sudden severe eye infection - help!

one of my cats had a mild eye infection that we took him to the vet for yesterday and were given antibiotics and some eye ointment. he gets them a couple times a year so it seemed like no biggie.

but now his sister has seemed to develop a rather severe infection. i was playing with her before dinner so i know she was fine then. and now it's about 11:30 pm and i'm about to go to bed and one of her eyes is so swollen she can barely open it and the other doesn't look great either. we're definitely taking her to the vet first thing in the morning, but i'm worried about waiting that long when it's that swollen.

any thoughts?

From the First Aid Companion For Dogs and Cats:

Hold pet steady. Wipe away discharge - you can do this by holding a warm, damp washcloth over the eye to loosen crust, then wipe it away. Once all discharge (crust) is off the eye, flush them with sterile saline solution. Take your pet to the vet as soon as possible. If you don't have saline solution, distilled water will use.

Hi -

Just wanted to share something I came across last fall when my cat (then 10 yrs old) came down w/ conjunctivitis in one eye. She wasn't seeming to respond to antibiotics too well and was keeping that one eye half to fully closed. I did some research online, trying to see if there might be a natural remedy as an alternative and came across a site where dog and cat owners alike were raving about organic apple cider vinegar and how it's cleared their pets of eye infections, ranging from mild to severe. One woman even claimed that it started to work w/i 30 minutes of application. I was skeptical about anything working that quickly but was keeping an open mind, and based on the number of pet owners who were extolling the virtues of the healing power of ACV, I decided to give it a try. I only had regular ACV on hand but made up the recommended concoction and applied it to the fur on the back of her neck (they recommend rubbing it into the fur so that the skin absorbs it directly). I'm sorry, I don't have the exact mixture on hand, but it was a certain # of parts of ACV to a larger # of parts water (all in all, it was about 1/4 cup or less of liquid). Within 15-30 min, my cat's affected eye was wide open, and she'd started perking up as well and was acting as if she'd never had that infection. If you're interested in learning more, I'd recommend typing in "feline conjunctivitis" and "natural remedy" or even also "apple cider vinegar." I hope that site comes up. It was a pet health forum of some kind. I found it interesting as well, bc I knew about the incredible health benefits of ACV for humans but hadn't appreciated it could also do wonders for our animal companions. Sending healing vibes to your kitty!