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My new kitten has crusty eyes and pus. What can I put in them?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Maine Coon | Female | 4 months and 27 days old

Just got this girl yesterday and her eyes are getting increasingly crusty. We bathed her and it is worse if anything. Tan colored pus. What can I buy to put in her eyes to help her? This is our first cat, very worried!

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3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on May 28th, 2017

Poor Bella! What a beautiful kitty she is. I can see that her eyes are definitely very crusty. Eye infections are very common in kittens, and often cause the kind of crusty discharge that you are seeing. She will need prescription eye drops from a vet to treat the infection, so I would recommend taking her for a vet exam as soon as you are able to. Ideally, it would be best to have her seen today at an emergency clinic if possible, because severe eye infections can cause permanent damage and even vision loss in some cases without prompt treatment. If you aren't able to take her to an emergency vet over the holiday weekend, then I would definitely see a regular vet on Tuesday morning so that she can get started on medication to treat the problem. In the meantime, you can use plain saline eye flush to gently rinse her eyes, and clean away the crusty discharge a few times a day with a warm washcloth. This will not treat the underlying infection causing the discharge, but it may help to make her more comfortable until you are able to see the vet.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on December 26th, 2016

    I do believe this is a duplicate question, so I will just copy and paste the last response. Poor kitty. This kitties eye is infected. This is very common in newborn kittens unfortunately and the only way to treat an eye infection is with prescription eye medication from your local vet. Please take kitten in to be treated as soon as possible to avoid further complications (i.e. problems with vision) to kitty's eye. Until you can get him/her in to the vet, gently wipe the outside crust away with a warm damp clean cloth to prevent further irritation on the outer lids.

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    2Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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    Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on December 26th, 2016

    Poor kitty. This kitties eye is infected. This is very common in newborn kittens unfortunately and the only way to treat an eye infection is with prescription eye medication from your local vet. Please take kitten in to be treated as soon as possible to avoid further complications (i.e. problems with vision) to kitty's eye. Until you can get him/her in to the vet, gently wipe the outside crust away with a warm damp clean cloth to prevent further irritation on the outer lids.

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    2Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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