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After immersing herself in a long dream, your kitten wakes up with some boogers in her eyes? You may find this is quite normal with humans as it is just a physical reaction of the body. However, have ever wondered why your cat also got eye boogers and its ability to damage your little friends. This seems a popular question of any cat lover. Therefore, we will help you find out all the secrets of this phenomenon thanks to the following article
1. The definition of eye boogers
Normally, to protect and keep the eyes moist, the eyes automatically secrete a thin membrane layer – this is a combination of oil and an oily substance. The normal characteristics of the fluid are clear, ivory white or yellow, wet and sticky, sometimes dry and harden to form a scale. Especially, the boogers also can be in a dilute state, like tears.
2. Types of eye boogers in cat
You may find this is quite surprising as there are a variety of types of eyes boogers. The condition of your cat’s boogers can show you the symptoms of eyes trouble. Therefore, observing eyes boogers is a necessary action to prevent your cats from unexpected eyes issue
2.1 Watery Boogers
Watery tears mixed with a small amount of mucus can be caused by a virus. Viral conjunctivitis can cause a variety of symptoms such as eyelid swelling, blurred vision, redness, and a feeling that something is stuck in cats’ eyes
2.2 Thick Green or Gray Boogers
A heavy green or gray boogers discharge might indicate a significant problem. It might show that you have a bacterial eye infection. It’s possible that you have a bacterial eye infection if your cats wake up unable to open their eyes. Other signs and symptoms include redness and inflammation of the eyes.
2.3 Small, Dry Particles of Boogers
Water, mucous, and oil make up the majority of cat tears. Mucus and oil clump together, dry up and accumulate in the corners of your eyes in the morning when their tears contain less water.
2.4 Thick, Crusty Boogers
Blepharitis is characterized by thick, crusty boogers on the eyelids and eyelashes. Bacteria is the main cause of this eye trouble. To help reduce and limit this condition, your cat needs to regularly clean the eyelids properly or use the treatment prescribed by your veterinarian.
3. Why does my cat get eye boogers?
3.1 Protecting and cleaning eyes
This is a normal physical phenomenon of cats and other animals to balance the moisture of the eyes. This is considered one of the most important functions of the eye boogers, as they protect and clean all the dirty accumulates while your cat is sleeping.
3.2 Conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis is an infection or inflammation of the sclera’s membrane. It makes the eyes itchy, puffy, inflamed, and red. Conjunctivitis is frequently accompanied by a persistent white, yellow, or green eye booger that can build a dry sheet along the
eyelid border while your cat is sleeping. This is the eye’s attempt to rid itself of the infection.
3.3 Eye allergy
Some eye irritants can cause allergies in cats such as strong scents of perfumes, cleaning chemicals, cat bath oils, cigarette smoke, and dust. Anything that gets in your cat’s eyes can cause an unpleasant reaction and lead to irritation. Therefore, eye boogers will be released to protect their eyes. However, you should notice your cat’s living conditions and always takes care of their eyes to avoid this issue.
3.4 Eye glaucoma
This disorder is caused by an accumulation of extra fluid in the eye, which causes pressure in the eye. This is a significant problem that must be addressed as soon as possible in order to prevent irreversible blindness or deformity of the cat’s eye. Appearing a lot of eye boogers, tears, and puffiness around the eyes are the common symptoms of this trouble.
3. Treatments
3.1 Cleaning your cats’ eyes in the right way
It is not uncommon for kittens with an eye infection to not be able to open their eyelids because eye discharge causes the eyelids to stick. Cleaning your cat’s eyes is very important because the infection can occur under the eyelids and cause blindness.
You should use a clean cotton pad to wipe away any dirt in the kitten’s eyes. It is recommended to start wiping from the corner of the eye and use a clean cotton pad for each eye. This can help your kitten wipe out all the harmful agents leading to some eyes diseases such as Eye allergies, Eye glaucoma, and Conjunctivitis.
3.2 Consulting your doctor
If the issue does not get better but gets worse, then you should seek the help of a specialist. Depending on the cause of eye issues, your doctor may prescribe different medications:
- Due to allergies: use eye drops, combined with antihistamines;
- Due to fungal, bacterial, viral infections: eye drops, accompanied by antifungal, antibiotic, antiviral ointments;
- Due to stye, a blocked tear duct: the patient may have to perform surgery.
4. How to prevent eye boogers
In essence, eye boogers prove that your cats’ eyes are in healthy condition. However, if there are too many boogers, it is obviously the symptoms of some unexpected eyes trouble. Therefore, cleaning them and preventing their eyes is extremely important.
4.1 Vaccinate your cat in full dose.
You might be surprised to learn that vaccinations can prevent eye infections. Flu and chlamydia in cats are two common causes of eye infections leading to huge amounts of eye boogers. For this reason, vaccination is considered the most effective way to prevent this issue.
4.2 Cleaning your cats’ eyes regularly
This small daily routine is a great solution for eye boogers. If your cat has tears or secretions, use a damp cotton ball to wipe the cat’s discharge. Wipe as often as needed, in some cases requiring cleaning every hour. This action will ensure the eyes of little friend are always clean and be protected
4.3 Washing your cat’s eyes with physiological saline solution
You can use physiological saline daily for your cats to make eye drops, wash away dirt, and pathogens, and prevent the spread of pink eye. In this case, the effect of physiological saline is to make the eyes less dry and burning. Preventing your cat from pink eyes means no more bad eye boogers appearing in your cats.
4.4 Have your cats daily checked up
This is an essential action as your cats’ health condition will be evaluated in the most accurate way. Moreover, daily check-up helps your cat prevent coming diseases or even reduce the damage of the trouble.
4.5 Keeping the living condition clean
Last but not least, keeping your cat’s living conditions fresh and clean is extremely important as it limits mold, viruses, and dirty dust, the main cause of many eye issues, especially eye boogers
5. Conclusion
Eye boogers are not in serious trouble because their function is to clean and protect eyes from bad agents. However, if they are not cleaned and taken care of regularly, the boogers also have the ability to become harmful impaction. Therefore, always observe your cat’s eyes condition, especially the condition of the eyes booger to prevent them from detrimental diseases. I hope this article will help you have more knowledge about the phenomenon of eye boogers in cats. Be restful!
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