Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Two days ago, my cat woke up with a runny eye (similar to how it looks when they have allergies). On closer inspection, the pupil was completely dilated and cloudy, and a little...."swollen"? Just slightly fuller than usual. This happened overnight, his eye was perfectly fine the night before.
Took him to vet; vet confirmed it's not glaucoma, but couldn't otherwise say what it was. His guess-diagnosis was uveitis, and he recommended an ophthalmologist. Since he's not in my metro area, it may be a couple days until I can see him, but I'm scheduling it asap. In the meantime, they gave me steroidal eye drops and anti-inflammatory pills.
There's no pus or anything immediately indicating infection. He doesn't paw at it or interact with it in any way, though the vet seemed confident that he's in pain, or at least that the eye itself is irritable. It runs a little more than usual, but even that isn't as bad as it sometimes gets when he's healthy. No scratches or any sign of trauma (which would be unlikely anyway, he's a solo senior indoor cat, and he's not generally bounding on furniture or anything). I might put a picture up later if I can.
Anybody had any experience with anything like this? Anything else I can do other than the occasional warm wet paper towel dab? I'm a wreck right now.
Our Benny (15) has had a lifetime of eye problems, and regularly sees an othamologist. He's had uveitis, (and in fact is on drops for that now), but honestly I saw no symptoms other than a slightly more pink eyelid.
Did the vet do an eye pressure test to make sure it wasn't glaucoma? He would have used a little pen-like device that touches the eyeball to get a pressure reading.
I'm confused as to why the vet gave you pills. For all things eye, i've always used drops because the treatment only needs to be within the eyeball and not systemically.
Certainly get him in when you can. He indeed may be in pain, or at the very least uncomfortable. If you are prescribed eye drops, most are human medications. Check Costco or Sam's Club for prices (you don't need to be a member to use the pharmacy). They are simnifically less expensive IME.
Oh, and I wanted to add not to feel bad about this. Eyeball problems tend to just "appear." Once Benny had had an eye ulcer--the specialist saw evidence of it when I'd brought him in for a check up. I had no idea. Same thing with the uveitis--the doctor found it and I had seen no signs of eye problems.
In case you are interested, here's a photo of our Benny's bad eyeball. He has a complicated situation, but thankfully we've been able to manage it with several drops: It's all about the cats!: Benny's eyeball
Did the vet do an eye pressure test to make sure it wasn't glaucoma? He would have used a little pen-like device that touches the eyeball to get a pressure reading.
I didn't get to watch the actual procedure (he was taken in a "back room" for that), but the vet told me he did that exact test and that it definitely wasn't the issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rene S
I'm confused as to why the vet gave you pills. For all things eye, i've always used drops because the treatment only needs to be within the eyeball and not systemically.
The pills were supposed to be to help reduce inflammation. As I understood it, the drops were to treat the issue (but wouldn't hurt if the issue was misdiagnosed, as the vet prescribed them on a "best guess" diagnosis), and the pills were to treat the symptoms, though I could be mistaken.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rene S
Certainly get him in when you can. He indeed may be in pain, or at the very least uncomfortable. If you are prescribed eye drops, most are human medications. Check Costco or Sam's Club for prices (you don't need to be a member to use the pharmacy). They are simnifically less expensive IME.
I'll see what the ophthalmologist says and go from there, but I'll continue giving him drops/pills in the meantime. Thank you very much for your input!
FWIW, my guy's eyes don't quite look Benny's. This isn't him, but it's the closest picture I could find that resembles how his eye currently looks...
Eek, no wonder you are alarmed! There is certainly something going on if your cat's eye looks similar to that. (I didn't mean to suggest your cat's eye looks like Benny's. It was just an FYI.)
Certainly ask the eye doc about the pills and wether you should continue them. In all of the years we've been treating Benny (most of his life), we've never used anything other than a drop or eye ointment.
FWIW, I always ask to have procedures done in the exam room and not "in back." I want to see/learn from the test, and I feel the cat is more comfortable if you are nearby. Ask the specialist to show you what's going on--the place we go to doesn't have an "in back" area and does everything in the room.
I now realize how fortunate we are--our specialist is a mere 20 minutes from home.
Location: Los Angeles>Little Rock>Houston>Little Rock
6,489 posts, read 8,808,426 times
Reputation: 17514
My cat Haggie had an eye like that. It turned out some kind of foreign body had entered his eye and he had to have his eye removed. He was fine after that a looked like a tough guy.
We just went through an "eye" episode back in Nov/Dec. Our guy's eye was so cloudy you couldn't really see the pupil. His occurred out of nowhere. His eye was running clear fluid and he was squinting quite a bit. He did have high pressures, so glaucoma was the diagnosis. The vet said that the squinting and eye watering was a sign of pain. She sent us home with drops to try and lower the pressures to no avail.
I hope yours turns out to be a minor issue that is easily remedied.
tla, that's pretty similar to what my guy's eye looks like. Day 1 he was squinting and watering a moderate amount, day 2 he was just watering a little with no squinting, and I've been at work today so I haven't really seen him. Vet had positively, 100% ruled out glaucoma, at least according to his tests, which is why he fell back to "uveitis". We'll see what the ophthalmologist says, and I'm doing the drops in the meantime.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
