Cat Conjunctivitis

Does your cat tend to have discharge from its eyes? Is the eye discharge clear or thick and purulent? Is your cat's conjunctiva more visible than normal? Is the conjunctiva reddened and swollen, especially at the corner of the eye? If your answers to all these questions are in affirmation, your cat is perhaps suffering from conjunctivitis. Medical treatment can effectively cure cat pink eye or conjunctivitis. Having some knowledge on it will help you take good care of your cat. So, keep reading to collect some useful information on cat health in general and cat conjunctivitis in particular.

Cat Conjunctivitis Causes
There are a number of factors which may lead to conjunctivitis in cat. Some are quick in onset and can be treated easily. Some take time to show their presence and are comparatively difficult to be cured. Some of the causative agents which belong to the former category are physical and chemical irritants, foreign bodies and trauma (like cat fight) can affect the cat eyes and cause the onset of conjunctivitis. In all these cases, rapid treatment is possible. It involves cure of the underlying cause.

Some medical conditions which affect the immune system can give rise to conjunctivitis. Such diseases are rarely found to occur in cats. However, if they occur, they are tough to be treated. Some micro-organisms can affect cat's eye and cause conjunctivitis. Some examples are virus type - 1 (a cat flu virus), bacteria (e.g, Chlamydia), mycoplasmas. The mycoplasma are micro-organisms similar to bacteria. There can be some other causes for cat conjunctivitis. They include abnormalities in tear production, infected eyelid, etc. Sometimes, conjunctivitis can be idiopathic as well.

Cat Conjunctivitis Diagnosis
Conjunctivitis is generally diagnosed by the findings of physical exam. When you take your cat to a veterinarian, he is most likely to carry out certain diagnostic tests. He may conduct fluorescein staining to find the presence of superficial abrasions or ulcers on the cornea. He may perform a schirmer tear test to detect if the tear glands of your cat's eyes are functioning well. He may examine external eyelids, third eye and conjunctiva thoroughly to determine any abnormality.

The veterinarian may consider conducting some special tests. He does this only when the above given diagnostic tests fail to provide sufficient data for determining the underlying cause for conjunctivitis in cats. Some examples of special tests are bacterial culture to detect infection, glaucoma test to measure eye pressure, conjunctival scrapings to study the conjunctival cells, conjunctival biopsy and complete blood work.

Cat Conjunctivitis Treatment
As has already been mentioned that conjunctivitis in cats is treated by resolving the causative factor. Your cat's eye may be thoroughly irrigated. This is done to remove any irritating substance if present in the cat's eye. The veterinarian may prescribe eye drops or ointments to treat cat eye discharge and to restore the normal functioning state of the tear glands, eyelids, etc. He may provide local administration by injection right into the conjunctiva. It is mostly done to treat conjunctivitis which require very frequent administration of the drops and for treating feral cats. The veterinarian may give systemic treatment by injection or by oral pills or liquids. This is needed to treat certain diseases such as Chlamydiosis.

You might be wondering 'is conjunctivitis in cats contagious to humans?'. It can be if you touch your cat's eyes and then yours. Otherwise, conjunctivitis rarely spreads from animals to humans. You can not prevent cat conjunctivitis but can surely help it recover fast. Follow some conjunctivitis in cats home remedies for better cat care. Provide your cat with foods which are considered to be nutritious for cats. You may ask your veterinarian to suggest you some. Keep the surroundings of your cat neat and clean. Take it to a veterinarian as soon as possible. Timely medical intervention will restore the healthy state of your cat.