The Veterinarian's Notebook: Pink-eye

A small kitten came back to my hospital three days ago with an eye infection that would not go away. I had tried three of my best ophthalmic antibiotics and still the red, swollen eye remained.
 
A lot of kittens get eye infections. It is so common that I always lecture new kitten owners about it on their first visit with me. When the owner brought the kitten in for the re-visit appointment, I told her to leave the kitten and I would make sure it didn’t go home until the eye was clear. The owner had already spent over $200 on this kitten so I also told her there would not be any charge.

In truth, I thought the owner was incorrectly applying the medication, though this had never happened in 17 years of practice. I treated this kitten myself for the next two days but the eye did not get any better. This one had me stumped. 

The owner called me back saying that her child had gotten pink eye after they got the kitten. I told her that pink eye is not zoonotic (a disease that is transmitted from animals to people). Apparently, the child’s physician told her the same thing. Out of curiosity I asked her what antibiotic her physician prescribed for her child. Well, I ordered the medication and started applying it to the kitten’s eye. Within 2 hours the kitty started to open her eye. And today (12 hours later) she is almost 100% better.

Guess our instructors in veterinary and medical school are wrong. Humans can get pink eye from animals.

                         -- Rob Santos DVM, Monte Vista Small Animal Hospital