[help?] Mama And Kitten Problems

[Jayflight]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I need a bit of assistance. As a disclaimer, I wanna say that we dont have the money for a vet visit currently (we didn't even plan on keeping her but then she had babies).

I'll start from the beginning I guess.
On the 4th of July I brought home a stray kitty, we found her in the woods (presumably dumped as mountain lion food). We took her to my aunts house and gave very food and water as she was severely malnourished and just in rough shape. She came around quite quickly and started gaining weight and becoming more friendly. We had no clue she was pregnant (because she was so small when we found her) and the day we started thinking she might be, she gave birth to 4 healthy kittens. 2 boys and 2 girls.

There's some background, now I have an issue (actually 2). The kittens are about 4 weeks old now, and are nursing still as they should be, I have been worried about them getting enough milk because their bellies never look full so I looked at mamas nopples and one of them looks like this (I'll attach the image)

I've wiped it and looked more and it seems to be a sore? The nipple just sorta slants now and I cant tell if milk is coming from it. I'm worried that it might be an infection. Help?
Problem 2 is that mamas left eye is shut a bit and it seems to hurt a bit, it just started to look like that. One of the kittens eyes also has white goopy stuff and it is usually sealed shut with yellow stuff. We wiped the eye down gently to open it up and it was filled with white goopy eyeboogers and the eye just seems a bit smaller than the other. It closes back up usually after we open it (within a few hours) and I'm worried the kitten might lose sight in that eye. All the other kittens are playful and happy and have nothing wrong, just mama and the 1 kitten are struggling.

Any help or advice for home remedies or if I shoudk be concerned about the nipple thing would be appreciated. I'm not 100% familiar with baby kittens so I'm scared they'll get sick or something

 

[talkingpeanut]

Where are you located? We might be able to help you to find a rescue that could help.

She does need antibiotics probably for the nipple, and terramycin eye ointment for her eye. The kittens may need their eyes treated too.

 

[Kayla70711]

My cats had the eye goop also. Mama, and the babies. I had to wait a week until I got paid to get the medicine so I had read to clean, and stetilize the area around the house they're in, and wipe with warm gentle rag so I did, and they got better, and it went away on it's own. Still gave them the medicine just to be safe though so if it hasn't been too long, and you don't have money try that. Just be super gentle wiping the babies eye.

 

[di and bob]

If it's feline herpes, and likely is, I'd start mama on L-Lysine to break the cycle of the virus. I get mine on Amazon as treats.It is very common in kittens and spreads to the whole litter.It is NOT spreadable to humans. The baby would need eye ointment which is applied by gently pulling the eyelid down and putting a ribbon of ointment in the 'pocket' that is formed. With that nipple, mama might need an oral antibiotic which would hopefully take care of both problems.
Do you have a vet you usually go to? I have often gotten meds from just a call and no visit, you might call, there are many over the counter meds online, but they are not as good as prescription. A vet visit might be expensive now, but not as expensive as eye removal or letting the sweet baby go blind. Call around, your local shelter might be able to recommend a cheaper vet/solution. I'll pray for you all, please keep us updated!

 

[golondrina]

to the Site jayflight. I'm glad you have joined us. Thanks for taking care of this moma and her kittens. They are lucky you have found them. Please keep us updated on their recovery. Would love some pics when you can.