Crusted Eyes

[MilkMao]

Firstly, thank you very much for the advice you gave me last time. <3 And I hope it's okay to ask another question.

My friends found a kitten in their yard today. The kitten's eyes are badly crusted shut and light seems to hurt him. They're going to take him to a vet sometime tomorrow, but I was wondering if there was anything they should or shouldn't do until then. They're wiping his eyes with a warm, wet towel to try and get some of the crust off. And I know the crust needs to come off, but I'm worried about it accidentally hurting him.

Thank you for your time!

[Mrs_Savas]

Hi,

No problem!  

This kind of thing is not uncommon with eye infections with kittens.  I have one who did end up blind in one eye - and she gets along great, by the way!  Animals compensate very well, so if it does turn out that he loses the sight in one eye, it isn't the end of the world.  

I still would have given the same advice, btw.  Since the kitten was going to the vet in the morning, there wasn't too much more to do that night, so it's ok that we didn't know.

I will keep a good thought for the kitty and your friend!

Let me know what happens, ok?

[MilkMao]

Oh gosh, please ignore my last comment! Apparently I misunderstood my friend and the kitten still has both of it's eyes, they're just very, very sick. I'm very sorry! I never would've posted that if I hadn't thought it was true.

[MilkMao]

Thank you so much for replying, but it turns out that it's a thousand times worse than it first looked (and it looked pretty bad to begin with). They managed to get a lot of the crust away to find that one of his eyes is missing and the other one is in bad shape. They've decided that if he makes it through the night, they're going to take him to a vet first thing in the morning.

[Mrs_Savas]

He probably has an infection and will require antibiotics.  In the meantime, don't bother his eyes too much, you don't want to irritate them.

Just do what you are doing, very gently, from time to time.  Not too often and don't worry if you don't get every last bit.  You just don't want the kitten's eyes to gum up and seal themselves closed, which can cause a buildup of fluid and discharge behind the eyelid if he can't open them.  That's really the only concern until the vet visit.

If he's sleeping, let him be, you don't have to wake him up to clean his eyes unless he sleeps for hours, in which case, just gently check to make sure his eyes aren't stuck shut.

He should be just fine.  Eye infections are very common with kittens.  I am usually surprised when a kitten doesn't get one ! :)