Do you ever wake up with a little bit of crusty goop in the inner corner of your eyes? Your eye boogers are a normal accumulation of different things, like dried tears and mucus. Cats get that crusty morning gunk as well.
It may occur that crusty secretions form in the inner corners of your cat's eyes. As well as being unsightly, they are a symptom of infections like conjunctivitis and it is therefore important to remove them.
If your cat's eye discharge symptoms don't clear up within 24 hours or if your cat is squinting, talk to your veterinarian right away. If you have medications left over from a previous eye problem, don't use them on your cat's eyes.
Eye discharge is usually an indication of an infection, injury, or other problem and can cause serious discomfort for your cat. From seeping discharge to scratching, pain, or irritation, eye discharge is an uncomfortable symptom for your pet.
If your cat allows it, you can try to wipe the eyes clean of the discharge with a moistened cotton ball using a fresh cotton ball for each eye. Avoid using over the counter eye drops on your cat unless a veterinarian specifically instructs you to do so. Observe your cat for other symptoms of illness.
Eye discharge becomes a problem when it is excessive, abnormal, or accompanied by other signs of a problem. A small amount of clear discharge can be considered normal, but excessive tearing or consistent watering should be investigated.
Common Symptoms of Cat Eye Discharge
The discharge can vary in frequency and consistency, and may appear as: Excessive wetness around the tear area. Red and swollen eyes that are extremely sore looking. Thin and watery or thick and mucus-like substance around the eyes.
Goopy or sticky eye discharge is typically a sign of infection. A clear discharge often indicates a viral infection whereas green or yellow discharge suggests that your cat has a bacterial infection.
When a cat's eyes are not draining properly, a brownish eye discharge (epiphora) occurs due to an overflow of tears. The discharge can usually be wiped away with a damp cloth and isn't a serious issue.
A cat eye infection will look like redness in the whites of the eye accompanied by discharge that can either be watery or thick. Excessive blinking, sensitivity to light, and inflamed eyelids are also possible symptoms.
If you notice your cat has any issues with their eyes including discharge or discolouration, be sure to visit your vet and have them checked out. If specialized eye care through a veterinary eye specialist or allergy care through a veterinary dermatologist is needed, your vet will be able to assess further steps.
Most bacterial and viral infections will resolve within five to fourteen days. In cases that are not improving or where are other pets at risk of infection, further testing will be performed to reach a definitive diagnosis.
When you blink, tears move across the surface of your eyes to keep them clean. But when you sleep, you don't blink. The mucus and debris that's normally washed away by tears when you blink starts to collect in the corners of your eyes. This causes you to wake up with eye boogers.
A dark crusty material in the corners of the eyes can also be normal. Tears contain pigments that when exposed to sunlight turn dark. This is not due to blood or infection. Just like many people have “sleep” in their eyes each morning, so do many cats.
The black substance is dried mucus, boogers, bogies, or snot. Cats have a black pigment, so they dry a black color when their mucus or tears dry. This can be around their nose, their eyes, or both. Most cats have a dry nose; however, they are all different, just like us.
What are eye boogers? Eye crust is a type of rheum, a thin mucus that is naturally discharged from our eyes, noses and mouths. Rheum is made up of mucus, skin cells, oils and dust. Most of the time, we don't even notice it because when we are awake, we are blinking and wiping away all of the buildup.
Some also call it eye boogers, gunk, eye pus, eye mattering and goopy eyes. Eye discharge consists of mucus, oil, skin cells, and other debris that builds up in the corner of the eyes as you sleep. It is secreted by the conjunctiva and meibum, an oily substance produced by the meibomian glands.
1. A small amount of cat eye discharge is probably nothing to worry about. “While technically a normal eye should not have any ocular discharge, a small amount of clear discharge, which may dry and appear slightly brown and crusty, may be OK,” Dr. Kimmitt says.
A sting-free, antimicrobial formula, like Vetericyn Plus Antimicrobial Eye Wash, can effectively clean eyes suffering from conjunctivitis and flush out dirt and debris that may be causing (or exacerbating) your cat's eye infection.
Dust from litter can cause conjunctivitis in cats.
The signs include squinting, frequent blinking, and the presence of a discharge that, depending on the cause of the conjunctivitis, can be either colorless and watery or thick and dark-colored. The condition also tends to cause the conjunctiva and third eyelid to become swollen and red.
Pink eye (conjunctivitis) Corneal damage. Eye inflammation (uveitis) Glaucoma.
The signs that your cat has become visually impaired may be quite obvious. The animal may, for example, start bumping into furniture, trip as it climbs up or down a flight of stairs, or appear to have trouble finding its litter box or food bowl.