Expert: Norman Auspitz - 2/26/2009

Question
Hi, I have a 3 year old male orange tabby, and a last week he had come down with a virus, which in a few days he fully recovered from without me taking him to the vet. But about 2 days ago, I noticed that he was rubbing at his right eye from time to time. I pulled back his top eyelid to check the white part and a lot of little red blood vessels are showing, and top and bottom lids are a little pink, but the other eye is fine. I already have some Tetracycline 1% ointment that I got from the vet when one of my other cats had an eye problem. So I put that in his eye for two days, but it is still red. He doesn't rub it as much now, it isn't tearing up, and there is no mucus discharge, but at times he holds it closed half way, especially when he's not active. Its hard to tell if it is painful or not, because his activity level is usual - very active! The directions on the tube of ointment says to put in twice a day for 10 days, so could it be that his eye is still red because I've only used the ointment for two days. Will it heal his eye after the 10 days? I should mention too, that I have two other female cats that he plays with a lot, even wrestles with, so it is possible that he got poked in the eye by one of them. If so, how long would it take for that to get better? If I did have to take him into the vet, and they did certain tests, like staining to check for a scratch, etc., how much do those eye tests cost? If you could reply with some information, that would be great. Thanks.

Answer
Rosslyn,

Remember that I am not a vet and I have not seen your cat.  

My rule of thumb is that if there is no improvement within 3 days, I would see my vet.  There are all kinds of things it could be and the tetracycline may or may not be the correct antibiotic.

When we have treated cats eyes for anything, we usually alternate with two different antibiotics and begin by treating four times a day (once with one, once with the other, back to the first and finish the day with the second). We usually do this for a few days and then go back to twice a day. We also tend to treat both eyes since many of these things seem to start in one eye and migrate to the other/

IF it is a poke in the eye, it should clear within 3 days.

But, regardless, if it is not showing signs of improvement within 3 days, it is off to the vet.  There are just too many different things it could be.

Best regards... Norm.