!#8# Dog and Cat Eye Infection - How to Deal

!±8± Dog and Cat Eye Infection - How to Deal

There are several things that you need to know about eye infections in cats and dogs. This is important so you will understand and assess how to effectively take care of them, cure the infection, and prevent it from re-occurring.

What you need to know. First, as a pet owner you should be aware that there are several causes of eye infections. These can be brought about by bacterial, viral or fungal causes. It is important to learn about the cause as the treatment will be dependent on that and the pet's reaction to treatment may also differ.

Signs to watch out for. It can be quite hard to determine if your pet is having problems with their eyes. The most common sign is when your pet is squinting. This can be an indication that their eyes are painful. Also, there can be minimal or obvious inflammation in the eyes. Furthermore, the eyes may show redness, and there could be swelling around the eye area. Sometimes, you may notice that there is a discharge from your pet's affected eye.

You might need to take a close look at your pet in order to determine, if indeed, it is having problems with its eyes. If the above signs are present, you should suspect eye infection.

Management alternatives. There can be different ways by which your pet's infection can be treated. However, many veterinarians have common management methods that are effective in dealing with the problem.

First, for eye infections with bacterial causes, antibiotic ointments are used. These can help contain the infection and of course, help cure it. For viral infections, there are antiviral treatments also in the form of topical creams that can be applied to the area.

Sometimes, application of these topical medications requires great care. They should not touch the inner parts of the eyes and so, it is recommended that you let your veterinarian do the task. However, this will greatly depend on the type of medication that is being used as well as on the extent of damage of the infection.

To prevent the occurrence of future infections, your pet may be given oral medications. Sometimes these are also given to help reduce the amount of time of the infection.

The route of administration and the type of medication to use can be up to you as long as your vet gives you a go signal of what to use. Just remember that you need to consider the ease of administration of the medication, and of course, the effectiveness in treating the disease.

The length of treatment can be dependent on the cause of the infection. Viral infections are self-limiting. Bacterial infections may need to be treated for about one to two weeks.

You may also have your pets immunized to heighten disease prevention.