# Persistent conjunctivitis



## jessamica8 (Aug 17, 2004)

Harley developed conjunctivitis awhile after I'd brought him home, and after having been exposed to the other cats. :? At first, the vet was not too concerned, as since he came from a shelter, it's a rather common ailment. The other cats have been for check-ups and both are fine, no signs of swelling/pinkness.

However, it's not going away for Harley. First we treated him with Terramycin for 10 days. Now, the Terramycin obviously burned, and his eyes actually looked WORSE after application, but the vet insisted this was normal. After 10 days, the problem was not gone, although the goopies had stopped altogether. His eyes were still quite pink, but even though I was convinced this was from irritation caused by the ointment, the vet switched him to Vetrachloracin for a 7 day treatment. I noticed the same problem with this, he looks worse after treatment - and he fights me worse when I apply it (I don't know if it's because it hurts more, or just because he's bigger can fight better). He finished this treatment yesterday, and the eyes are still swollen, but look considerably better already since I haven't applied the medicine in about 24 hours.

He has a checkup today. I'm worried the vet may want to try more medicine, and I don't think it's needed. His eyes don't goop or weep, except immediately after a treatment. Do you think it would be out of line if I insist on giving him a week without treatment? I'm planning on doubling his l-lysine dose (was doing 500 mg a day, now I'll do it twice) and keeping his face clean and of course I'll observe him carefully. I have a feeling it may go away, and that the swelling is just caused by the stinging of the ointment.

Any suggestions/tips?


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## Nini (May 6, 2007)

I know that eyebright tea usually works really well both on people and pets, for sore, infected eyes. I think you can buy it already in tea bag, or brew the herb yourself. There's more info under funny form here: http://www.paws-and-effect.com/pawsandeffect131.html

Hope this helps!


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Yes, I think I'd discontinue treatment, too, and just let the eyes settle down. Nini's suggestion sounds good. And maybe just plain eye drops (preservative-free artificial tears, not the "Visine" type drops.)


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Hey, the two kittens I recently fostered came with a terrible case of conjunctivitis, one was so bad her one eye was swollen and for the first two days would be crusted shut to the point where I'd have to get up in the morning with a warm cloth and drip water over it to moisten and then wipe away crust just to get her eye to open. It was awful. Her eye lids are swollen and jagged looking - I was in pain just looking at her. I was given two ointments, one was the Terramycin and another was a triple antibiotic eye ointment (almost like a triple anitbiotic you'd put on cuts, but it did say for eyes on it). I had noticed just like you said the Terramycin was extremely irritable. About an hour after application the whites of their eyes would be red and watery and it looked like they were in pain. I discontinued the terramycin and only used the triple antibiotic ointment combined with a course of clavamox. Within two days of discontinuing the terramycin and using the triple...the eyes looked much better. By the end of the week they looked perfect, you would never have know that these were the same two kittens. It was remarkable. You may want to inquire about some oral antibiotics and the triple antibiotic ointment and ditch the terramycin...


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## jessamica8 (Aug 17, 2004)

Thanks for the tips. Addfran, we did a 10 day dose of Clavamox with the initial Terramycin treatment, so I'm thinking we've covered our bases as far as clearing the ACTUAL infection. The vet agreed to discontinue the prescription ointments, and gave me some simple artificial tears which are supposed to just moisten and smooth. It's been over 24 hours now, and while the eyes are still a little puffy, they look much better already. Hopefully the infection's gone and this is just a case of easing the irritation caused by the medication.

I feel so bad for him as his eyes look so painful. Keep your fingers crossed for us that it goes away soon!


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Hopefully it will clear up now if the infection is gone, like you said the ***** stuff seems to have disappeared. How do the eyes look today?


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

You know, there's a possibility it could be allergies, too. Cats can be allergic to pollen, and it's that time of year.


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## jessamica8 (Aug 17, 2004)

He looks better today. It looks like most of the puffiness is gone now, although the eyelids surrounding the eye are still a bit pink. However, I wonder if maybe that's just partially because of his skin color there. It's hard to tell, Jax's eyes are ringed with black, and Tilak's solid gray around the eyes; Harley on the other hand is light in color still, and seems to have a white eye lining, so some of the pink may always be there (skin showing through) - at least until he darkens more.

Anyway, I'm not expecting instant improvement, but I think he looks good. This is the first morning I haven't seen a need to wash his face, although I did it anyhow. Usually I'd been giving him his third treatment just before bed, so his face would be a bit messy in the morning from the weeping and rubbing around of the ointment.  He's got a vet check next Monday, and the vet said he'd be able to tell by then if Harley's good to go, so I'm hoping for continued improvement. Looks good so far!


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## jessamica8 (Aug 17, 2004)

I was just comparing before and after photos, and thought I'd share. Obviously, in hindsight, as pink as I still think his eyes are, it's a huge improvement over what he looked like before.

Before (this warranted a late night ER visit) I woke up in the middle of night and he looked like this (after a face washing):









Today (again, a bit wet as I'd washed his little face):









Looks a lot better!


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Awwwwww....the poor little guy!!  It's really looking a lot better -- he looks like he's pretty miserable in that first shot.


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

awww ... he looks so sore in that first piccie. i hope he continues to feel better


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## jessamica8 (Aug 17, 2004)

Looking even better tonight. 

And he was really sore in the first pic, I think. I'd noticed his eyes were pretty red earlier that day, but I'd figured the vet could wait until morning. He woke me up in the middle of the night pawing at me and crying, and he couldn't seem to get comfortable, so we ended up in the pet ER. That was probably the worst of it, although he looked really miserable for a week or so.


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