2 year old cat recently got a brown substance stuck around her left eye

[unkeptbroom]

My cat always has had watery eyes/discharge ever since we got her from the animal shelter. We brought it up with a vet and they gave our cat some eye cream and said so long as you keep cleaning it, it shouldn't be a problem.

Just last night, our cat recently got this brown gooey substance stuck around her eyelid. She seems fine, doesn't appear to be in any pain and the eye itself looks fine. See photos.

Just want a second opinion if this warrants a visit to the vet. Because everywhere I lookup, this eye discharge on cats thing seem to vary so much that I cannot tell if this is aserious or not.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I wouldn't say this is an emergency or anything like that. Were you able to get that gunk out of her eye? Are you continuing with the daily cleaning? What I would do is send that 2nd picture to your Vet and ask them if you should be doing anything else. Did they ever diagnose her with anything specific, possibly Feline Herpes? It really isn't normal for you to need to clean her eyes on a daily basis. Certain breeds do require it, but she doesn't appear to be that type. Many cats with Feline Herpes are on a dailly regime of L-Lysine which helps keep things like eye issues at bay.

 

[IndyJones]

Is this cream the stuff you have to put inside the lower eyelid? If it is you could be making it worse. Indy has eye discharge frequently and was initially given tetracycline buy the organization I adopted her from.

When I took her to her current vet she told me I was actually making Indy's eye worse by using it. Turns out Indy likely has a scarred tear duct from a herpes infection.

 

[unkeptbroom]

I wouldn't say this is an emergency or anything like that. Were you able to get that gunk out of her eye? Are you continuing with the daily cleaning? What I would do is send that 2nd picture to your Vet and ask them if you should be doing anything else. Did they ever diagnose her with anything specific, possibly Feline Herpes? It really isn't normal for you to need to clean her eyes on a daily basis. Certain breeds do require it, but she doesn't appear to be that type. Many cats with Feline Herpes are on a daily regime of L-Lysine which helps keep things like eye issues at bay.

Thanks for your reply. Decided to bite the bullet and took her to the vet. They said they could not detect any bacteria in her eye and that it seems to be just an inflammation. Removing the gunk is easily done, but in an hour or so it comes back but it's not as severe. She is now on anti-biotics and will be given eye cream for about a week.

The vet suggested to get a blood sample to determine if she has something like herpes or FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) which would explain why she gets a lot of eye discharge. She doesn't seem to be in any discomfort but she is keeping that eye half open. Eventually we will look into getting her blood tested and see the results. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

If you got her from a shelter, she should have already been tested for FIV, AND vaccinated against it, but of course,vaccinations are not 100% guarantee. My guess is Herpes, which is extremely common. We have many threads about it here on TCS.

 

[unkeptbroom]

Is this cream the stuff you have to put inside the lower eyelid? If it is you could be making it worse. Indy has eye discharge frequently and was initially given tetracycline buy the organization I adopted her from.

When I took her to her current vet she told me I was actually making Indy's eye worse by using it. Turns out Indy likely has a scarred tear duct from a herpes infection.

It is that type of cream you described. We took her to the Animal Emergency Centre where I live because it was during a public holiday and everywhere else was closed. The veterinarian there physically gave us the cream and instructed us on how to use it after examining her eye and the gunk that came out via microscope. I will not rule out a herpes infection and will take your opinion into account, but I will at the moment continue with the treatment our vet suggested and see how it goes from there. Thanks.

 

[unkeptbroom]

If you got her from a shelter, she should have already been tested for FIV, AND vaccinated against it, but of course,vaccinations are not 100% guarantee. My guess is Herpes, which is extremely common. We have many threads about it here on TCS.

I might call up the place where we got her from to confirm about her being tested (in Australia, rules might be different down here). The vet we saw did not mention herpes at all after physically inspecting her and the gunk via medical equipment; surely he would have known if it might be Herpes at the time.

We'll see how her eye is after the treatment ends. If it still persists, might look for a local animal ophthalmologist for further examining. If it is the herpes virus, l-lysine for life seems to be the answer.

 

[unkeptbroom]

If you got her from a shelter, she should have already been tested for FIV, AND vaccinated against it, but of course,vaccinations are not 100% guarantee. My guess is Herpes, which is extremely common. We have many threads about it here on TCS.

Sorry to bother again, but I also would like a second opinion on something. We recently adopted another cat about a month ago and has been playing aggressively with our current cat (the black one with the eye problem). There are instances where we see our kitten biting her face while she is sleeping and swatting. The relationship is mutual and they are play-fighting not fighting-fighting. Could it be possible the kitten managed to land a hit or a scratch near her left eye, which caused the inflammation? Again, I am going off on what the vet told us in how he couldn't find any bacteria and that the eye just got extremely irritated on night.

 

[IndyJones]

It is that type of cream you described. We took her to the Animal Emergency Centre where I live because it was during a public holiday and everywhere else was closed. The veterinarian there physically gave us the cream and instructed us on how to use it after examining her eye and the gunk that came out via microscope. I will not rule out a herpes infection and will take your opinion into account, but I will at the moment continue with the treatment our vet suggested and see how it goes from there. Thanks.

This cream is used to treat bacterial infections (antibiotics) if this is a physical injury or viral the cream won't have much if any effect.

I'm not saying you shouldn't follow your vet's advice I'm just speaking from my own experience.

In Indy's case her weepy eye is caused by a blocked tear duct and has been this way since she was a kitten. Doesn't bother her but it affects her sense of smell sometimes and it's kind of messy.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Sorry to bother again, but I also would like a second opinion on something. We recently adopted another cat about a month ago and has been playing aggressively with our current cat (the black one with the eye problem). There are instances where we see our kitten biting her face while she is sleeping and swatting. The relationship is mutual and they are play-fighting not fighting-fighting. Could it be possible the kitten managed to land a hit or a scratch near her left eye, which caused the inflammation? Again, I am going off on what the vet told us in how he couldn't find any bacteria and that the eye just got extremely irritated on night.

Yes, this could absolutely be what happened to cause the change in the discharge, but wouldn't be the cause of the watery eye, since she's always had that.. I would think though that your Vet would have been able to see a scratch or something on the eye, but maybe it takes a special animal opthamologist (yes they are out there) to determine that.