Sushi's got an eye issue... help! :(

[Samantha Puppy]

But first, an uppiedate - Kirin still has a cold but I've been giving him L-Lysine with every meal and it seems to be a little better. His breathing isn't as labored though it's still not totally clear, but I think he's on the road to recovery.

Sushi, however, now seems to have a problem. I didn't notice anything earlier today, but this evening he took a nap on Samantha's pillow. In his sleep he stretched out and his head hung over the side of it so he was sleeping on an incline, on his head. A few minutes after he woke up, I was in the kitchen and Josh asks me to see if I thought Sushi's left eye was swollen so I looked at it and it was. He had green gunk in it and a film over it. Josh and I cleaned up the gunk and it doesn't look *as* swollen but now it's weeping constantly (looks like he's been crying out of that eye - the fur all around it is wet), and he keeps licking his paw and rubbing his eye and when he's not doing that, he's squeezing it shut so he looks like a pirate. Do you think it's just irritated because it was the prominent side he was sleeping on when he was upside down? The other eye is fine.

Anyone with lots of kitty knowledge, I'd really appreciate hearing what you think. Josh is working from home tomorrow so if need be...

[jazzcat]

Jazz had a URI (kitty cold) when we got her as a kitten and her eyes were very weepy and gunky with green discharge like that. She took antibiotics and we had to put an ointment in her eye too.

This may be the first stages of the cold of Sushi.

[Grace]

Sounds like conjunctivitis to me. Make sure you wash your hands really well after cleaning his eye. And he should be put on an antibiotic eye ointment asap.

Just like with humans, this can be contagious.

[Samantha Puppy]

According to my husband, it wasn't green gunk, it was white and gray. And would it still be normal, if it is the first signs of a cold - or if it's conjunctivitis (his eye is completely normal looking, not red, just watery now - the gunk is even gone), to happen all of a sudden like that (he was fine when he first laid down for his nap) and only in one eye?

At Aly's suggestion, I've been giving L-Lysine to Sushi as well as Kirin, as a precaution... I was hoping that would keep him from getting it.

[Grace]

I would take a good look at it in the morning, If you see any redness or nasty discharge, contact the Vet. And use good handwashing - it can't hurt.

[NoahsMommy]

It does sound like conjuctivitis. Poor thing, that's no fun and it make kittens look miserable. I remember when Hermie got that when she was a kitten....she looked to pathetic.

[catfancier]

I would say check with a vet - there are heaps of different things it could be, and a lot of different reasons could be causing it. If the third eyelid (the white part) is showing, a vet should definitely check it out, but it would pay to err on the safe side and get a vet to look at it either way. You wouldn't want Sushi to suffer would you?
I have had a client in the past make an appointment to see the eye specialist who came to the clinic I used to work at every couple of weeks, but in the meantime before she saw Craig, she was treating her dog's eye/s with tea tree oil - because she thought it might help. There's no way I would ever give my pets anything other than what a vet recommends!

[rg_girlca]

My Mooky's eye was like that because he got it pooked or scratched when playing with Poppy. I took a cotton ball with warm water and cleaned it about 3 times a day and took another one to hold on his eye like a compress. After 2 days his eye was fine.

Now, i'm not saying that this is what it is, but it wouldn't hurt to try the cotton ball with warm water on it.

[Christiansmommy]

Dandy just got over having a gunky eye. It seemed like one minute she was fine and the next, she was keeping it closed. Then i noticed the wet discharge. So i took her to the vet, and what they will do, is first put some drops in the eye, and turn on a black light, the drops would show if there were any scratches under the black light. If not, then it is probably pink eye, and you will need ointment. Dandy ended up just needing the ointment...no scratches...it did take a good 3-5 days for it to completely clear up after starting the ointment...

If there was a scratch, it could get infected ( so they may give you ointment anyway)...and if the kittens play alot, it is possible, that his eye got scratched...but you never know

[Samantha Puppy]

Thanks everyone. I think we're going to err on the safe side and take Sushi in to visit the white coats tomorrow.

He's taking a nap with Daddy right now, so his eyes aren't open but you can see that under the left eye is swollen compared to the other side. (And no, it's not because he's laying on that side and smushing it. It looks exactly the same when his head is up.)

[QueenScoopalot]

A White Coat visit never hurts! Especially when you have a few other pets that can contract possible conjunctivitis! I had it once, and it's very irritating. I developed a blood blister on my eye from rubbing. Imagine how the kitty feels? EEEK!

[Samantha Puppy]

Uh oh... Sush just woke up and I got a better look at his eye. The best way I can describe it is that it looks like if an eye had a super-thin layer of Saran wrap on it, his looks like it is "clumpy" or "wrinkled". This makes me think that maybe he and Kir were playing and he didn't get his eyes closed quickly enough. We're *definitely* going to the vets tomorrow - just please keep your paws and fingers crossed that it's nothing serious. I would hate for poor Sush to have to deal with this forever! He's too young to have to deal with something like this for the rest of his life.

[catfancier]

Here is a pic of Tiger's right eye - she was scratched by a neighbourhood cat before she officially adopted us - this was before she was tamed, before we knew she was a girl, and before we could touch her. I remember seeing her keeping her eye closed at the time of the scratch, when it was fresh, and when she was able to open it, there was a purple mark on it.
We weren't able to touch her to take her to the vet, but when she did finally go (for vaxes etc), he told us that we should have taken her to see him straight away. Luckily, the wound has healed itself by creating a kind of 'vortex' - it looks like the eye of a hurricane in between her cornea and iris. She doesn't have any difficulties with it. Anyway:

[Samantha Puppy]

Well, I was hoping the eye was just irritated and would look better after sleeping all night but there is more gunk than before (green) and it appears to still be weepy (thought maybe not as much?), so off to the vets we go. Gotta call ASAP. Poor Sush.

[catmandu]

Sadly.your Cat,has an infection,a job,for the White Coats,if I have ever seen,one,and we hope,taht he is well,very,very soon!