here we go, again!

[toughCookie]

callie has sore eyes, took her to the vet, she said she has feline herpes! I know she didn't get it from the others, beacuase she is never around them. she must have had it already. tomorrow morning Im taking her to the eye specialist... the one I was JUST THERE to see, I had to bring Emma and Louise back... they got again, so 4 times a day of 2 kinds of drops... now it is almost gone, I caught it early because I watch for it. get this, the vet said prednisone might cause it to flare up... (well Louise doesnt take the pred??)so now Emma is on a 1/4 pill every other day instead of half a pill. Im bringing callie to the specialist because I learned my lesson witht the others, not to waste time going back so many times to the regulare vet. I made that mistake today but wont take her back there next week. and Im not bothering with the med she told me to give her becuase I learned with the others what works and what doesnt. but to me her eyes just look sore from her scratching, maybe from allergies? I know Im not a vet , but her eyes don't look the same as any of the other 4 cats eyes...will see what the eye vet says in the morning.

[AmberLee]

Oh merciful heavens, what next?!?

Will hold you and your furry crew in my thoughts and prayers. Perhaps with luck you'll catch it in the bud this time. What a mess.

[jenluckenbach]

I feel badly for you and your kitties. But if I may take this moment to learn something, I never heard of feline Herpes? Is it an eye condition, or something that affects the eyes among other things? Is it contagious? It it curable or only treatable? Sorry to be such a bother.

[emily_the_spoiled]

Good morning,

The vet is right, prednisone can cause a flair up of almost any residual disease. It causes the immune system to not work as well as normal. If a person/animal has a dorment disease (such as herpes), it can flair up when they take prednisone.

I hope that Callie and all of the furkids are doing better real soon...

[toughCookie]

Sorry to be such a bother.

not a bother at all! it is only in their eyes, and it is treatable, but not curable. it can be contagious to other cats but not to humans.

[Cataholic]

Yes, I want to learn something, too. First, is it like oral herpes? Treatable, but not curable (ok, genital, too)...so, the contagious aspect would be with contact?

Now, I thought pred was a steriod that would lessen the symptoms??? I like to learn, so, please educate away!

Good luck with the eye specialist. I hope things go well. Keep us updated..

[jenluckenbach]

Originally posted by emily_the_spoiled

The vet is right, prednisone can cause a flair up of almost any residual disease. It causes the immune system to not work as well as normal. If a person/animal has a dorment disease (such as herpes), it can flair up when they take prednisone.


This I did know. That is how we caught Y.Lee's diabetes.

[toughCookie]

it went ok today at the eye vet. same old---
I guess feleine herpes can be airborne, so not just contact cause them to catch it. but Callie had something on her eyes from the first day so if it is herpes she already had it. its worse now. Im going to get her one of those collars that prevents her from scratching, and just put the ointment in her eyes for a couple days, which is what the first vet said but I wanted the other to look at callie. I was really grossed out by the first vet when she scraped something out of callie's eye and then wiped it on the exam table! and never did wash it off! then she had callie on the table on it. I just thought that was gross, unsanitary, and not professional.:eek:

[BastetsMum]

When Bastet was 10 weeks old, she contracted feline herpes virus and the cat flu. Even though she was fully vaccinated, I nearly lost her. She is doing great now (well at 2 and a half!) but I now have issues with one of her eyes having the herpes virus attacking her tear glands and blocking them all the time. This also causes problems with one of her ears as well. She will never fully recover with that eye but at least she is comfortable with it. I just have to wipe it everyday to remove gunk and when it gets really nasty i use acream on it. The same goes with her ear.

The good thing is she hasn't lost the sight in it or her hearing either. Its a nasty thing for your kitties to have and I am very sorry to hear that they contracted it. But they will get better rest assured on that one :) I also know that the herpes virus is related to the catflu virus as well so it might be an idea to get a booster shot of the catflu one.

[Miss Meow]

Sorry to hear about your eye problems again Mary :( I hope you can get on top of this quickly for the sake of you and your little ones. That first vet sounded a bit hygiene-unfriendly, especially considering the problem could have been contagious :(

[toughCookie]

her eyes look somewhat better tonight, so Im hoping they will be even better in the morning...