How to wash your cat’s eyes at home

An animal is like a child, not only a source of endless affection, tenderness and friendship. Any pet needs to be looked after - monitor hygiene, treat, educate. Sometimes cat owners have to rinse their pets' eyes on their own, even before visiting a doctor. Some breeds of cats require regular eye washing, due to the structural features of the lacrimal canal. In this article, you will learn in what cases it is necessary to flush the eyes of a cat, how to do it correctly and safely, and also what effective solutions are best used.

In which cases it is necessary to flush the eyes of a cat

Inadequate care for the animal, as well as excessive zeal in the pursuit of cleanliness can bring the pet a lot of trouble. We outline the main situations in which a cat needs eye wash.

1. Foreign object. Foreign objects such as dust, specks, small particles of various substances can get into the cat’s eyes, as well as humans. As a rule, when a cat becomes irritated, lacrimation begins, which leads to anxiety of the animal.
2. Bacterial infection. If pus forms in the cat's eyelids, dry crusts are replaced by new secretions, if the eyes turn sour, this is a sign of a bacterial infection. In this case, you need to immediately flush your eyes with antimicrobial and antibacterial agents.
3. Chlamydia This is an acute infectious disease that is dangerous for humans, it is very easy to get infected. Therefore, the disease urgently needs to be fought. As a rule, chlamydia is manifested by severe conjunctivitis, before the main processing and use of medicinal ointments and drops, the eyes of the animal must be washed.
4. Anatomical feature. Some cat breeds need to constantly flush their eyes, because the structural features of the lacrimal canal leads to constant lacrimation. Such breeds include Persians, Shorthair British, fold Scottish. If they do not wash their eyes, they will begin to sour, microbes will begin to accumulate, the number of secretions will increase.
5. Allergy. Cats, like humans, can be allergic. If the animal suddenly began to sneeze, the eyes began to water, perhaps the pollen of plants, dust from washing powder, etc. got on the cornea.
6. Parasites. With helminthic invasion, the activity of the lacrimal canal also increases, while there is no swelling or redness of the sclera.

It is necessary to treat the cat’s wet eyes immediately, because every hour the problem is usually worsened. Very often, eyes are watery and wet in small kittens - in most cases this is normal, but still requires washing. To the kittens of the first months of life, the mother herself licks her eyes, and if you excommunicated the baby from the mother, this care falls on your shoulders. Before proceeding to the procedure, we will try to figure out what is better to wash the eyes of the animal.

What solution to use for washing

If purulent crusts, black or brown discharge accumulate around the animal’s eyelids, it is most likely conjunctivitis of various nature - infectious, fungal or bacterial. For eye treatment, you need to use antiseptic pharmacy products - furatsilin, boric acid, sodium chloride, chlorhexidine. All of these tools perfectly fight various pathogens. In the veterinary pharmacy there are special drops "Diamond Eyes" - they are intended for the treatment of cat's ophthalmic diseases. The composition of these drops has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory components, the medicine can be instilled directly on the cornea or rinsed with eyelids.

Remember that any selected solutions should be in a weak concentration, because it is still a delicate mucous membrane of the eye that can get a burn from powerful compounds. Any washing liquid should be at a comfortable temperature - neither hot nor cold. As soon as you choose a medicinal composition, you need to proceed directly to the procedure itself.

How to flush a cat’s eyes

Prepare a rinse solution, a small syringe, lots of cotton swabs, and cut pieces of bandage. For all the manipulations you will have to fix the cat, so you should rinse your eyes with an assistant. If no one is around, you need to wrap the animal in a small towel so that the cat does not scratch you and run away ahead of time. Sit on the floor, gently squeeze the pet between the legs, raise its head up and start washing.

1. First of all, wash your hands thoroughly and disinfect them - this is very important.
2. Do not forget that the solution should be warm. It is not worth using clean cotton wool for washing, it leaves behind small fibers that can get on the cornea and become a source of additional problems. It is better to wash your eyes with lint-free swabs, pieces of bandage or cotton wool wrapped in a bandage - this is the best solution.
3. Thoroughly moisten a clean cotton swab in the prepared solution, and then carefully sweep through the closed eyelids of the animal. The cat herself will close her eyes in fear, so you only have to wipe the outer part of the eyelids, in no case touch the cotton cornea.
4. If you suspect that a foreign particle has got on the mucous membrane, you should try to wipe the eyelids from the outer corner of the eye to the inner one - that is, from the ear to the nose. In other cases, this is not necessary; it is better to rub your eyes in the opposite direction, that is, along the coat, and not against it.
5. If a foreign particle remains inside the eyelid, do not try to pull it out with your nails or tweezers (by no means!). In such a situation, draw a solution into the syringe and direct it into the speck with a sufficiently strong stream, the animal's eye will not suffer from this.
6. When washing, change tampons as often as possible, do not wet the used swab in a clean solution, especially with conjunctivitis. In case of bacterial, infectious or fungal infection after treatment, it is possible to apply a medicinal ointment to the mucous membrane - for example, tetracycline or hydrocortisone, you can use medicinal drops - Levomycetin or Ciprolet. However, remember that at least 10 minutes must elapse between rinsing and processing so that the medicinal formulations do not react with each other.
7. When instilling drops, do not try to open the eyelids of the animal by force - just drip the medicine into the corners of the eyes or into the bag of the drawn lower eyelid. When the cat blinks, the composition will be distributed throughout the cornea.
8. After washing, pat the eyelids of the animal with a dry swab, stroke your pet and treat him to a treat for patience.

If you can’t take out the foreign body yourself or it stuck in the cornea - do not experiment, immediately go to the doctor. The veterinarian should also be consulted if all your manipulations do not bring improvements, and the condition of the cat only worsens. If the washing solution does not help you, try to use something else, because in some cases the animal may increase swelling and redness of the sclera due to an allergic reaction to the drug itself, from which the solution was prepared.

If the animal’s eyes are not in order, if the cat is uncomfortable, she closes the sick eye with her paw, shows the owner in every way her concern. With such symptoms, it is necessary to rinse the eye of the pet in order to alleviate its condition and return the friend to normal life.

Video: how to rinse cat eyes