Clean eyes: the magical myth

For all the flat faced breeds (exotics, Persians) , 100% of them will suffer from drippy eyes. Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but I’ve never met a Persian without drippy eyes. 

How do you keep drippy eyes clean? How do you stop the fur from staining? Is it an infection or is this normal? 

1. Keep those eyeballs clean. Every morning and evening (sometimes mid day even) wash their eyes, nose, and mouths with warm water wash cloths. This gets all the bacteria, dirt, and eye buggers off the eyes and fur. 

2. Eye envy. There is both the wipes and powder for cleaning specifically flat faced cat’s eyes. I’ve never met a breeder that didn’t absolutely rave about these products. 

3. Eye drops. Your vet likely prescribes these  like candy. Apparently the cream works better, but we’ve found the drops lead to less contamination and the cats allow the drops more. If the conjunctiva and the eye lid seem swollen, your cat might have conjunctivitis, or some minor bacterial infection. We use torbamyacin eye drops and love them. 

4.  Vet. If you find your cat has any of these “not normal” issues, seek out a vets advice. They will very likely prescribe azythromayacin for a bacterial infection.  Some states allow you to order Torbamyacin without going to your vet. If that’s an option, I’d definitely recommend always keeping torbamyacin on hand! 

not normal: yellow or red pus-like eye mucus (will need eye drops), nose pasted shut (no air movement through), sneezing out phlegm, cloudy eyes (possibly ulcer), inflamed or red eyes (conjunctivitis), green snot in nose, over production of tears