My cat has had 3 corneal ulcers (same eye) in 4 weeks. The timeline-
4 weeks ago: 1st ulcer- ER visit, then a general vet visit the next day, and a recheck a week later. Given atropine at ER, prescribed Tobramycin 4x a day + an oral pain medication. Fluorescin stain showed it had healed..
2 weeks ago: 2nd ulcer- seemed to be the most painful.. crying when touched, pawing at eye (I put the ecollar on immediately after that), hiding.. this one I almost watched happen live.. 30 minutes prior she was squinting the eye a little bit.. 10 minutes after I followed her downstairs and she was sitting weird still squinting the eye.. so I tried to move her to somewhere where I could take a closer look. And then BOOM the crying, running away, pawing and it was fully shut and swelling red on the outside. These seem to progress very quickly (the only precursor seems to be a slight squint or a wink with some pinkness MINUTES before).. vet visit the next day. He was super concerned and recommended an ophthalmologist . At that time he gave me idoxuridine along with the tobramycin. She was on both for a week until she saw the ophthalmologist. At that point the ulcer had healed. Pressure test was normal. Op said it was likely to be a felineherpesvirus flare up and both eyes were infected. Idoxuridine 3x a day was to be continued for 3 weeks in both eyes.. a lysine paste was also recommended
Yesterday: 1 week after her ophthalmologist visit, it came back. Similar to the previous episode, I had observed her an hour before and not noticed it.. Then she came up to my room and she was fully holding the eye shut (1:30 am). I took her to the ophthalmologist 7 hours later. Ulcer was back.. idoxuridine was discontinued. Instead, tobramycin 3x a day + Oral pills were prescribed - 1 tablet famciclovir every 24 hrs, 1 gabapentin for pain every 12 hrs... recheck in 3 weeks.
They said the flare-up occurs due to stress. Before the first ulcer she DID have a dental visit where she went under anesthesia (for a scan and cleaning) I'd say the most stressful part was the car ride? 20 minutes. She was there with my older cat. Ofc I can't say how she was during her stay there.. (a few hours) but it was a small clinic and the vet is centered on making it a cat safe space. She's also very well behaved at the vets.. but this mightve been the catalyst I'm not sure.. and the only time I've seen her visibly stressed myself is during car rides (10-20 minutes) and when the 2nd ulcer occurred.
I'm just at a loss.. 6 vet visits in 4 weeks. is this really because of felineherpesvirus? I believe the ophthalmologist but my sister asked how they could be sure if they hadn't tested for it.. and I guess that's a good point I'm not really sure how this works.. does anyone have a similar experience? Could it be anything else?
4 weeks ago: 1st ulcer- ER visit, then a general vet visit the next day, and a recheck a week later. Given atropine at ER, prescribed Tobramycin 4x a day + an oral pain medication. Fluorescin stain showed it had healed..
2 weeks ago: 2nd ulcer- seemed to be the most painful.. crying when touched, pawing at eye (I put the ecollar on immediately after that), hiding.. this one I almost watched happen live.. 30 minutes prior she was squinting the eye a little bit.. 10 minutes after I followed her downstairs and she was sitting weird still squinting the eye.. so I tried to move her to somewhere where I could take a closer look. And then BOOM the crying, running away, pawing and it was fully shut and swelling red on the outside. These seem to progress very quickly (the only precursor seems to be a slight squint or a wink with some pinkness MINUTES before).. vet visit the next day. He was super concerned and recommended an ophthalmologist . At that time he gave me idoxuridine along with the tobramycin. She was on both for a week until she saw the ophthalmologist. At that point the ulcer had healed. Pressure test was normal. Op said it was likely to be a felineherpesvirus flare up and both eyes were infected. Idoxuridine 3x a day was to be continued for 3 weeks in both eyes.. a lysine paste was also recommended
Yesterday: 1 week after her ophthalmologist visit, it came back. Similar to the previous episode, I had observed her an hour before and not noticed it.. Then she came up to my room and she was fully holding the eye shut (1:30 am). I took her to the ophthalmologist 7 hours later. Ulcer was back.. idoxuridine was discontinued. Instead, tobramycin 3x a day + Oral pills were prescribed - 1 tablet famciclovir every 24 hrs, 1 gabapentin for pain every 12 hrs... recheck in 3 weeks.
They said the flare-up occurs due to stress. Before the first ulcer she DID have a dental visit where she went under anesthesia (for a scan and cleaning) I'd say the most stressful part was the car ride? 20 minutes. She was there with my older cat. Ofc I can't say how she was during her stay there.. (a few hours) but it was a small clinic and the vet is centered on making it a cat safe space. She's also very well behaved at the vets.. but this mightve been the catalyst I'm not sure.. and the only time I've seen her visibly stressed myself is during car rides (10-20 minutes) and when the 2nd ulcer occurred.
I'm just at a loss.. 6 vet visits in 4 weeks. is this really because of felineherpesvirus? I believe the ophthalmologist but my sister asked how they could be sure if they hadn't tested for it.. and I guess that's a good point I'm not really sure how this works.. does anyone have a similar experience? Could it be anything else?
