Injuries
Injury is one of the few eye problems little Lizzie hasn’t suffered through.
If you know your cat’s eye is scratched or burned, stop reading this and get her to the vet. I mean it. Go. Here’s a resource to find an emergency clinic near you.
But many injuries are not that obvious. A little scratch, for example, can be invisible to the naked eye. Vets can use fluorescent dyes to detect them.
Your kitty’s eyes also can get burned from chemicals (one of the reasons cats are used in barbaric cosmetics tests, but don’t get me started on that). Even things such as flea medicines can be dangerous if they get in your cat’s eyes. Again, you might not be able to see the initial burn.
If your cat is squinting, if its eye is red or runny, if it keeps pawing at its eye … there could be an injury you can’t see and probably can’t treat at home. And just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean that your cat isn’t hurting or that it can’t develop into something worse, such as an infection. If it does get worse, it can lead to other problems down the road, including glaucoma.
So if you think your kitty’s eye has been injured, call your vet, or go to this link to find an emergency clinic near you. About the only home treatment you can try is flushing the eye with sterile saline (not commercial eye drops that contain chemicals).