Eosinophilic keratitis in cats

Poor Victoria has been diagnosed with an eye condition called eosinophilic keratitis. It apparently only affects cats and horses and the cause is unknown but they think it might be due to the feline herpes virus. I took her to the vet last Saturday after noticing cloudiness in her eyes.

She didn’t seem bothered by it and it was very hard to tell whether there was anything wrong in the first place because cats eyes have lots of different shades anyway. But I felt her eyes were not bright and clear and eyes should be bright and clear. Hers looked dull in places.

The vet was able to see it right away and diagnosed it as eosinophilic keratitis but added it’s a very rare condition that he hasn’t seen for years. Victoria’s case was very mild thankfully and treatable with eye drops. Unfortunately, she’s a terrible patient and hissed and lashed out at the vet. Getting eye drops into her eyes is like riding a unicycle on a tight rope that’s suspended 2m above a pit of hungry lions on meth. Nevertheless, I have managed to get drops into her eyes every day since last Saturday and today her eyes are bright and clear again.

I wish I’d taken a photo on Saturday, the first day, but the first photo I have is from Monday when her eyes were already looking much better. However, you can still see a patch at the very top of one eye in this next photo. The other eye looks suspect too but it’s less noticeable.

Today her eyes look great and I can’t see any sign of the issue. They are bright and shiny.

I’m hoping this is the end of it but it’s likely to come back again throughout her life as it goes into remission and pops up again when they get stressed.

7 thoughts on “Eosinophilic keratitis in cats”

  1. I’m so glad that drops clear it up easily! Although as you said, putting drops in her eyes is NOT easy. As soon as Marilyn comes in for the night I’ll be inspecting HER eyes. lol

  2. You did well to see this – I’m not sure I would have noticed in my cat. I don’t think she would have taken well to drops either – double well done.

  3. My cat has recently had this happen as well, do you use prednisone drops? We went this past week and that’s what was prescribed

    1. Yes that’s exactly what I give Victoria and it works really well. She’s accepted it now and doesn’t protest as she did in the beginning. If ever I stop putting the drops in the keratitis comes back so it looks like it’ll be a lifetime thing which is what the vet thought.

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