Bacterial Conjuctivitis - How long will symptoms last?

Hey Y'all!

I just had a quick question. Three out of my seven cats have what the vet believes is bacterial "pink eye". He told me that I should be seeing a huge difference in 24 hours once they started Terramycin drops - and that was 24 hours ago. Their eyes aren't any worse, but they don't seem to be much better. Personally, I think that giving 24 hours for improvement is a little on the wishful thinking side. No harm in that, but I was wondering what a more realistic timescale is.

In two of the cats, it spread to both eyes just within the last few hours - which is normal, I know. And I think one of the kittens is showing symptoms as well. Which again is totally expected as the vet warned me that they all will probably get it before it's over and done with. He told me to treat with Terramycin drops as the cats start to show symptoms.

I might be getting it as well. It may just be a sympathetic illness, though, because everytime I look at my babies I just want to cry.

I don't want to wait too long if it seems like the medication may not be working, just because it could be quite a few other things that are causing their conjuctivitis. I know they're hurting a lot, but their spirits are still high.

Also, does anyone know if they can re-infect themselves by touching contaminated surfaces? I'll disinfect the entire house top to bottom if it'll keep them from getting this again! (But only if I have too. )

The vet was actually right. Terramycin usually works pretty much immediately if it is going to work - you can actually see visible improvement in just a couple of hours. It's really pretty amazing. If there is no improvement in another 24 hours, call the vet and ask about getting a different topical antibiotic.

my cat's conjuntivities didn't respond to antibiotics. what finally did it was an antiviral ointment, adding lysine to her morning meal and feliway to reduce stress. the vet thinks it was probably herpes.

It's because of the way it presented itself that he thinks it's bacterial, versus a virus. The first cat I brought in we actually all thought it was from an injury to the head. Blunt force trauma to the eye area - due the massive amount of swelling of the eye, lack of redness to the conjuctiva, and the amount of swelling of the surrounding area. He prescribed a general antibiotic ointment with steroids to help with the swelling, and told me to come back on Monday. By Saturday afternoon the right side of her head was twice as swollen as before, and we had talked about it maybe being a broken bone in her face, and to discontinue the meds anyway just to be on the safe side, in case it was a reaction to the steroids. I was to use cold compresses to help with the swelling until the office was open again on monday - and a few hours after that conversation, the other two cats broke with it.

I will admit, I have two kittens that were adopted with a medical waiver stating that they probably have herpes and are carriers. However, the rest of my cats were exposed in mid-October, and if they were going to show symptoms of anything, they would have done it long before now. (There were no stresses to have triggered an outbreak, and the kittens are perfectly fine right now as well.) Besides, the three cats that have eye problems now have no nasal symptoms at all.