Cat Develops Conjuctivitis in Eye, Has Ugly Grey/Green Discharge, and Upper Respiratory Infection

Katharine Hepburn

In other cat news, Katharine Hepburn woke up today with watery eyes and thick, grey discharge, and blood shot eyes. A form of conjunctivitis but what is the cause?  We saw the vet.  She has a resurgence of the herpes virus which is causing upper respiratory illness.   One of the things the distemper shot does is provides protection from the herpes virus.  But upper respiratory is thought to be caused by the herpes virus so getting her vaccine didn't prevent a resurgence of the virus. They were all exposed as kittens and the first to be exposed got the sickest based on when they were spayed/neutered back in 2009.  But later in '09, Katharine came down with uveitis, an inflammation of the eye that presents with blood, etc.  That was a huge deal but corrected with two eye drops and some pills.  No other cat came down with it or any additional upper respiratory attacks-although Jimmy kept getting sick with diarrhea and vomiting on a regular monthly cycle, at which point, after almost a year, I realized that there was a cycle (some months it was worse and other months it was barely there but when I looked over my notes, I realized it happened at the same time of the month).  So we began giving him lysine every day, which solved the problem. They have all since been getting lysine daily and Katharine daily since the uveitis.

So, today, drops in the eye and UV light to check the health of the eye and look for signs of uveitis-all clear; blood and fecal test (I took in a sample just in case-test negative for parasites) antibiotic eye drops for the discharge; sub q fluids because she's dehydrated but NO fever which is very good; home fluid support by mouth and a little bit of food at a time to make sure she keeps it down (she vomited this a.m.) and they gave anti nausea shot. We will give more lysine, also.

As for the others and especially Myrna??? By now they've all been exposed so we are to keep a close watch. Give water by mouth and something like tuna juice by mouth if they vomit or won't eat. Bring them in if eye discharge, won't eat longer than one day, lethargic, etc. or sneezing, cough, runny nose.

How did this happen? Apparently, it just does. Could have come from any cat this past week which picked it up at the vet and brought it home and she could just be more susceptible. We could bring it in the house.   Or it just happened.  Luckily, I didn't let it go long without vet treatment. Remember, eye discharge, nose, sneezing, coughing-all need immediate vet care before the cat becomes sicker.