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Conjunctivitis, also called pink eye, very regularly affects cats and can be triggered by numerous causes. It isn’t a single disease, but rather a symptom. Although all cat breeds and all ages can be affected, young cats in particular suffer from cat colds, whilst older cats often have allergic conjunctivitis. Consequently, conjunctivitis with cats can also be accompanied by other symptoms, which influences treatment and prognosis.
The onset of conjunctivitis with cats is varied, therefore it makes sense to split the causes into infectious and non-infectious events for better comprehension.
Conjunctivitis with young cats is often a sign of the cat cold complex. This is a globally occurring infectious illness triggered by numerous bacterial and viral pathogens. However, the feline herpesvirus 1 (FHV-1) and bacterium Chlamydophila play a particularly significant role. Both infectious agents are transmitted via droplet infection, e.g. through contact with contaminated nasal discharge. Typically, households with multiple cats such as an animal shelter or even cat exhibitions carry a particular high risk of spreading pathogens due to the large amount of cats. Along with typical conjunctivitis, this respiratory disease is often accompanied by other symptoms like sneezing, fever or lack of appetite.
This category includes in particular allergic reactions and inflammations triggered by foreign bodies. Allergies are equally frequent with cats and often lead to further hypersensitivity reactions like itching, respiratory complaints or other skin irritations, as well as conjunctivitis. Parasites (e.g. fleas), household dust or certain medications are particularly frequently diagnosed allergens with cats. However, foreign bodies often cause irritation of the eyes along with allergic reactions, which leads to inflammation of the conjunctiva as a consequence. Examples of this are particles from the environment or hairs.
Conjunctivitis in cats can be recognised by certain signs. These include:
Conjunctivitis in cats doesn’t always have to triggered by a serious disease. If other symptoms emerge though or it doesn’t heal on its own within a few days, a vet should be consulted without further ado.
At the start of the visit, the vet carries out a thorough interview with the owner (medical history). The aim of this is to collect important information on possible illnesses. In addition, the cat’s vaccination status, other signs of illnesses or contact with other sick animals are very useful for eliminating differential diagnoses.
After the anamnesis, there is always a general clinical examination to determine the cat’s general state of health. This is very important, because further diagnosis depends on the cat’s current condition. The most important parameters are the cat’s general condition, heart and respiratory rate as well as the state of the mucous membranes and the rectal internal body temperature.
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If the results of the general clinical examination don’t show any strong deviation from the vital parameters, the special examination can commence. The eye is examined more closely in order to rule out the presence of a foreign body. If the cat is uncooperative, a local or general anaesthetic may be necessary in cases of suspicion. In contrast, infectious primary diseases can be quickly detected by a swab. In order to locate the bacteria and viruses involved, the swab is examined microscopically and also with the PCR method (polymerase chain reaction). However, very few veterinary practices have the diagnostic capabilities for the PCE method, so samples are often sent to special laboratories. The vet treating your cat then generally finds out the result a few days later. In order to find out the cause of an allergy, a time-consuming elimination diet, skin test (intradermal test) or blood test can be performed.
Treatment of conjunctivitis in cats is divided into special treatment, which tackles the root cause, and symptomatic treatment, which is meant to decrease symptoms and other side effects:
The prognosis of conjunctivitis depends on the cause of the illness and generally doesn’t lead to severe eye damage. However, if the inflammation spreads to the surrounding tissue and damages the inner eye structure, the risk of blindness increases.
It’s difficult to avoid the entry of foreign bodies. However, allergic reactions can be reduced thanks to certain precautionary measures.
At the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen I was extensively trained as a veterinarian and was able to gain experience in various fields such as small animal, large animal and exotic animal medicine as well as pharmacology, pathology and food hygiene. Since then, I have been working not only as a veterinary author, but also on my scientifically driven dissertation. My goal is to better protect animals from pathogenic bacterial organisms in the future. Besides my veterinary knowledge, I also share my own experiences as a happy dog owner and can thus understand and enlighten fears and problems as well as other important questions about animal health.
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