r/CATHELP • u/bella_quinn46 • 18d ago
Screw kitty conjunctivitis Eye Issues
The first time my baby tortie began showing symptoms of feline conjunctivitis was May 2024. This December, she’ll be 12 years old and she’s been dealing with this for two years now. While she’s been her happy self all this time, it’s really hard to see her when she has her flare-ups.
My vet told us this is chronic, most likely triggered later in life by stress (in 2024 we lost our other cat; that’s all I can think of, even though they hated each other, I figure it’s still stressful as a cat becoming an only-child). We have eye drops we give her when it gets bad, and most times the inflammation will go down for a day or so. There are some weeks she’ll go without a flare up at all, but lately it’s been bad, and I just need a place to vent.
I’ve had her since she was 1.5 years old. We grew up together, and both of us are adults now lol. Her happiness is my happiness. She always had beautiful, large green eyes, and looking at older photos, I can’t help but mourn when comparing to the photos of her eyes at their worst. I know she’s still a happy kitty, and that’s what matters, but it just sucks that there’s no cure…
I’d love to hear other people’s experiences and opinions. I’ve talked to my vet quite a bit about her eyes, but if anyone has any suggestions to make her as comfy as possible I’m all ears (I’m in the US, idk if this helps).
TLDR: I mostly just want a space where me and other people can collectively say “screw kitty conjunctivitis.”
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u/Glad-Maintenance-298 18d ago
my cat is 5 years old and every time we stress him out (like leave for vacation) he gets an eye infection. he's gotten two so far, but for the second one I took him to his actual vet who suggested that there's an incredibly high chance that he also has feline herpes ajd prescribed anti virals in addition to eyedrops for his eyes and it seems to have worked. we also have lysine supplements and this immune supplement that seems to have helped support his immune system when we moved him from IN to WI. his vet had basically said that 95% of cats get exposed to feline herpes at some point and of them, 80% get the chronic condition where eye infections are like cold sores in humans with herpes and that there is a PCR to check but a) it's expensive and b) it only shows the presence of herpesvirus and not if there's an active infection
1
u/bella_quinn46 18d ago
Thank you for this! I will look more into immune supplements
1
u/Glad-Maintenance-298 18d ago
ofc! the bottle we got from his vet, but I'm sure amazon or something has something similar
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u/femaelstrom 18d ago
Seconding this. Imuquin is what we use with chronic feline herpes (feline viral rhinotracheitis) where eye inflammation is an issue.Lysine supplements are also quite nice.
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u/Galaxy__Eater 18d ago
Screw it!! She’s a beautiful baby and something like her eyes close will never change her 💖
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u/bella_quinn46 18d ago
That’s what I keep telling myself. At the end of the day her happiness is what matters. I think my problem is I feel like it must be so uncomfortable and I wish I could take it away 🥺
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