Conjuctivitis in feral kittens

We have 9 feral kittens (from several different mothers), many of which have severe conjunctivitis. Their eyes are totally "glued" shut. I called my vet and they gave me some meds. I used some cotton balls to help me open the eyes but one of them had a bunch of mucus or something that came out of the eyes. The others didn't. Now today, the mucus one were closed again. Is this normal? What do I do?

How old are the kittens? Have they seen the vet? "Conjunctivitis" in kittens is almost always viral, and usually from the herpes virus. Sadly, it is VERY common. Our poor Flowerbelle was so bad when rescued, we had to have one of her eyes removed.

Here is an EXCELLENT article for you - scroll down to the kitten section: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body...nctivitis.html

The most common treatment is to start with topical antibiotics - maybe use oral antibiotics, and DEFINITELY discuss with a vet using an L-lysine supplement. I don't know how young it can be given - I BELIEVE but don't know it's safe for very, very young kittens. DO ask a vet, as it certainly helps the kitties' immune systems fight the virus and its effect on their systems. But Flowerbelle was rescued at about 7 weeks old, so with very young kitties, I don't know.

This is what she looked like AFTER initial treatment (it was glued shut when she was rescued):



She had several surgeries where her eyelid was sewn shut with meds put in the eye before it was sewn shut:



She does just great without her eye



...but it's not just the eyes that can be affected if it is from herpes virus - it can destroy their turbinates (in the sinuses) and do all kinds of damage. It needs to be treated aggressively.

I'd get at least the worst one to an e-vet if possible or at a minimum to the vet tomorrow as early as possible, and treat all of them the same way.

to the wee ones.

I'm not sure how old they are or how long they have had it. My SIL has a colony of ferals living in an abandoned house on her farm. There are so many of them. She went on vacation and asked us to feed them while she is gone (2 wks). We noticed the problem and became very upset. There are 9 kittens from several moms so it is a big job. Thanks for the info.

ETA: My guess is they are 6 weeks or so. Have not seen a vet yet. We are hoping to get involved with a rescue agency to help us with them. A rescue got back to me and will help us if we find someone to foster them (inside).

If the kittens are still loose outside you either need to get them inside or at least inside a large cage in a building (that won't get too hot). If they can't see they won't be able to get away from predators.

I've always used clean cloths and warm distilled water to soften up the dried gunk on their eyes. It's very slow, you can not get rough at all, and if you can holding the cloth over the eye for a few moments at a time can help soften it more. You'll have to do this multiple times a day for the really bad off kittens.

Don't mix cloths, water, or containers the water was in between kittens. Some may have secondary infections. Also do not touch your face at all, some bacterias can be spread to you (such as feline chlamydia - chlamydophila psittaci and c. pecorum ). When handling the kittens wear clothes that can be washed in hot - change your clothes as soon as you're done with the kittens so as not to spread anything to other animals or yourself.

Good luck getting them in to see a vet soon.

(tip, if you need really cheap, absorbent, very soft cloths. Go to the automotive section in a store like walmart or kmart, get the microfiber cloths. There's blue and white ones that come in a 10 pack, you could cut them in half to have 20 smaller clothes or use as is. Wash in hot after each use.)

Oh what a sad situation! Of course you're upset!

If you're unable to foster, many you're able to find someone so the rescue will help with the expense! (And adopting them out when they're a little older!)

Have you talked to the rescue about low-cost spay/neuter places near where your sister lives? Sounds like she's gonna need that resource - the mommas and daddies really need to be spayed and neutered to prevent this from happening in the future.

If you need help searching, you can either post the name of the city or county in PA, or send me a PM with the zip code.

If it is worse than just herpes related conjuctivitis, it can cause other health issues, we had some at the shelter last year who didn't make it after the infection in their eyes travelled further after causing eye issues - so if you can find a foster soon and the rescue can help it will be better for the kittens (and getting them away from their feral moms will help with socialisation too, its already a busy kitten season)

Well, we caught 9 kittens but found that there are 12! We have them in 2 cages in my MIL basement. The rescue won't help with cost unless we agree to foster them until they are adopted. I don't know that we can feasibly do that for 9-12 kittens. Our 2nd option is we want to try to keep them crated inside until they are old enough to be spayed or neutered which will be about 1 1/2 months- then the rescue will assist in that.
Anyone know about Duramyacin? The rescue people say it is found at a feed store, it is for swine, cows, poultry but is an antibiotic that can be put in a cats water to help with some of the sicknesses (in place of terracyclin?)

If you have your own vet, you may want to call to discuss this and the situation. They'll understand you can't afford to pay for 12 cats, and should be willing to discuss with you what to do.

Originally Posted by LDG

If you have your own vet, you may want to call to discuss this and the situation. They'll understand you can't afford to pay for 12 cats, and should be willing to discuss with you what to do.

Click to expand...

I second this, my vet has always been so helpful and even came out to my feral field to check on a cat when I was worried about him but wasn't sure if he had to go in

there are some general antibiotics meant for cattle and fish you can get non prescription but eye meds may be needed not broad spectrum antibiotics and I would worry about dosage when they are so young and perhaps not drinking a lot of water

Thanks, my vet did give us ointment for the eyes without an appointment. I was going to try the duramyacin as an assist to that as recommended by the rescue. They said to try the ointment and duramyacin and wait a few days, then we can take to our vet if needed.

Antibiotics will really only work if it's chlamydia or another bacteria. Herpes and calcivirus, both of which cause conjunctivitis are viruses - for those, l-lysine can help.

I am curious, though. You said farm? I'm assuming there's other animals out there? Do any of them at all have or have ever had eye issues? Chlamydia can spread to most mammals and pops up in farm animals in some areas. If it's common to your area, that may be why the rescue is suggesting antibiotics.

I did say farm...but it is not so much anymore. No other animals. The farm has 200 acres and had cattle up until a year ago. Now we don't have cattle or anything. We just have farmers who lease the land. Even the older ferals would not have been around the cattle as this is away from that area. My SIL lives in a mobile home on the other side of the farm, this is where the cats are living (in the old abandoned farm house).

SIL is away on vacation for 2 wks. She has been caring for these cats (there are many) for a few years now. While she was gone, she asked us to feed them, which is what brought our attention to the fact that a) the kittens are really sick and b) apart from the kittens, we need help, we needed to get a TNR program involved for the adults.

Not that I don't want to take responsibility, but I am really angry at her...we gave her a number for a rescue at least a year ago. She did spay/neuter some of the cats but we didn't realize the extent of the problem until now. We talked to her about trapping and fixing them when there was only 3 ferals and again when there were a few more. Ultimately they are "her cats". (I say that because when the first feral showed up and had kittens we wanted to adopt one to live in our home, she had to think about if she would allow it, and finally she did - Lightning.) I feel like when she gets home on Saturday, SHE needs to take control and "fix" it.

Meanwhile, I know we did the right thing by capturing the kittens to care for them, but now I am overwhelmed and am second guessing my decision. This is not 4 or 5 kittens that we could find good homes for. We are in over our heads. I do appreciate all the replies and advice though. Keep it coming.

Sounds like it's time to bake a bunch of cookies or brownies or something for the vet & staff. We live in an RV, and because the shelters/rescue networks out here are ALWAYS full, we worked really hard at being friendly to the vet PRACTICE - and we essentially bribed (in a way) the vet techs and staff to take kitties home to foster - and they were much better at getting them adopted out, because the vet practice gets calls for people looking for cats, or they know whose kitties passed on and they may be ready for a new one.... we just chatted them up, always brought in home made stuff for them to munch, frequently gave them cards expressing appreciation for all they do... and we made it VERY clear that we'd pay for food & litter and stuff of kitties being fostered. Some would take us up on that - others didn't.

But throwing an idea out there for you.....