Little Squeaks has a nasty eye infection: neonatal ophthalmia (a form of conjunctivitis contracted when the baby passes through the birth canal of a momma cat with a kitty STD).
It causes puss to build up in the unopened eyes of newborn kittens and can cause everything from corneal scaring to blindness, and in extreme cases can even cause a systemic infection that can be fatal.
We were lucky and caught it early! I used a warm moist tissue to clean away a bunch of the crusty buildup and was able to very carefully open Squeak’s eyelids manually. Poor baby had so much nasty gunk in his eyes! I took him to the shelter and the wonderful vet tech Alexis helped me rinse out his eyes with saline.
He’ll be getting antibiotic ointment put in his eyes multiple times per day, and I’ll continue to clean his little eyes to keep the discharge from building up again.
The sweet little guy doesn’t like the treatment at all, but is all purrs as soon as I’m done.
If you think a kitten has this kind of eye infection take them to a vet immediately! There are a number of other conditions that look very similar and it’s very important to make sure a kitten gets the proper treatment as quickly as possible.
It causes puss to build up in the unopened eyes of newborn kittens and can cause everything from corneal scaring to blindness, and in extreme cases can even cause a systemic infection that can be fatal.
We were lucky and caught it early! I used a warm moist tissue to clean away a bunch of the crusty buildup and was able to very carefully open Squeak’s eyelids manually. Poor baby had so much nasty gunk in his eyes! I took him to the shelter and the wonderful vet tech Alexis helped me rinse out his eyes with saline.
He’ll be getting antibiotic ointment put in his eyes multiple times per day, and I’ll continue to clean his little eyes to keep the discharge from building up again.
The sweet little guy doesn’t like the treatment at all, but is all purrs as soon as I’m done.
If you think a kitten has this kind of eye infection take them to a vet immediately! There are a number of other conditions that look very similar and it’s very important to make sure a kitten gets the proper treatment as quickly as possible.
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