to the standard examination fee.

When cataracts are suspected, we may or may not have to perform an ultrasound in addition to the complete ophthalmic examination, thus adding  $160 to your exam fee.

Thank you, Demot, for sharing that information. I'm not fully surprised at the cost (which really are not a lot of money if you happen to have some), and both my husband and I are more than happy to do anything I can to help getting Grady better. We love him to bits and he is family.