My neighborhood stray cat has a closed eye. What home care can I give?

Question

Hello! There are some stray cats in my neighborhood that I feed. One, I noticed the other day had mucous in the corner of her eye. She doesn't come around every day, but she came around this morning and the eye is now closed. I am worried about her. What can I do to help her? She will let me touch her, but isn't keen on being picked up and I'm afraid to take her to the vet for fear that she might bite or scratch and, not being vaccinated, might be euthanized. Any home care I can do? Thanks

C. Rathjens, DVM · Accepted Answer

It's always tough trying to deal with feral cats. The best option would be to take her to the vet (maybe they could spay her at the same time? Not all vets would be able to do that, but might be worth asking). The vet could sedate her, check out her eye, and vaccinate her for rabies at least. There is a risk of her biting, but we usually can take appropriate precautions to avoid this. If you do take her in, ask your vet ahead of time what preferences they have for type of carrier etc so that they have the best chance of successfully looking at her. It will probably end up costing you a decent amount of money to take her in, because of the extra time +/- sedation that will be required (plus costs for testing, vaccines, medications), so just be aware of that ahead of time. That said, to answer your question about care at home - she could have a viral eye infection (very very common in cats), or it could have gotten worse and become a bacterial infection or an ulcer. She could have issues with the pressure in her eye or have a congenital problem. All we really know is that her eye hurts for some reason. All you can really do at home is keep the eye clean with a warm wash cloth and maybe put some lubricating drops in (GenTeal severe is best for this, it's an OTC human eye drop). You can also give her L-lysine treats which will help fight off a viral infection. That won't be enough if she has a bacterial infection, an ulcer, or really any issue other than a mild viral infection. Eye issues can get bad fast she risks losing sight or the eye itself, so definitely consider going the vet route if at all possible. I hope she's feeling better soon! Good luck!

My neighborhood stray cat has a closed eye. What home care can I give?

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