Answer

There are licensed veterinary opthamologists in most areas. There are a few possibilities for chronic conjuncitivitis:

• Dystichia or very fine hairs on the edge of the eyelid that may be very difficult to see without magnification. They can chronically rub on the eye and cause discharge. Surgeries can remove the hairs and relive the rubbing.
• Chronic Herpes Virus infection- Herpes virus in cats generally affects the conjunctiva of the eye and most cats have had it at one time or another. For most cats they are able to fight off the infection but it goes into "hibernation" so to speak. During times of stress it can re-occur. In some cats there immune system is unable to even fight it well enough to send it into hibernation causing a chronic conjunctivitis. A scrape of the conjunctiva can diagnose it. Unfortunately ointments can only fight the secondary bacterial infection and not the virus itself.

There are some medications that can help a cat fight the virus. Lysine is a supplement that can be given daily. Most normal sized cats would take 250mg twice daily. There are other medications that may help but require a prescription from your vet. I would consider having him checked by a veterinary ophthamologist in your area. Here's a link that might help you find one: http://www.acvo.com/

 

Expert:	Dr. Christian K.
Pos. Feedback:	100.0 %
Accepts:	496
Answered:	3/7/2009

Cat Veterinarian

12 year of veterinary experience in feline surgery, medicine and behavior