conjunctivitis.. HELP!!

[lavlav123123]

Long story ahead but I would appreciate advice/info from anyone who has been through this. got our cat luna from a shelter when she was 8 months old. A few weeks later, her third eyelid was completely covering her left eye. Took her to the vet, he said she had scratched her eye, gave us eye drops. One week later, her eye was very swollen. Took her to vet again, he said he can’t really see a reason why it’s swollen but it is tender, so he gave us new eye drops, ones that were anti-bacterial and also a steroid. Seemed to get better, and we used the drops like he said for 2 weeks. Wednesday I came home and her eye looked like something was in it and it was very watery. Took her into the vet, and so now he thinks that when she was a kitten, she probably contracted Chlamydia and now has conjunctivitis in one eye. He said it comes and goes and when it flares up, we need to use the eye drops. He also said to go buy L-Lysine, an amino acid, and she gets that once a day in her food. That was on Wednesday. This morning when I woke up (Friday) her eye was all swollen again and her third eyelid was over it. We gave her an eye drop but I just hate to think that this is how her life is going to be. Has anyone else had a cat with conjunctivitis? Is this normal?? We are debating taking her to another vet and seeing what they say. I just can’t see how it’s good for her eye to be swollen like that, and I hate thinking about her dealing with that all of the time.

 

[peapie]

Poor little lamb! Eye problems can take a while to sort out. Conjunctivitus is fairly common in cats, just like it can be in kids if they're prone to it. We have a young cat who has been through it twice already, but the drops generally work pretty well. It sounds like something else is going on with your baby though because there must be an underlying reason for his eye to be that bad. To be honest I'd get a second opinion. Our cat Matthew had eye issues when he was younger and it turned out to be a latent herpes virus that he probably contracted either in utero or when he was born. Any medication containing a steroid caused it to flare up in a big way. Within hours he would develop an eye ulcer and be climbing the walls and off we'd go in the middle of the night to the emergency vet. After several times of having this happen we were referred to a veternary opthomologist and they were the ones who finally figured out the problem with the steroids. If you aren't seeing improvement it never hurts to get a second opinion, and any vet worth their salt shouldn't mind because it's the welfare of your kitty that's most important. Good luck and let us know what happens with your baby!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

 
Long story ahead but I would appreciate advice/info from anyone who has been through this. got our cat luna from a shelter when she was 8 months old. A few weeks later, her third eyelid was completely covering her left eye. Took her to the vet, he said she had scratched her eye, gave us eye drops. One week later, her eye was very swollen. Took her to vet again, he said he can’t really see a reason why it’s swollen but it is tender, so he gave us new eye drops, ones that were anti-bacterial and also a steroid. Seemed to get better, and we used the drops like he said for 2 weeks. Wednesday I came home and her eye looked like something was in it and it was very watery. Took her into the vet, and so now he thinks that when she was a kitten, she probably contracted Chlamydia and now has conjunctivitis in one eye. He said it comes and goes and when it flares up, we need to use the eye drops. He also said to go buy L-Lysine, an amino acid, and she gets that once a day in her food. That was on Wednesday. This morning when I woke up (Friday) her eye was all swollen again and her third eyelid was over it. We gave her an eye drop but I just hate to think that this is how her life is going to be. Has anyone else had a cat with conjunctivitis? Is this normal?? We are debating taking her to another vet and seeing what they say. I just can’t see how it’s good for her eye to be swollen like that, and I hate thinking about her dealing with that all of the time.

You might definitely think about taking her to an animal opthamologist to have it checked out.   There are several eye issues that drops alone can't resolve, as mentioned above.  One is that their fur actually touches their eyes, and this requires a permenent intervention either in the form of freezing (I guess to remove some of the fur

) or eyelid surgery.  Sometimes it's Feline Herpes, which is usually helped with the L-Lysine (normally given TWICE a day, every day, and then during flare-ups the amount given is increased, but still only twice a day.  How much did your Vet recommend you give?)  Or it could be she has Corneal Ulcers.  Was that mentioned at all? 

 

[lavlav123123]

The vet said to give her 250 mg a day. The pills I got are 500 mg, so I have been cutting them in half and giving her one with each dinner meal. Do you think I should up it? Her eye has gone back down but it is still not 100%. You can always tell that it is maybe 90% open while her other eye is 100% open. it doesn't seem to bother her but it still doesn't seem normal?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

 
The vet said to give her 250 mg a day. The pills I got are 500 mg, so I have been cutting them in half and giving her one with each dinner meal. Do you think I should up it? Her eye has gone back down but it is still not 100%. You can always tell that it is maybe 90% open while her other eye is 100% open. it doesn't seem to bother her but it still doesn't seem normal?

For cats who have Feline Herpes, the "maintenance dose" of L-Lysine is 250 mg twice a day, morning and night.  If they have a flare up, then the dosage is normally increased to 500 mg, twice a day.  At least, that seems to be the normal protocol with the folks here on TCS.