Feline Eosinophilic Keratitis—A Review

Eosinophilic keratitis is a disease occurring in cats, horses and rabbits. Its clinical signs include blepharo-spasm, discharge, chemosis, conjunctival hyperaemia and the presence of corneal ulceration. The typical signs of the disease are white to pink plaques on the cornea accompanied with keratitis. The diagnosis of the disease has to be confirmed with cytology examination and the presence of eosinophils and mast cells in the specimen. Local application of corticosteroids and cyclosporine has good therapeutic effect and has been recommended in all affected species. In samples collected from cats, the presence of feline herpes virus DNA has been reported. Eosinophilic keratitis might be caused by an aberrant immune response or reaction to unknown allergic stimuli. The primary cause of the disease is currently unknown.