quick question about eye problem.

[wuzzy]

Hi there.

I took my cat to the vet last night because he eye was a little red goopy and squinty.  It didn't seem to bother her but I thought she should have it checked out.  The vet gave me Bacitracin neo poly ointment to put in there.  The vet gave her the first application and kitty seemed fine all night.  She also go rabies and distemper shots. Today before I've given her her second dose her eye looks a bit worse. Shes keeping it closed and its a little goopier. She is also more on guard today, maybe because she can't see so well.  Does the ointment make the eye seem worse at first? Should I go ahead and give her the second dose?  Vet is closed today and I would have to call the emergency number.  Also, could the shots be making her act funny?  Maybe soreness?  Thanks for any input you might have.

 

[wuzzy]

anyone?

 

[peaches08]

I'd call the emergency number and ask.

 

[happybird]

The effect of the ointment is not instantaneous, it takes a couple days for it to work. Plus, any time you put somthing in the eye, even medicine, there is the chance of more redness or irritation. . Definitely keep giving her the meds and if you don't see improvement in the next 24-48 hours, then I would call the vet. Eye problems always scare me!

Usually the side effects after vaccines are lethargy and a lighter appetite for a day, two days at the most.
I hope your kitty is feeling better soon

 

[wuzzy]

Thanks very much for the advice.  Its rough to see her like this. My daughter wants her playmate back.

DSCF9811-001.JPG

• wuzzy
• Nov 16, 2013

 

[stephanietx]

Sometimes things seem to get "worse" before they get better.  Like a previous poster mentioned, you'll need to give the medication time to work.  Hopefully, your little one will be back in playful mode soon.

 

[wuzzy]

I'm taking her back to the vet tonight. Vet says she may be allergic to one of the ingredients in the ointment. Vet did not test for herpes.  Is the difference between an infection and herpes obvious? Also she never took her temperature during the exam. Is that something that should of been done?  I didn't want to pull her eye open for the picture, but maybe this looks familiar to someone. The lid seems to be swollen all the way around and she keeps it closed except when shes jumping up or down from somewhere.

DSC_0355.JPG

• wuzzy
• Nov 18, 2013

 

[stephanietx]

Herpes often manifests itself as eye problems, upper respiratory infections, and/or rodent ulcers or any combination of those things.  Glad you're taking her back to the vet and hope you can find a medication that works.  We use gentimycin for nose and eye problems in my kitty.

 

[wuzzy]

Vet said its probably an allergy. Gave her a steroid injection and Tobramycin drops. We'll see.

 

[stephanietx]

Hope she's on the mend soon!

 

[snugglecat]

Poor baby, I hope she starts feeling better soon. Have you changed foods or added a new feed recently? I ask this because my cat is allergic to almost everything when it comes to food and she will rub her eye until it looks like your cat. I know now with in an hour of feeding her something new that she is allergic to something in it because she will rub her one eye and make it red and swollen. I learned the hard way when I didn't know what was going on with her eye, I waited until it was swollen shut and starting to bleed above her eye from rubbing it so much. Did the vet say if she was allergic to the medication you were putting in the eye or does he think it's food related?

 

[happybird]

How is your kitty doing today? I hope the new meds are working, she looks so swollen in the photo
Poor baby. I have never heard of a reaction to the neo poly eye meds before, usually it's a pretty straightforward fix.

 

[wuzzy]

Her eye was getting better after the steroid injection and the new meds (Tobramycin drops) on 11/18. It looked great in fact. It started to get bad again this past Friday and was back to its worst point yesterday.  I've skipped her last two doses and she is able to open it more now. I'm going to wait until Tuesday before I call vet again and see what happens. I'm thinking there was never any infection and any antibiotics are doing more harm than good. I'm two vet visits and $250 in and her eye is worse than before we took her in.  The only change we made to her diet was some treats we got but that was after her eye had already gotten worse. I'm going to stop those just in case.

 

[wuzzy]

Also, is lysine worth a shot? Vet says it doesn't look like herpes but at this point I'm not sure if she knows what shes doing at all.

 

[peaches08]

I don't think that it would hurt. I'd give the higher dosage that folks recommend for flare ups which is 500 mg twice a day.

 

[catspaw66]

It sure looks like herpes to me. I agree to start giving her 500mg of L-lysine twice a day. Make sure you give it 12 hours apart, as they metabolize it in the 12 hours. After a while, it becomes a habit to give it to them when you feed them.

 

[catwoman707]

Wuzzy, you know....something just doesn't seem quite right about this.......

As I read through your thread, well let me ask, did the vet THOROUGHLY open her eye and examine it, way under her lids to confirm there is nothing in there?

It might be because many years ago my old cat's eye was suddenly swollen and red, so I put some antibacterial ointment in it, and it seemed to make it worse/more irritated whenever I did.

Come to find out he has a foxtail waaay up under his upper lid, barely able to see it was there.

Removed it and that was that.

As far as the possible herpes-eye/lysine thing, your cat looks like an adult, and by now, unless you recently got her, you would already know if she has this recurring condition. Cats who, usually as kittens caught the herpevirus upper respiratory infection before they were vaccinated, and while they got over it then, it's still in their system and is dormant for the most part, showing an occasional runny eye or cold symptoms, especially when there is a stresser in their life like going on vacation and left alone, or a new dog, etc. that will bring it out of them and you will see the eye thing or a cold.

But if she has never had anything before like that, then I tend to think it's some other thing. Especially when you said how the med made it worse.

Is he SURE there is nothing going on in her eye? A tiny particle, something?

I wish I could see her eyeball, but we don't want to put her through that, it's already very sore, poor baby.

When you see her eyeball does it look normal? Anything different, red, swollen, inner lid showing, could she have gotten a scratch?

 

[wuzzy]

I'm not sure how well the vet checked for anything under her lid, but she did do the dye test and said it wasn't scratched.  She does have swelling under her eye and the rim of her eyelids are puffed up. The inner lid shows just a bit when we were holding her eye open for the meds.  It is goopy. Some greenish goop in the corners now and a sticky film over the eyeball, kind of like clear pudding skin if you know what I mean. 

I'm thinking I'm going to try a different vet.  I'm a bit worried that she'll have to be sedated for anyone to get a good look in there as shes a bit of a fighter. 

Should I go back to the eye drops in the meantime? When shes up and about I'll try to get a picture. 

Thanks for everyone's help and advice here.

 

[zoyalovescats]

My cat has the same thing as your cat. We are going to the vet tomorrow to get his eyes checked

 

[catspaw66]

Did you go? What did the vet say?