Conjunctivitis – Thelma’s sore eye
Thelma is a 2 year old Blue Burmese cat. The day before she presented to Pittwater Animal Hospital, Thelma had been closing here left eye and had mucus in the corner of her eye. Thelma lives with her sister so this could have been a cat scratch to the cornea.
Thelma’s eye was examined. The conjuctiva of the right eye was normal. Her left eye has mucus in the corner (the medial canthus), had a swollen third eyelid and swollen conjuctiva seen when her eye lid was raised.
The inner eye appeared normal with a normal sized pupil and normal iris. Her body temperature was normal.
To make sure there was no scratch on the outside layer of her eye (her cornea), a fluorescent dye was placed in her eye. Any damage to the cornea would be highlighted by the dye.
Under a UV lamp, the dye has moved to the edges of the eye and nothing clings to the cornea, (there is a small reflection near the corner of the eye which is a reflection from the light).
The cornea is undamaged.
Thelma is pleased to go home. She has conjunctivitis in her left eye. This may spread to her right eye but will hopefully resolve within a few days. Thelma will have cream applied to her eye twice daily until it returns to normal.
