Watery right eye from few months

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raptors
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Watery right eye from few months

Post by raptors »

We have 2 cats both 4 years old, the girl cat has been having trouble with her right eye. Her eye gets watery, sometimes even pinkish around the eye and smaller than the left eye. It's random in the sense that she gets it once all most every day for couple of hours and this has been happening for 3-4 months now. We took her to a vet who gave an eye ointment but it didn't help. Please suggest. Thanks.
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exlibris
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Re: Watery right eye from few months

Post by exlibris »

Vets! Can't live with them, cat's live without them. Unfortunately they have the most awkward of patients - ones that can't talk. A second opinion might be in order? However, it might just be that you need to leave it another few months and take her back again if there are other symptoms or it seems worse.
There may be something she's allergic too - new food, flea treatment, or something like someone having new perfume or new cleaning products.
If it's any consolation, my Twitch had an odd eye since birth and she lived to 16 and never had any problems bouncing around. So this might not be harmful. So keep checking her, but try not to panic.
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Mollycat
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Re: Watery right eye from few months

Post by Mollycat »

Although I would want this investigated if it was my cat, we had something similar with Bobby my Ragdoll. Retired stud so coming to me at 8 years old was the first time he had lived indoors and immediately he started to get watery eyes sometimes quite pink water, he also sneezed and coughed. My first vet said his upper and lower respiratory tract were clear and this this was common with shortened nose breeds or as I call them, ran into a door breeds. We changed vets after a big argument a few years later and the new vet explained that he may have a latent virus that would occasionally be triggered by a minor bacterial infection that most cats wouldn't even notice. To be more precise, she suggested herpes virus. As he got older the cough diappeared but the watery eyes were worse when they came on, but it was never a problem to him and he was like it for the seven years he was with me. Short of chest x-rays and expensive and unreliable testing there wasn't much else to do, though it did clear completely for a while when he was on antibiotics for something else.
raptors
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Re: Watery right eye from few months

Post by raptors »

Thank you so much for your replies. We did take her to another vet who didn't do much, the problem is that when we take her to the vet, her eye is fine so the vet just said that it seems fine and if it happens again just use the ointment. We called back again last week to tell them that there was no improvement and we can share pictures/videos if it helps to diagnose but he refused to look at any pictures/videos saying that won't help and asked to bring her in when she is having the problem. To match the timing is a challenge so let's see how it goes. But yes it helps to hear that cats can have such issues and still live fine and the hope that it might get better with time. She is otherwise perfectly fine and playful. We have also been trying to analyze what causes it but haven't been able to come to any concrete conclusion. We also changed their regular litter with wood pellets and it did help to some extent but not completely. And we have been living in this house for 2 years now without any big changes happening, more or less same diet etc and no other changes around the house.

We are trying to get opinion from more vets, will share if we find out something. Thanks again.
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Re: Watery right eye from few months

Post by Jacks »

Hi - I thought I would just add my experience. I have a young boy who gets regular problems with discomfort in his left eye, which he then scratches and causes an ulcer and infections. After 4 months on antibiotic drops and negative tests for bacterial (mind you he had drops in his eyes) infections, feline herpes, chlamydia, etc. the vet concluded it was probably related to the herpes virus, which is very common, prescribed anti-virus gunk to squirt down his throat twice a day, and still no improvement, so he was referred to a specialist opthalmologist at the Davies Veterinary Hospital

https://vetspecialists.co.uk/london?gcl ... m8QAvD_BwE

Well - she was wonderful and did all the test you would expect a human opthalmologist to do - with a kinder equivalent of the blow test into the eye (animals will not tolerate this). Her diagnosis was that 1) He has sensitive eyes 2) he has matching blind spots on each eye - congenital, won't bother him 3) He has a site on the left eye where there are some rogue cells, and she suspects this is the primary site of the feline herpes virus (with humans too there is always a primary site) - but that the virus is actually dormant at the moment, or it would appear as an ulcer. 4) He scratches the eye because it's uncomfortable, not the other way round. Her solution: Unless the eye is really bad (closed, swollen, gunky) stop all antibiotic drops and the virus gunk - because the drops, although effective for infections, are irritating the eye. She prescribed him gentle hypersensitivity HUMAN eye drop s - Clinitas Multi .4% (you can also get .2%). She said to put a drop in the eye morning and evening as a regular thing. They don't need to be kept in the fridge, and the tiny bottle lasts 3-6 months. They are there to gently lubricate the eye and remove the irritation. If any problems - slight discharge, weeping, blinking of eye - put a soft collar on straight away to prevent scratching and do the drops 5-6 times a day to flush the eye through and keep it comfortable.

Three days ago he had a little altercation with another of the cats whilst I was out, as when I got home his eye was weeping and he had it nearly shut. Put the collar on straight away, drop in - could see the third eyelid was inflammed and part way across - and didn't panic; went into the pattern the opthalmologist had suggested. Miracle. Instead of an infection, his eye is now fine after three days, and I'll keep up the 5-6 a day for a few days to be sure. The great thing is it's totally non-invasive, and he doesn't mind it at all, because it doesn't hurt - and it was an EXPERT that gave this advice. You can get Clinitas from Express Chemists online, or the 02% from Amazon. If you ask for it at a pharmacy, you can't say it's for a cat.... any human opthalmologist could have suggested you get it as well... :roll:

I hope this is helpful, and it may be that you want to privately take your baby to a proper vet opthalmologist, or try the eye drops to help keep the eye lubricated and comfortable. It may well be feline herpes, but there is no cure for that..
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Re: Watery right eye from few months

Post by Ducky »

I'm a bit late to this post but just wanted to suggest that if it is FHV/herpes, that you look into whether L-Lysine might be worth a try. You can get it in chew/treat forms and liquid droppers. The vet suspects that my Humphrey has had FHV at some point and that it's responsible for his squinty and slightly swollen right eye which also weeps a lot of the time. I've read about L-Lysine whilst researching other remedies for his FIV. He's currently having one Optixcare treat every morning (cut up into 4 pieces because he has no teeth to chew it) with a small pile of Dreamies and although it's still early days yet (we started them at Christmas), he seems to be opening his bad eye almost as fully as his good eye and he doesn't have that brown watermark under his eyes any more. They can also suffer from blocked tear ducts as a result of the swelling and inflammation which exacerbates the watery eye issue even moreso.
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