Help! Newbie stray kitten with eye infection???

Hello Im a newbie and need some help!

My co-worker found some kittens in the back of our complex while taking a walk. I felt so bad that after work I went and saw the cuttest kittens. I atempted to rescue them but 3 of them ran off into the wooded area and I was too slow to catch them. However not too far away I spotted a small orange cat. I started to walk towards the very small kitten and it walked towards me, started to cry and purr. When I was close enough I noticed that her eyes were shut, full of puss and extremely gooey. I felt so bad that I placed her in a box and took her to my car. I waited to see if the other kittens would come back, but they didnt. Im not sure how old she is but she is very thin. I have cleaned her eyes with warm water and she can finally see. Unfortunately every time she goes to sleep, her eyes get gooey and close up a little. Im a little short on cash these days but would like to give the cat a better life. Is there anything I can do or clean her eyes with for the time being. I dont get paid until next Friday,but I dont want to leave her eyes unattended.

HELP!

Thanks
Nancy

Hey Nancy...sounds like this guy has an eye infection, which would require Terramycin. This is an ointment which is applied to their eyes. I would recommend that you take this kitten to the vet just to be safe....see if you can arrange a payment plan for when you are paid.

Katie

neosporin or any triple antibotic ointment used lightly on the eyes does wonders I have found.

Please do not put anything in this kitten's eyes until a vet has been consulted. It could be anything from herpes to an infection- and needs to be seen not diagnosed unseen over the internet. Keep putting warm compresses on the eyes, do not force the eyes to come open and keep this cat isolated from all other animals until you can get it to the vet. Most vets will take payment plans, so if you know you have money coming, I would take the cat in tomorrow to be seen.

Poor kitty. I don't think you want to wait until next Friday. You also don't want to medicate the kitty not knowing what he has. Please take the kitty to the vet as soon as you can, so his eyes get better.

When we adopted Layla last week, she had the same problem. We were told if was from her having a small URI, but after we got her home, and a couple days passed, it cleared up immensely. I had a feeling it had to do with her being exposed to the elements before the shelter, ie: being outside, and then the 2nd rate shelter didn't help any. She still gets a small bit of gunk in her eyes when she wakes up from her nap, but I haven't found anything that I felt I needed to be totally alarmed with. Your situation may be different from mine in terms of the kitten, but I thought I would share this just in case.

I wouldn't recommend putting anything on his/her eyes without consulting a vet first, but I would maybe suggest calling a vet and maybe seeing if you can set something up to bring him/her in and have her checked out, and then pay when you get a paycheck, or set up a payment plan with what you can afford now to get this taken care of incase it is something more serious.

Let us know how it goes, and to the young'n

my kitten is experiencing the same thing!! it is only 2 weeks old i raised it up myself someone left them on my porch 2 weeks ago when they were just newborns - with the umbilical cord still attached. all has been going well until Moo couldnt open his eyes - it's stuck with with some sticky thing and his eyes are shut closed.

i brought it to the vet yesterday and they gave me an eyedrop that contains Gentamicin Sulfate. i used it but it doesnt look any better today. i'm also quite afraid as the eyedrop does not say it's for use on animals.

and i've also read abt the Terramycin on many websites in the form of a gel/cream that u put a thin layer around the eyes. Is the gel/cream better than the eyedrop?! Can anyone help me?

amina i'd call the vet again but the gel stuff does 'stick' where you put it. my vet almost always prescribes what is essentially neosporin, triple-antibiotic ointment, so perhaps you can use this (though def ask the vet first, kittens are obviously much more fragile than the tough alley cats i usually deal with). good luck!

I mentioned in another thread that my mother always used a very weak solution of boric acid on kitten's eyes. I haven't seen the stuff in years, but I noticed it's one of the ingredients in the vet-supplied eyewash. I haven't seen it in years, but I'm told it's still available in pharmacies. As I said, it was a very weak solution.

hey my name is marie i saw the neosporn and any triple anibiotic thing for the kitten do i put it around the eye or should i put it close enough it can get into her eye lid an spread around?

Marie - and everyone else.  Please don't out anything in or on a cat's eyes without the vet looking at them first.  Unless you know for sure what's causing the problem, the thing you put on it may make it worse.  There are a lot of things that can cause a cat's eyes to goop and not all of them will be cleared up by a topical application on their eyes.  They might need oral antibiotics for an Upper Respiratory Infection, for instance.

To the original poster, please see if you can get an appointment to the vet's ASAP for this kitty.  Your vet may be able to help you with a payment plan of some sort.

Thank you for helping her!

The original post was made in 2008, so let's assume that kitten is all better by now.

Mami Marie, best thing would be to call your vet, ask what to do, and make an appointment to bring the kitten in for an exam. Until then, use a damp washcloth and gently clean the crud away, as needed.
 

Catapault: Thanks for the heads-up.  I'm going to have to check dates of postings from now on!  I never even looked.

HI,

There is a kitten around my building and one of her eyes is very infected i took her once to the vet and i have given her drops 3 times a day but her eye is still pussy and its pointy with like a bubble at the end i havent seen anything like this before. The first vet said to remove the eye but he didnt take the time to really look at her eye very well so i dont want to jump to that. I am taking her to another vet on thursday to get a second oppinion but i would also want your input if any of you have ran across this issue before. I am also looking maybe to take Sofia home with me to the states if i dont find a home for her here. Does anyone know aprox how much am i looking to spend for all the shots and chip and passport ?!

(i tried to post a pic as well but cant seem to be able to) please let know how to post a pic)

Hi @Andreea   and welcome 

Did the vet mention herpes virus? Maybe adding lysine to kitty's food would help until the vets figure out a plan of action. lt certainly won't hurt. We buy human lysine caps and sprinkle them on canned cat food to boost the immune system. l don't have a cat with herpes virus but many on the boards here do, and l'm sure they'll be along through the day. 

You don't mention where you are so l can't help you with costs. l'm in Canada, and our Canadian law states that to take our pets into the States they only need to be protected against rabies, even to come back home! We don't need a passport for them as we would in Europe. Rabies shots are quite inexpensive, and chips here range from $25 to $50. Depending on where you are it would be good to use a chip that can be updated for free once you move, that is supported in the US.

Thank you so much for the info. I am currently in Romania. The first vet said to take the eye out, which to me seems awful and for no reason as he didnt really look at the eye. her eyes seems to be getting worst i think, today she had puss come out of it! tomorrow i am taking her to another vet and hopefully this one is a lot more capable of determining the problem and getting it resolved without doing major surgery. I tried posting a picture of Sophia's eye but i cant seem to be able to figure out how to post a picture.