how long can conjunctivitis last?

hey everyone, i'm here with ANOTHER question! don't all you cat experts ever get tired of answering questions for all of us confused cat owners?

kay, so my 1 year old siamese mix was diagnosed with a u.r.i. and conjunctivitis in both eyes about two weeks ago. it seemed to be a pretty nasty viral infection... i had to take him to the vet twice! he was put on antibiotics and an eye ointment.

since then, i have given him all of the antibiotic and he has seemed to be getting very healthy very quickly again!

except that his left eye, although definitely NOT as bad as it once was (there were a couple days when he'd barely open his left eye and when he would, his third eyelid would be showing), still has a teeny tiny bit of the third eyelid showing in the bottom corner. he seems to be opening it just fine (although he does seem to close it more than his other eye when i scratch the top of his head or his ears), but i'm just a little worried. can a cat's third eyelid just naturally show a bit? i don't remember ANY of it showing before the infection... or could he STILL just be getting over conjunctivitis, even two weeks later?

i've been applying the eye cream as the vet instructed (twice a day, directly on his eye... i wash my hands, put a dot of the cream on my finger, and then try to dab the cream into his eye without letting my finger actually touch his eye), could i somehow be irritating his eye more by putting the cream in there like that? the instructions for the cream were to only use it for seven days, but i just assumed still using it in the unhealthy-looking eye would be a good idea! was this a mistake?

of course i would be calling the vet about this, but it really just struck me today exactly how much time has passed (considering the instructions were just for a week), and the vet that gave me the cream won't be open again until monday... should i just hold off on the cream until monday, or will that two days without it be enough for the eye infection to worsen?

i just want a healthy and happy cat, and although he has been acting normal, i know how important it is for him to have healthy eyes and i want to make sure i'm helping the situation by giving him the cream and not hurting him!


thanks in advance for your advice! i'm getting my digital camera back soon so i should be able to post kitty pictures in the picture forum soon! yay!

<3,
kali

ahh! i'm trying to do more research and find more answers online, and most seem to say that the conjunctivitis is like a chronic thing and he'll have eye problems all his life?

i HAVE to be understanding this wrong, right? my vet didn't say ANYTHING about it lasting any longer than the u.r.i.!

oh my!

One of my kitties had terrible conjunctivitis with his URI, and he still has somewhat 'weepy" eyes soemtimes.
This is IMO the type thing that can be chronic, but not a third eyelid showing. That would worry me, and I would have it looked at again.

You need to remember that the cream itself if going to make the eye look funny for a while and as long as you are putting it on his eye, he will look weepy.

Eye problems can sometimes be very difficult to clear up. Eye herpes often first appear with a URI and it can become a chronic condition.

Call your vet on Monday and get advise. If it is a chronic condition, there are long term treatments you can do for him. My Muddy has an eye herpe and is on Lysine paste pretty much permanently - low doses to help it from flaring up and higher doses when it actually does flare up. Fortunately he loves the stuff and begs me for it twice a day.