Sometimes it’s hard to tell if your cat might just have a little cold, allergy, or if it’s moved on to a more serious problem. If your cat has runny eyes or is sneezing, this could be a sign of impending problems. Most of the time, in my experience, a cold will almost always head into the more serious upper respiratory issues. And also, sometimes untreated allergies can go into this problem as well. Now, cats can and do have allergies. I want to explain the difference and the signs you can look for with these issues. I have several cats with allergies! Allergies are not serious in and of themselves, unless your cat sneezes ALOT and seems miserable. With allergies, the eye excretions are clear and if they sneeze, it’s clear. If your cat really seems miserable or sneezes more than a few times, your best bet is to get an appointment with a vet and get some medication for it. He’ll be happier and you won’t get sneezed on when he’s snuggled up to your head in bed! :-D If the excretions from eye or nose become thick or greenish in nature, then a trip to the vet is definitely in order. Colds are a different story… and even in the middle of summer, you will find colds can be a problem, ESPECIALLY in kittens. And as often as colds turn into upper respiratory, you have to be very vigilent in keeping an eye on this problem. If the cat or kittens eyes are glued shut, if there is pus behind the eye lid when you clean it, if you have one with a snotty nose or they’re breathing through their mouths, then you’re looking at something more than a simple cold. At present, I am fostering 7 kittens and each one of them has this problem. I took one to the vet and I have them all on eye drops and an antibiotic. Kittens with this problem can die very quickly if not treated. It’s a simple fix and not too costly. I welcome any questions or further inquiries about this medical condition!
OH!! ONE MORE THING AND I’M PUTTING THIS IN CAPS BECAUSE IT’S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! About a year ago, I had this problem come up with a kitten. I had some eye salve that I was given for a previous issue and decided to use it. Well, that was a HUGE MISTAKE! The stuff I used had steroids in it, which was what was called for for that particular cat. HOWEVER, in regular eye issues… if you use eye salve with steroids in them… the steroids in that salve CAN AND WILL make the cornea simply… explode… and due to my error, we almost lost the eye! We gave the baby regular antibiotic eye salve religiously and thankfully, all you can see now is a slight shadow on the eye itself. Please don’t ever make the mistake I did and try to self-medicate your cat or kitten!
