Cat Eye Infection/Irritation Question
 

My 7 year old orange male cat, Tigger, has what I think to be an eye infection in his left eye. It's watering and has had a little bit of a discharge from the corner but not too much. It was a little red yesterday but seems less so today.

I've been giving him Clavamox tablets (2 per day) and he's had 1 full day of this antibiotic. I wasn't able to get this mornings dose down his throat but I'm now thinking that was good because he threw up his lunch and would have lost it anyway.

He's eating, playing, going potty....everything seems normal except his eye is runny. At first I thought my younger cat had batted him in the eye and irritated it and that could still be the cause of it.....but his eye didn't seem to be scratched.

I'm wondering if I should just continue the antibiotic until at least Saturday and then, if he's not better, take him in. I just don't want to spend $100 I don't have for them to tell me his eye is irritated and give me another prescription for Clavamox when I already have some here.

Believe me, this cat will go to the doctor before I do. He's my baby.....but he of course hates the cat carrier and the car ride and I'm trying to avoid it if at all possible. The $$$ is also a factor but I'd find a way to take him if he needed to go. Right now he seems fine except for the watery eye.

Looking for suggestions. :)

We have a cat, a little female tortoiseshell, Ferrari, who is prone to eye infections. We learned from the vet that when we first start to see goop at the corner of the eye, to wash it off with warm water several times a day, stroking down towards the nose to help unblock the tear duct. Most of the time this keeps it from going to a full-blown infection.

Of course, washing a kitty's face is not necessarily something they readily cooperate with. Ya gotta kinda sneak attack from behind sometimes, and I've found that a wetted tissue folded over several times to be thick works better than a washcloth, smaller and easier to maneuver as you grab and dab.

Good luck! Hope it gets better on it's own.

I have a cat with a damaged eye (sometime before we adopted him) who frequently has discharge. Like Winic1, our vet recommended washing the eye several times a day with a warm wash cloth. He said to massage the eye as best you can to help open the duct and keep the eye clear to avoid infection. I gently hold Mac from the scruff of the neck...just enough to keep him still. Then I can wash/massage his eye with the wash cloth. I make the water pretty warm, but not too hot. He doesn't like at first but then doesn't put up a fuss after a minute or two. I think it might actually be soothing to him, since it's irritated.

The color of drainage can indicate infection. Anything yellow, green, or cloudy should be assessed by the vet right away.

Sounds like it could be conjunctivitis, which is usually treated with a topical, rather than oral antibiotic.


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If you don't have a full course of Clavamox, you'll have to take him in anyway, or risk a relapse with the infection possibly resistant. I'd take him in anyway, but if it gets any worse, definitely get him in.

Doc

So how's he doing?
 

Had to drop off a sample from my therapy dog this morning - dogged (pun intentional) bladder infection. Made me think of Tigger.

How's the eye?

Doc

Thank you for asking! :) He's doing much better. I've been wiping his eye with a warm cloth and it seems to help. He doesn't mind it at all. Probably feels good to him.

His eye has stopped "weeping" and doesn't seem irritated anymore. I'll keep cleaning it for another day or so. I also stopped giving him the antibiotic because his eye seemed to be getting well on it's own (he only had 1 day of the meds) and he hated taking that pill so much.

Hopefully, he's in good shape now. Thanks again for thinking of him.

When we took Oreo to the vet before this vacation, he said the tearing eye, was from the tumor on her thyroid. Says it causes pressure on the nerves that control lacrimation. She had 2 episodes before we left.

She has not had it on vacation at all.

Also tearing can come from tooth pain.

Cats can get viruses. Those usually pass in a few days.

You might have to take him in to the vet.

Hope it's all healed fast, Kitty.

Cats have amazing eyes. They can tell a lot about their health.

Apart from the watering, do the eyes look the same? No extra eyelid? No swelling or anything? No dilated pupil? My little GrandKitty Famous here ate some tulip leaves when she was only about 6 months old. I love tulips and they don't grow in my climate so had bought myself some as a very special treat. My children and I were out and she was in the house alone and she ate some of the leaves. No idea why. She was well looked after and well fed. We were in a new place though but she was locked inside temporarily while we all settled in.

Anyway, long story short, she had a seizure. Lost a tooth during that. One pupil dilated and the extra eyelids were down. She was poisoned. Thankfully she made a great recovery in the end, but it was very worrying at the time. If Tigger's eye is watering and all else seems fine, then I'm hoping recovery is fast. If he's an outdoor/indoor cat, then maybe he rubbed his eye on something in the garden. I think that's what that extra eye-lid is for really... protection in the wild. I don't think it always works.

Thanks, Lara. :) Tigger's an inside only cat so no chance he hurt himself outside.

It seems to be all better now. Nothing really looked different about his eye. No extra eyelid covering anything. I just watched it closely and kept cleaning his eye with warm moist towels. He seemed to like that....maybe it felt good to his eye.

Maybe it was just irritated by dust (a real possibility in my house :o) or something he rubbed in it with his paw. :confused:

That's really good news, Kitty.
I'm so glad he's doing better.