Expert: Jessica - 6/22/2011

Question
Hello.  My 18 year old female cat is in good health.  She recently had a complete exam and blood work done and everything was normal.  However, she occasionally gets a clear eye discharge which seems to irritate her eyes and the skin around her eyes gets pink and irritated looking, too.  I clean the area around her eyes with a soft cloth with water only.  However, this evening the one eye seems to be discharging more (her eye is not pink) and the skin seems more irritated and the irritated area seems larger.  Is there anything else I can do to help her to clear this up?  She does occasionally scratch at her skin around the eye a bit.  Thanks alot for the help!

Answer
Hi Mary,

It's best to have a vet look at her when her eyes flare up, so you can get a professional opinion based on the appearance of her eyes. Sometimes this can be caused by an infection, and antibiotic eye drops or ointment are the proper treatment.

However, when the discharge is clear rather than thick or yellow, it more often indicates that it's being caused by allergies. In this case, you can try using an allergy eye drop for humans, such as Visine-A, 2-3 times daily. If this seems to worsen the redness at all, discontinue use and have the vet look at her.

Good luck!

Jessica