Not quite sure what I saw (on his eye)

Ok, now my cat has herpes, was very ill with it in one eye last year. I have famciclovir and when his eye had a minor reoccurance last week I started it up again. He seems healthy otherwise. Drinking and eating and peeing etc fine. Playful.

Thing is, I'm not sure what I saw earlier this morning when I came home from work. I was about to feed him when his eye caught the light, and his cornea looked like it had a film on it. When I say film, it literally looked like a star shaped, shrunken spot on his cornea. Fearing keratitis, I put a drop of prednisilone in it, then I looked again and his cornea looks fine. Would a single drop prednisilone plump out an inflamed cornea (keratitis) and make it look normal, or is it possible I jumped the gun? We're in the middle of an ice storm, so I really I have no choice but to deal with this myself. I have all the meds from last March and the dates are still good, but I'm a little afraid of giving the prednisilone in a panic. He is in no obvious pain, which he was last year.

It's hard  to say whether you really saw what you thought you say, or whether the drop "fixed"it or what.  Can you at least CALL your Vet and discuss even though you can't get there, or is their office closed due to the storm? 

If you can't call them and no one else responds, then I guess your best course of action is to just monitor it and if to recurs, then medicate again...isn't that what you would normally do?

Mucus can build up and wash away if on the cornea. That can be easily removed or washed out. If it is a keratitis spot or worse an ulcer it will not disappear with one drop. It takes months of treatment to help with keratitis or ulcers. Some ulcers leave permanent scarring. I am an ophthalmic technician but I work with humans. If you started putting pred in then call your vet and discuss treatment or a taper. It's not good to just start and stop steroid drops.

amsnider82 said:

Mucus can build up and wash away if on the cornea. That can be easily removed or washed out. If it is a keratitis spot or worse an ulcer it will not disappear with one drop. It takes months of treatment to help with keratitis or ulcers. Some ulcers leave permanent scarring. I am an ophthalmic technician but I work with humans. If you started putting pred in then call your vet and discuss treatment or a taper. It's not good to just start and stop steroid drops.

Click to expand...

thank you for replying! Your words are giving me hope and that your an opthalmolic tech is even better! . Yes, last time he had conjunctivitis actually, but I'm rethinking the keratitis thing. I can't recall exactly but if he had it it was early, but oh boy he was in considerable pain; and it came on so fast--it had give from a normal herpes flare up to really bad in one night .

I have enough for another round of the drops but am monitoring for the very reason you cited. I won't apply another drop if I don't see anything on his eye again. The med requires very specific dosing and of course actually can make the herpes worse.

Yes, I'll self treat as needed, but I needed to hear about the cornea thing. It's supposedly painful and he showed zero discomfort. I'll need to refill the pill though, I'll be giving him that for several weeks anyway. Thank you both. I guess this is a wake up call...if your cat has herpes, always carefully examine his/her eyes daily.

hsv is common in both people and animals. Most happen quickly and are painful. It sounds like treatment is similar for cats But again. You should never just stop a steroid without monitoring. There can be rebound inflammation that happens. as well as a pressure spike in the eye when using steroids. The vet or Doctor should monitor when on a steroid eye drop.