Following are selected posts to Holisticat on the subject of eyes. The posts are arranged in ascending chronological order. If there is a particular word you're looking for, it's probably best to utlize the "Find in Page" function in your edit menu!

From: "Kathy Buhler"
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 21:13:42 -0700

Hi all
Lee, I don't know about colloidal silver, sorry. But C.J. Puotinen in "The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care" has an eyewash recipe that you can make and use with a dropper: calendula, chamomile or eyebright teas, or: equal parts of greater celandine, eyebright and St. John's Wort, pour 1 cup boiling water over 2 tsp blend, add a *teeny* pinch of cayenne (she claims it doesn't hurt), let it steep and filter it through a coffee filter, then add just enough sea salt to make it slightly saline like tears. Add two
drops grapefruit seed extract per 1 cup tea. Use a dropper, or soak a cotton ball and rub her eye with it.

As for actually doing it, Richard Allport has pictures. He shows one person holding the cat and tilting her face up, holding back her fur (sort of smoothing it down and back). Another person actually does the administering. He warns not to keep the dropper too close in case the cat moves quickly.

Good luck and I hope Peaches is healing soon!
Take care
Kathy and the cats

> I would use the chamomille and saline (used human saline) on Peach's eye as long as the symptoms last.

Hi all
Virginia, I don't know if there is one particular kind of eyebright you should get, but I do believe it is a herb. I've no clue, tho, whether it comes in liquid form or if you need to make the liquid from the powder or herb. Probably all of the above.

Here are some more remedies for conjunctivitis from Richard Allport's "Heal Your Cat the Natural Way":

Homeopathy: apis mel for sore eyes with swollen lids, arsen alb for watery inflamed eyes with a thin, acrid discharge, kali bich for a thick, green, stringy discharge, and pulsatilla for a creamy, catarhall discharge with little discomfort.

Herbally: The chamomile/eyebright infusion

Tissue salts: ferr phos when no discharge is present, kali mur for a white discharge, nat phos for a sticky, yellow discharge, and silica where styes are present.

Chinese Medicine: Cucumber juice, freshly squeezed on each occasion, one drop in each eye, three times daily, 1/2 tsp fresh water chestnut, finely chopped and added to food twice daily.

Hope some of this helps!
Take care
Kathy and the cats

In a message dated 98-08-22 19:31:19 EDT, you write:
<<  Advise:  What can I use?  Can I use Collidal Silver?  If so, what is the dosage?  How  often?  Do I give on the eyes, mouth , or nose?  I need to get these two cleared up as  they will be spayed in a week or two and then go to their new homes.   >>

Yes, you can use CS.  Just a drop in each eye several times a day.  Also put about .5ml in the mouth to boost the immune system.  That will also kill anything viral or bacterial in the body.

Elaine

Don't put your trust in surgery to correct the problem with your Persian.  The tear duct blockage is caused by the extremity of his type: i.e. the very short nose, because the tear duct runs down the side of the nasal cavity, and the foreshortening of the nose has deformed the channel where the tear duct should run.  Surgery is often used to correct a tear duct blocked by mucous etc., but your cat's problem is the shape of his face, this cannot be corrected by the usual simple tear-duct unblocking surgery, and I would be EXTREMELY skeptical of a vet who reckoned s/he could alter the shape of something as minute as a tear duct without serious side-effects, or even total failure.  This would after all be cosmetic surgery, not necessary to your cat's wellbeing, just yours! Even the unblocking is usually good for a couple of weeks to a month, and then the problem recurrs.

In short, if the cat isn't ill, don't subject it to surgery like this that almost certainly won't work, no matter what your vet implies, and may cause harm to the nasal passages, just keep wiping the eyes.

I have a cat with a blocked duct, and euphrasia clears it amazingly well, however the duct is blocked by matter, not by a kink that will not be altered by any sort of medication.  Sorry to seem negative, but the eye problem is endemic in the Persians and you would be wasting your money on surgery.  you might be better off contacting a really reputable Persian breeder group and looking into what they do (though long-term the only solution is not to breed for an extreme type that gives rise to these problems).
Sanctimonious Julia

I wanted to thank everyone for the ideas on how to help Spoon's eyes.  I also wanted to let everyone know how he is doing.  Let me say that over the weekend I got together with my friend that is pretty well informes in holistic med. and we had a few ideas to try.  I had planned on going to get the stuff that I need on Mon.  However, that changed when on Monday morning Spoon's eyes were doing much better.  As of this morning ther is only a drop of discharge and they are no longer red.  Basically it comes
down to this, I didn't do anything except gave him one drop of cucumber juice in each eye on Fri or Sat and increased his Vit.  C, Vit. E, Fish oil, and Cod liver oil, and they are 99% better now.  I was amazed at how quickly they got well when I increased his supplements.  Thank you again to those who gave me ideas, I will save them in case this happens again.

Niki, Spoon, and Spork

he has developed, in the past couple days, a pretty constant white eye discharge. there's no pink or yellow tinge to it, and it's only one eye. i bought eye bright loose herb for the d*g, but all the recipes i have call for a "pinch of sea salt" and i use the salt substitute made w/ potassium chloride- anyone know if i can use this? or boil saline solution instead of plain water and use that?

TIA

--
^^   ^^   ^^    ^^
>*<  >*<  >*<   >*<
Vick and company: Skippy, Sam, Max and Jezebel
.... AND Jake the foster Aussie

I make the saline solution in Frazier's book - works well.  Also, I bought the acid/alkaline swing eye drops by Halo. Eyebright/ Goldenseal, alternating for 9 days.  Worked wonders!!!

If you need the formula, just e-mail me.

Good luck,
Judi & The MacFolds

Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1998 13:03:17 -0500
From: Vick
Subject: [HOL] eyebright

hey ya'll-
i made the eyebright infusion (1 teaspoon dried herb: 1 cup boiling water) and when it cooled, tried it in my own eye- it stings for a millisecond, but then feels good. so i have been giving sam's icky eye a few drops a day and it seems to be improving.

does anyone know any reason i shouldn't be doing this, or doing it this way?
--
^^   ^^   ^^    ^^
>*<  >*<  >*<   >*<
Vick and company: Skippy, Sam, Max and Jezebel
.... AND Jake the foster Aussie

On Sat, 14 Nov 1998 13:03:17 -0500 Vick  writes:
>i made the eyebright infusion (1 teaspoon dried herb: 1 cup boiling <snip> does anyone know any reason i shouldn't be doing
>this, or doing it  this way?

No, sounds good to me, Vick.  I do the same thing for Pigpen and her goopy eyes.  Hope poor Sam feels better soon.

>also, i've been wondering about sam's elevated bilirubin and liverenzyme.... he's been on all-raw exclusively for a few months > now. i

Shoot, wish I knew more about liver stuff:(  Time for me to go surfing, huh.  Do u add enzymes to his food?  I was thinking a pancreas extract/glandular might not be a bad idea.  And also give him a liver support herb every now and then, like say Dandelion root, or burdock root.

>saw his old URI pop up again in the beginning (congestion, sneezing and some, well, snot), and am wondering if the liver >problems from january are resurfacing and healing? it would make intuitive sense that since it all got bashed down w/ allo >meds that it's still lingering around...  and sam acts and feels fine- in fact, even his behavior is improving... isn't the detox theory >that old stuff pops up in a milder form???

I'm not clear on the detox theory exactly.  I can understand this in a cat who is eating healthy after yrs of junky food.  But when old stuff resurfaces, I'm afraid I don't see the detox connection here.  Sometimes I feel people in the holistic community overuse this term or use it in contexts that are confusing to lesser mortals like moi <g>

Sounds more like what a homeopath would refer to as - suppression.  This is where u don't treat the root cause of the disease, and drive the disease inward.  Outwardly, it might appear as if the problem has been solved but the body is still dealing w/ it, and suddenly bam! it manifests itself in worse form.  Not that this is what is happening w/ Sam necessarily mind u.  But I'm thinking  w/ the allo meds the poor baby had to have w/ that pancreatitis episode, boosting his immune system and
strengthening his liver might be in order.  I worry about Booey too cuz allo meds sure are suppressive:(  The other day I saw an ad on TV for some drug for Herpes and their little  slogan said it all - XYZ drug "It's about suppression"..yikes!!  Heaven forbid they ever cure anything! <chuckle>

Sandy, owned and operated by the mountain cats

***************
From: katseven
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 17:45:14 -0600
Subject: Re: runny eyes

Hi Jill, Lynn, list,

George has a chronic runny-eye problem, too. The vet suspects it's herpes since that is apparently common in felv+ cats, but she didn't do any lab work to come to that conclusion.  Anyway, what works AMAZINGLY well for George is 500mg a day of L-Lysine (crushed up in his food).  It clears his eye right up--almost overnight this last time.  Susan

FE>Ever since I had Simba he always had an eye problem with his right eye.

****************
From: katseven
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 05:10:38 -0600
Subject: Re: [HOL] Rusticat's eye problem IS herpes

Leslie,
My felv+ cat George gets herpes in his eye which if left untreated will turn into a URI according to the vet. (George had a URI when I adopted him and the vet says the herpes was probably the cause.) I give him 250 per day of Super Lysine Plus+
System Strength by Quantum (1-800-448-1448).  This brand also has garlic, echinacea, Vit C, licorice extract, & goldenseal root in it. When George's eye becomes watery, I up the dosage to 500mg a day.  I don't know if it's just this brand, but this really works for controlling  George's herpes.  In fact, since I have been keeping him on 250mgs a day, his eye hasn't even gotten runny.  Good luck w/ Rusticat & Thistle.
Susan

(3 months later)
I feel like a broken record with my George story:)  I stopped giving George the Lysine a couple months ago, and we've had no problems this far.  Jill, I was also giving George Ambrotose at the same time, but not the saline drops which is a really good idea.  I am still giving George Ambro. since he is felv+, but maybe that combo of lysine and Ambrotose is the ticket for herpes.  Actually, come to think of it, at the time I was treating the cats' raw meat w/ diluted GSE, so he was getting a little of that at each meal, too.  Hmmm However, I didn't start them all at the same time.  The Lysine came later after the initial URI, when George's eye started to water again. I put him on the Lysine and it cleared up practically overnight.  I was amazed.  I think the other supps help overall, but that Lysine if not overused (G did build up a tolerance) really "deals with" the herpes (at least for G).

The Lysine does have a taste, unfortunately.  Try to stir in 250 mg to her food.  See if she takes it.

HO>Could you please tell me how will I get my cat to take the Lysine tablet/capsule.  Can I sprinkle it over her food?  Will she
HO>detect the taste?

I give the lysine w/ food and it worked like a charm.

HO>Will the food "interfere" with the Lysine?  Is this a long-term treatment?

After a couple of months, the lysine stopped working so well for George. I've now taken him off the lysine, and he's doing fine.
Susan

Someone asked me to post the recipe for what I call "eye tea", but I forgot who it was (since I have upward of about 200 messages I day lately I can't keep track).  I finally found it, sent to me by Kathy B. (Kashmir's mom).  I gave it to Peaches for an eye infection.  I originally had tried colloidal silver with no result.  I then tried an antibiotic eye ointment that cleared up the problem, but it came back a couple weeks later.  Finally I tried this eye wash and the stuff has never come back.  Good luck to whoever needed this

>But C.J. Puotinen in "The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care" has an eyewash recipe that you can make and use with a >dropper: calendula, chamomile or eyebright teas, or: equal  parts of greater celandine, eyebright and St. John's Wort, pour 1 >cup boiling water over 2 tsp blend, add a *teeny* pinch of cayenne (she claims it doesn't hurt), let it steep and filter it through >a coffee filter, then add just enough sea salt to make it slightly saline like tears. Add two drops grapefruit seed extract per 1 >cup tea. Use a dropper, or soak a cotton ball and rub her eye with it.

>As for actually doing it, Richard Allport has pictures. He shows one person holding the cat and tilting her face up, holding back >her fur (sort of smoothing it down and back). Another person actually does the administering. He warns not to keep the >dropper too close in case the cat moves quickly.

I've given eye drops to Django, but I used Anitra Frazier's method of administration.   She advises using a cotton ball (actually I used a portion of a cotton ball) - dip it in the solution (and warm the solution up so that you are not administering cold drops in the eye!); then, holding the wet cotton ball between your thumb & index finger, you squeeze gently so that the solution is dripping off of the tip of your index finger.  Practice until you have the drops under control, then hold the cat with face tilted up (as above,  or by yourself) & administer the drops.   Django (who is a TERROR to pill or clip nails) actually remained quite calm while I was doing this.....perhaps because the drops were so soothing?  I think that mom's hand & a cotton ball are probably a lot less threatening looking than an eye dropper too....and
certainly safer!

Jillian & Django

Jillian, the drops I am using now for Lillian is very simple. I'm also using them on one of my other cats, Sally, who had a history of herpes lesions in one of her eyes. Lillians original infection was felt to be chlymadia. In 2oz sterilized water, add a pinch of salt, 2 drops of Colloidal Silver (low potency, 50ppm or less), and 2 drops of eye bright.

DO NOT use grape seed extract for the eyes. I have a seperate mixture to use for Lillians nose which does contain grape seed extract (2drops), and the colloidal silver. I started using these over the weekend so no long term results to report but she is sneezing much less and has had no discharge from the eyes for a couple of days.

When she does sneeze, the fluid is clear and odor less. A week ago it was still green and stinky, and she looked miserable between her eyes and nose, and she was also just wanting to sleep. I hope this works out as I don't want to have to keep her on antibiotics. By the way, I tried these on myself before giving them to Lillian or Sally, and they were not irritating at all.
Good luck.
Kathy B

Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 19:37:09 -0500
From: "S.H.L"
Subject: [HOL] Eye wash

Lynne,
One of my FeLV kittens has had an on again, off again infection in her eyes and upper resp tract. She had several courses of antibiotics but the infection kept coming back. Almost 4 weeks ago I started giving her drops daily in her eyes and (knock wood) it has kept any sign of the Chylmadia away. What I've been giving her is a dilute solution of eye bright and colloidal silver. I boiled some spring water, and added two drops of colloidal silver, and 2-4 drops of eyebright extract to 2 ounces of the water. I tried it on myself and it felt just like water, no stinging or blurring. I am sure this could be made stronger, gradually, if you got
no results. Someone had posted an eye tea that was very similar to what I ended up doing but there was also grape fruit seed
extract. I didn't want to use the GSE, even diluted, in Lillian's eyes, but I know others have and not had any problems.

I would not use the triple antibiotic, most triple antibiotics are intended for topical use and not for the eyes. You should check the label to see if it is intended for opthalmic or topical  use. Also, if it is for human use, it may be too concentrated for a cats eyes and I don't know how you would dilute an opthalmic ointment without risking its sterility. Its one thing to apply something to the skin, another to the very sensitive eye tissues.

Experiment a little with the different suggestions you get, something is bound to work for your cat, it just takes
time and a little trial and error sometimes.

KB

In a message dated 1/28/99 7:06:08 PM Eastern Standard Time, karensky writes:

<< Is it okay to use eyebright for cats?  I've used this when I  had an eye infection myself and it worked fabulously. >>

Absolutely.  Eyebright strengthens the eyes.  The Indians used to pick the leaf and squeeze the moisture from the leaf into their eyes.

Even better is the Nature's Sunshine EW.  You make it into a tea, strain through a coffee filter and put into the eyes several times daily.  It contains the eyebright, and golden seal to fight infection.  I have seen incredible things happen from the EW,  everything from a minor conjunctivitis all the way to a perforated cornea.  Will help ulcers and sequestrums.  I can't say enough nice things about it.

Elaine Crews, N.D.
Up With Herbs

Hi all,
there is a homoepathic rem for running eyes which you should try if you don't want to start with the heavy thing. I use it myself if I have conjunctivitis: Euphrasia D3, planta tota.

Regards, Susanne

**********
Subject: [HOL] Eyebright
From: Sandy Arora
Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 01:15:53 EST

> Would the same ingredients used for the eye tea help "remedy" if taken internally?

I forget the exact recipe but eyebright and chamomille herb some to mind.  The former is absolutely fine for ingestion.  A herbalist friend of mine told me to look for alternatives for eyebright as it is not quite endangered yet but is on its way to being so.  Mary and/or Wendy, would u correct me if I'm confusing this w/ another herb?

As for cham, I've read that some people/cats who are allergic to ragweed can have a problem w/ this herb.

>be a intermintyent problem and I want to end it (the problem).  I do  vaccinate with killed virus though.  Am not sure if there
> are alternatives.

To the vaccines?  Oh yeah - nosodes (homeopathic).  I dunno as much about them as I'd like to but I'll still take 'em any day over conventional vaccines.   Maybe the eye problem is a vaccinosis symptom?  I know it is in one of my cats who is already prone to eye problems since she has a bit of a peke face (she is an exotic persian).

About the eye problem, Jillian and Lynne, you guys might wanna look for a symptom(s) match w/ the homeopathic remedy Euphrasia -internally- as well as externally.  it's what I use on Pigpen for her goopy eyes.  Similasan makes 2 eye drop formulas u might wanna check out too - one or both I can't remember, have Euphrasia.

Sandy, owned and operated by the mountain cats