Kitten eye infection question

Hi there, I am new here and this is my second kitten season as a foster mom for the local shelter.  I'm asking this here because its not an emergency so calling my contact on the weekend isn't really called for but I am still curious.  Anyway, I have a mom and her 2 week old litter of 7 kittens.  When I got them on Tuesday (they were abandonded in a box over night at the shelter) they all had fleas so bad they were anemic and 3 of them had eye infections.  The shelter staff said they put warm compresses on their eyes to clean them out and put in some meds and said if they sealed back up to compress them again.  Well one of them was so bad by the morning his eyes seemed to be bulging and when I put a warm compress on them they opened up and the puss just kept coming out forever.  I've never seen anything like that before!  It must have been hurting him too   I happened to have antibiotic drops from last season so I dosed everyone with funky eyes and 2 of them are just great and the bad one is nearly ok except for one thing:  his third eyelids are covering at least a third of his eyes. 

Will they retract after he heals a bit more or could his eyes be damaged??

Did they not send you home with meds for their eyes? One dose is not going to cure them. Sometimes, too much wiping can irritate. Glad they are on the mend. The third eyelid should go back to normal. It just means he's not in the clear yet. Considering how severe his eye was, he could very well need to be on oral antibiotics. Usually the third eyelid showing is a sign of sickness. My suggestion would be to take him to the vet to be assessed. He could be running a fever. 

Oh, and since they had fleas, make sure they were treated specifically for tapeworms. I've had kittens  almost die from an infestation. Fleas carry the eggs and will be ingested by the kittens. Be sure to weigh them daily.

BTW...Welcome!

Honestly, I think they just forgot.  A mom and 7 babies comes with a lot of gear and maybe when they were treating his eyes they didn't look too bad?  They were all treated for fleas, all got dewormed, mom was tested for, etc. and that first day this particular boy did sneeze one or twice but otherwise he's in the beginning stages of trying to walk around and eating well so not lethargic.  I'll go take his temp now though just to be sure. 

This litter does have me a bit on edge though just because I have never seen such a huge size and developmental difference between littermates, there are 3 who look like they were conceived by one dad with the first round of eggs and the other 4 where the very last round of eggs like a week later they are that much smaller so the big ones push the little ones off their favorite nipples.  Plus the mom is young and with so many it is hard for her to not squish one every once in awhile.

Levi gave good advices. Excellent you managed to stop this forcefull infection having suitable medicines and knowing how to use them..  Otherwise we would write asap to the vet. Pus in the eyes is beyond playing with with home remedies...  (I myself got once "my dose" in a PM from the moderator here for this).

My advice now is you do weigh them every day. So you know how and if they are gaining as they should. As they are uneven and some of the smalls may perhaps not get enough, or some may got squizzed, or something...

Tx for helping them!

Welcome to the TCS site and our Forums!

Good luck! *vibes*

If you weigh each kitten at about the same time each day you can see if they are all putting on weight - it should be 10g per day, maybe a bit more.  Whatever the behaviour at the milk bar looks like, it doesn't matter if they are all putting weight on.

The eye infection needs treating, and as soon you can I would ring the shelter and tell them about the eyes.