Cat Eye Issues

[completecatnovice]

Hello all! Was wondering if anyone can give any suggestions as to the cause of a cat eye issue and/or steer me towards solutions.

As background- kitty has been a stray for at least 8 years (according to the neighbors). I moved to the neighborhood about 10 months ago and have been feeding him for the last few months. He has had pink rims around his eyes with discharge in the corners that comes and goes ever since I first saw him 10 months ago. The left eye is always worse than the right. His eyes seemed to have improved slightly since I've been feeding him and letting him sleep inside at night. Perhaps it is the nicer weather, or perhaps he is less stressed knowing he can get away from the other neighborhood cats at night.
He was on a wait list for a TNR clinic, but I finally gave up waiting and took him to a vet a week ago for shots and to take a look at his eyes. The vet told me it might be feline herpes, sold me some expensive lysine treats, and told me if there's no improvement in three weeks (when I come back for his booster shots) they would do a stain to check for scratches on his eye. The vet did not seem very concerned.

I am attaching 2 photos so you can see the left eye in it's current state as well as what it looks like when there is more discharge.

I guess my questions are:
1. Does this look like feline herpes?
If you Google photos of feline herpes eye infections you'll get pictures that look different than what I'm seeing here. Also, he doesn't sneeze or have nasal discharge or have any lesions on the eye itself. So I'm wondering if anyone has had a cat with confirmed feline herpes whose eye has looked like this?

2. If it is herpes, is Lysine even effective? Research suggests it is not? I'm not really seeing any further improvement with the $20 or so of Lysine treats he has ingested over the last week (although he does think they are delicious, so at least he is happy about the treatment).

3. Aren't there other (better) medications for feline herpes?

4. Should I be concerned that my vet hasn't suggested any testing or treatment for bacterial or fungal infections?

5. Isn't there a specific herpes test that can be given instead of just waiting to see if the Lysine works?


I picked this vet because they are comfortable with strays and ferals and because they are 40 min closer than the vet I've been taking my dogs to for several years. I wonder if I should schedule a second opinion with my old vet. Technically kitty's next appointment is actually with a tech, not the vet, so I'm concerned there isn't going to be a lot of diagnostic work next time either...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[neely]

First, let me thank you for trying to help this darling stray cat. Second, here is an Article regarding Feline Herpes & Lysine that may be helpful for you:
Feline Herpes And Rhinotracheitis
And another that discusses eye problems in cats:
Eye Problems In Cats: What Every Owner Needs To Know

I agree with you about your concern that kitty's next appointment is with a tech and not the vet. Just out of curiosity, why isn't the cat being examined and treated by a vet? A second opinion with your old vet is a good idea if you can't get an appointment with the new vet. Wishing you the best of luck. Please keep us updated on your progress.

 

[silkenpaw]

Let me second neely in thanking you for helping this stray cat. He looks well-taken care of.

I’m not so crazy about the appointment with the vet tech, not the vet, especially with non-resolved issues. There are antiviral eye drops or oral meds your cat could be given if the thinking is virus. Also antibiotic eye drops in case it’s bacterial. Me, I’d take him to the vet I trust.

Good luck. What’s the cat's name?

 

[catlover73]

Thank you for taking great care of this very adorable stray. I do not have experience with feline herpes personally. I do have experience with eye infections in cats though. Is there any eye discharge and if so what color is it? I am not a vet but based on my experience with my own cats eye infections tend to present green or yellow discharge instead of clear discharge. I do not know if feline herpes follows the same pattern.

I agree about getting a 2nd opinion from a vet you trust. I have never treated feline herpes in my cats. None of my vets have ever pushed lysine treats on me as a way to treat eye infections. My cats have always been given antibiotic eye ointments to treat this issue.

I do not like the follow-up appointment being scheduled with a tech when this is an on-going issue. I am also not comfortable with the vet suggesting giving any vaccines to a cat that may have an eye infection. Two of my cats had their vaccines re-scheduled due to eye issues per different vets over the years. The vets told me they do not vaccinate cats when they are sick.

 

[completecatnovice]

Thanks everyone for your great information! Going to read those articles now....

To answer the questions-
He saw a Vet the first time, but is referred to the tech for the follow up since the follow-up is mostly for booster shots/deworming.
The discharge looks clear, although it leaves a reddish tear stain on his paw where he wipes the corner of his eye. I don't ever see anything on the eye itself. It is just that the rim around his eye is always pink and he accumulates some clearish/reddish goo in the corner.
His name is Carlton and he is a very sweet boy.
I think I will be taking him to my old vet and asking about anti-viral drops, etc. The new vet seemed really rushed and they were so busy I had to wait over an hour past my appointment time.

 

[CatLover49]

Thanks everyone for your great information! Going to read those articles now....

To answer the questions-
He saw a Vet the first time, but is referred to the tech for the follow up since the follow-up is mostly for booster shots/deworming.
The discharge looks clear, although it leaves a reddish tear stain on his paw where he wipes the corner of his eye. I don't ever see anything on the eye itself. It is just that the rim around his eye is always pink and he accumulates some clearish/reddish goo in the corner.
His name is Carlton and he is a very sweet boy.
I think I will be taking him to my old vet and asking about anti-viral drops, etc. The new vet seemed really rushed and they were so busy I had to wait over an hour past my appointment time.

Did u ever find out what was wrong??Cause my cat is havn similar problem.....

 

[CatLover49]

Thanks everyone for your great information! Going to read those articles now....

To answer the questions-
He saw a Vet the first time, but is referred to the tech for the follow up since the follow-up is mostly for booster shots/deworming.
The discharge looks clear, although it leaves a reddish tear stain on his paw where he wipes the corner of his eye. I don't ever see anything on the eye itself. It is just that the rim around his eye is always pink and he accumulates some clearish/reddish goo in the corner.
His name is Carlton and he is a very sweet boy.
I think I will be taking him to my old vet and asking about anti-viral drops, etc. The new vet seemed really rushed and they were so busy I had to wait over an hour past my appointment time.

I know this is an old post but my cat has a similar issue almost identical..Did u ever find what the problem was..

 

[CatLover49]

Thank you for taking great care of this very adorable stray. I do not have experience with feline herpes personally. I do have experience with eye infections in cats though. Is there any eye discharge and if so what color is it? I am not a vet but based on my experience with my own cats eye infections tend to present green or yellow discharge instead of clear discharge. I do not know if feline herpes follows the same pattern.

I agree about getting a 2nd opinion from a vet you trust. I have never treated feline herpes in my cats. None of my vets have ever pushed lysine treats on me as a way to treat eye infections. My cats have always been given antibiotic eye ointments to treat this issue.

I do not like the follow-up appointment being scheduled with a tech when this is an on-going issue. I am also not comfortable with the vet suggesting giving any vaccines to a cat that may have an eye infection. Two of my cats had their vaccines re-scheduled due to eye issues per different vets over the years. The vets told me they do not vaccinate cats when they are sick.

I read u have experience with eye infections..I know this is an old post..but what does this look like to u??

 

[catlover73]

I read u have experience with eye infections..I know this is an old post..but what does this look like to u??View attachment 286915

Keep in mind I am not a vet or vet tech. I looked at the photo but I am not seeing any actual discharge. To me the area around the eye looks inflamed. It also looks like the skin is irritated under the eye. I would suggest you see if you can send this picture to your vet. If not I would suggest you take your cat in for a check-up. This is not something I have seen personally with my cats when they have had eye infections. The eye infections I have dealt with in my cats were related to upper respiratory infections. It would not be surprised if there are other things that I do not have experience with that could cause eye infections.

My suggestion is to at least show this picture to your vet. If that can not be done if this were my cat I would be going to the vet for an exam. I would not wait for discharge.

 

[completecatnovice]

Did u ever find out what was wrong??Cause my cat is havn similar problem.....

Hi. Your kitty is adorable! To answer your question- I never got a definitive response from my vet, but I assume it is/was some sort of feline virus like herpes because I've been giving him l-lysine for the past year or so and his eyes cleared up nicely.

I should note that I order the l-lysine powder from Amazon now and mix it in with his wet food twice a day. It is much cheaper this way and I can be sure that he ingests it. (He got pretty fussy with the treats after a few months and his eyes did not totally clear up until after I started with the powder and made sure he was getting his lysine regularly.)

I can't say from the photo that your cat's eye looks like mine did. It is hard to tell. I just took a look at my old photos and realized they don't look as bad as they did in real life. In real life the tissue around his eyes was much redder and more inflamed looking than my photos show. The discharge in my photos was pretty accurate though.

Anyway, I'd definitely take your kitty to the vet just to be sure it isn't an eye injury or an infection. Could be a lot of things: allergies, mites, debris in the eye that is causing temporary watering, an eye injury, or a viral or bacterial infection...

Sorry I can't be more helpful, and best of luck!

 

[CatLover49]

Hi. Your kitty is adorable! To answer your question- I never got a definitive response from my vet, but I assume it is/was some sort of feline virus like herpes because I've been giving him l-lysine for the past year or so and his eyes cleared up nicely.

I should note that I order the l-lysine powder from Amazon now and mix it in with his wet food twice a day. It is much cheaper this way and I can be sure that he ingests it. (He got pretty fussy with the treats after a few months and his eyes did not totally clear up until after I started with the powder and made sure he was getting his lysine regularly.)

I can't say from the photo that your cat's eye looks like mine did. It is hard to tell. I just took a look at my old photos and realized they don't look as bad as they did in real life. In real life the tissue around his eyes was much redder and more inflamed looking than my photos show. The discharge in my photos was pretty accurate though.

Anyway, I'd definitely take your kitty to the vet just to be sure it isn't an eye injury or an infection. Could be a lot of things: allergies, mites, debris in the eye that is causing temporary watering, an eye injury, or a viral or bacterial infection...

Sorry I can't be more helpful, and best of luck!

They did a scraping under his eye recently ...came back NEGATIVE for mites..parasites...fungus..etc..and hes on L lysine..the gel like in tube from vet...And my vet is assumed its herpes by clinical signs..and hes been on antibiotic..it would go away some n came back..but its getting better now..hope it continues..but I know the ointments the vet gave me made it worse n redder n more inflamed..all the ointments didn't help..AT ALL..so im stopped them..the vet said give it a few weeks of nothing being done..to it..n see what happens..its looking better..if it does it again..shes talking a biopsy..on that area under his eye...one other thing..how long did it take for ure kittys eye to get better???And u just used L lysine..???