Red eyes from onions?

Hello,

Not sure where to post this, so sorry if this is the wrong place! I have noticed that whenever I am cutting up onions, my cat Stan gets extremely red eyes and he is squinty. It seriously looks like he was the one cutting them up! It doesn't matter where he is in the apartment when I'm in the kitchen making dinner - whenever I go to check on him after cutting up onions he's got these red squinty eyes. It goes away in a few hours, thank goodness.

Has anyone ever come across this? Should I worry? I feel bad for his poor eyes, but onions are in everything! He's a white cat, so the redness around his eyes is probably more pronounced than on other cats, I guess.

Thanks!

A vet visit is warrented .. YOU do know that onions are TOXIC to cats???

It sounds like your kitty is extra sensitive to onions. You might use some of the tricks in this link, like briefly putting the onion in the freezer, or running it under cold water before chopping it:

http://www.wikihow.com/Chop-Onions-without-Tears

I did know not to feed my cat onions, but I didn't think the vapours were toxic!? Surely cat owners can and do eat onions? I don't think I'm going to take my cat to the vet for this (it's obviously the onions since his eyes don't do this otherwise), but thanks for the suggestion.

I am greatful for the onion-cutting tips and link - thank you! I will be trying these out right away. I'd hate to give up my favourite potato-leek soup!