Kitty's reoccuring eye problem...

[juni's mom]

I am so sad that my kitty's sick again

...His teary red eye is back! It must be itchy and hurtful since he keeps rubbing and blinking his eye from time to time. Also he's got a runny wet nose even though his sneezing as stopped oddly enough.

When we adopted the 8 weeks old kitty, his left eye was already red and crusty from the eye discharge. Otherwise, he was full of energy with a very healthy appetite. So we thought maybe it was just a scratched eye. He didn't seem to be bothered that much from it. Then, there was a flea bath. We were told it's okay to give the kitten a flea bath by an 'expert'. I was very nervous about it and...well, the kitty started sneezing after that day and both of his eyes started suffering from a bad eye discharge. The poor thing's eyes were so red I couldn't even tell his eye color.

So We took him to the vet a couple of weeks ago and treated him with Clavamox and Triple antibiotic eye ointment for a while.It definately stopped the eye discomforts in 2 days including the conjunctivis on both of his eyes . However, the antibiotics couldn't stop his sneezing.

Then, his red teary eye came back a couple of days ago, the day before his vet appointment. We thought the progress on his eye problem was 100% and he was finally ready for the vaccines.

I am so confused what could've happened to him.That day, he spent most of the day at the window side having so much fun. I didn't usually let him be up there for fear he would fall...

Could he have a herpes virus? My other cats seem to be fine for now. One of them lost his voice for a while but it's back now. Is there anybody who've been through the same situation that I am into?????

 

[yosemite]

I'm so sorry to hear your little fellow is not doing well.

I'm hoping the vet can sort out what is wrong with him.

What shampoo did you use on him? Was it one from a vet? Even though the over-the-counter shampoos say they are safe, they aren't always safe. One also has to be careful about who is an "expert" and who isn't. It can be difficult to know when one person says one thing and another says something else. It is best to check with your vet before doing anything or giving anything to your kittens as they are very tiny and very delicate.

I'm hoping your visit to the vet will clear up your problems sooner rather than later.

 

[juni's mom]

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I'm so sorry to hear your little fellow is not doing well.

I'm hoping the vet can sort out what is wrong with him.

What shampoo did you use on him? Was it one from a vet? Even though the over-the-counter shampoos say they are safe, they aren't always safe. One also has to be careful about who is an "expert" and who isn't. It can be difficult to know when one person says one thing and another says something else. It is best to check with your vet before doing anything or giving anything to your kittens as they are very tiny and very delicate.

I'm hoping your visit to the vet will clear up your problems sooner rather than later.

Thank you, Yosemite. well...the vet visit didn't help the matter... all we got was a big fat vet bill in the end due to some ridiculous tests they did. I don't think it was the shampoo since this eye problem kept happening every couple weeks. When we thinks we got rid of it with antibiotics and eye ointment, it comes back! My other adult cats seem to be still fine but I am afraid this time the others might catch this virus from the kitten. Sometimes he gets this sneezing attacks and then, it stops for a while. When he gets all anxious, he sneezes. Of course, he tends to do that a lot in front of the other cats for some reason...

I am kind of at a lost. I hate to go back to the vet only to waste more money. If this is herpes virus, is it better if I go out and buy L-lysine? Does he need to be on antibiotics his entire life to stop this reoccurance of the eye problem? I know this is not a rare case at all and a lot of people go through this cat flu problem with their kitty babies. Is there anybody out there who could give me some solid answer as to what I should do in this situation? Please~~~

 

[sandie]

The L-lysine will probably help in the long run, but it's something that will have to be given every day.
It is possible that your other kittys can pick this up. If they haven't yet, they may not. If they are well vaccinated they are usually pretty resistant to these things, and if they do pick it up it's much more mild.
This isn't going to go away by itself. If you are unhappy with your vets treatment, you can go and get a second opinion. I dont know how long they had him on the antibiotics, or what kind. It's possible he needs a different antibiotic, or a longer course.

 

[yosemite]

If it were me I would probably try another vet.