Cat eye infection

Question

The mother cat gave birth to three kittens in our backyard. After the first month, I noticed one of the kittens' eyes has some "rheum" and is semi closed. I thought maybe it'd go away by it self (bad mistake)...

In the second month, when they started walking outside, both the kitten's eyes were completely closed, so I took him to a vet.

(a side note about the vet; in the small city where I'm living, there is not an "experienced" vet which is an expert in cats or dogs. They just do cows and sheep vaccinations etc...)

The vet injected a dose of an antibiotic and another dose of dexamethasone and prescribed:

1. Si fixim syrup 5ml a day
2. Prednisolone 5mg 1/10 every 12 hours
3. Chloramphenicol 0.5% one drop every 12 hours
4. Sterile eye drop every 8 hours
5. B-complex vitamin syrup 5ml a day

It's the third day that I'm using those medications for this poor kitty and even though the "rheum" is reduced, his eyes are still closed (until I clean them using eye-drops) and still have inflammation. His eyes outside the corners are PURE RED (not visible in the picture,) and when I use eye drops, the kitten is in pain... :(

Other than that he's playful and eats well.

I changed their "nest" and cleaned the whole backyard so they can live in an clean environment. Don't know what else to do to cure him--he's too young to become blind!

Has the vet prescribed the correct medications? If yes, why isn't the inflammation going away?

If the medications isn't the right one, and you're a vet, please suggest another prescriptions. I can't afford to take him to another vet. it's pretty expensive in here...

Answer 1

I think it is best to take the cat to another vet if the treatment does not work in 3-4 days.

The medications given against an allergic reaction are dexamethasone and prednisolone, and these have an anti-inflammatory effect too, to reduce the swelling.

Si-Fixim is a broad spectrum antibiotic, so it will help if there is an infection going on.

Chloramphenicol is antibacterial and the B-vitamins are probably not very important as a treatment for the cat.

The treatment your local vet has given the cat is a good one. He has treated everything he can think of (it might be a little over the top).