Cat Eye problem Question

[tastarr]

I have a male cat that is 14 months old with an eye problem. The best way to describe it is he 'winks' a lot with his left eye and there is some 'gunk' at the tear duct I wipe away about once a day. It does not seem too serious but I wanted an opinion before it did get serious.

The cat is an indoor cat and the eye does not appear to weep. On close inspection, his eye looks fine, he's just been winking a lot in the past 3 days.

Any Ideas?

Also, is there something I can use to clean the hardened gunk from the corner of his eye that will soften it? The cat is very relaxed and trusting when I clean him.

Thanks in advance!

[drdouggie]

I wouldn't like to hazard a guess about why your cat has gunk in his eye, perhaps he has something in it that is irritating him (a hair or piece of grit or the like) and in this case it's natural for the eye to produce this stuff to help "clear out" the eye. If it gets worse I suggest you take him to the vet who will check it's not a bacterial infection and he'll probably do a dye test on your cat's eye to check the lens isn't scratched or damaged.

Although you can buy little tissues that are impregnated with cleanser to clean pets eyes, I've always found the best thing is to get yourself some cottonwool and make up a sterile saline solution as follows: boil some water and pour it into a clean bowl, throw in a lot of salt into the water, let it dissolve and the water cool a little (so that it is still warm but not too hot) and soak the cottonwool in it, wring it out slightly and hold the damp pad on the gunk on your cats eye for a little while to soften the crude and gently wipe it away. Make sure you always wash your hands before cleaning your cat's eyes.

Hope this was of some use.