need advice on giving eye drops to a kitty

Any advice on giving a cat eye drops?

My little Sweety (who is not so little anymore) has a scratch on her
third eyelid, and the vet gave us two types of eye drops for her - one
to prevent infection and one for pain.

I've only given her the first dose so far. But I don't know how to keep
the drop from spilling out of her eye. I had someone holding her head, I
gently pulled open her eye (a little bit, so some of the surface of the
eye was visible but it was not fully open - I was afraid it might make
the tear in her third eyelid worse if I pulled too much). I popped the
drop in, and it did hit the surface of the eye, but then it just sat
there, and when I let Sweety go she shook her head and the liquid from
the eye drop came flying out.

Would the eye drops still be effective if she shakes them out of her
eye? How can I prevent that?

If anyone has had experience with putting eye drops in kitty eyes, your
advice will be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Nadia (and Kotyo and little Sweety)

--
Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo
Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety

Hello,

one of our cats has glaucoma, and he gets three eye drops, two of them
twice per day, so I have several years' worth of experience. Here are
some things that help me:

1. It's easier to administer the eye drops if the cat is on a counter
vs. the floor. You aren't bending over or contorting in strange ways.
2. If your cat struggles, shut the both of you in a bathroom or other
smaller room. She can't escape and you will have more control of where
she goes.
3. Be confident! If you're nervous, the cat can sense that and get
nervous too.
4. I turn the cat to the side and have him/her sit down. I grab the
head firmly with three fingers, and open the eye with my index finger
and thumb. With my other hand, I give the drop. I then "massage" the
eye by gently opening and closing the eyelid a couple of times to make
sure the drop coats the surface of the eye.
5. I let the cat go and give a treat. Yes, there will still be head
shaking/eye squinting, and you can't stop that, but at least I've
coated the eyeball.

If you are really having trouble, ask your vet about getting an
ointment instead of a drop. They can't shake that out!

"Nadia N." wrote in message
...
Any advice on giving a cat eye drops?

My little Sweety (who is not so little anymore) has a scratch on her
third eyelid, and the vet gave us two types of eye drops for her - one
to prevent infection and one for pain.

I've only given her the first dose so far. But I don't know how to keep
the drop from spilling out of her eye. I had someone holding her head, I
gently pulled open her eye (a little bit, so some of the surface of the
eye was visible but it was not fully open - I was afraid it might make
the tear in her third eyelid worse if I pulled too much). I popped the
drop in, and it did hit the surface of the eye, but then it just sat
there, and when I let Sweety go she shook her head and the liquid from
the eye drop came flying out.

Would the eye drops still be effective if she shakes them out of her
eye? How can I prevent that?

If anyone has had experience with putting eye drops in kitty eyes, your
advice will be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I have to medicate 200 cats' eyes a year. Trust me- this is the easiest and
most effective way to medicate a cat's eyes.

From behind with the cat facing forward, put your right (or left) arm around
her and your hand under her chin- so she's between your arm and your body.
Gently pull down her lower cheek with your thumb- this will open the eye and
form a little pocket at the bottom of her eye. With your other hand resting
on her head, squeeze the drop(s) into the pocket. After a few times, you'll
be a pro! If you can't get the drops into the pocket, try to drop them on
the sclera (the white of the eye)- its much less irritating than the iris
(the colored part)

Here's a picture of how its done: http://maxshouse.com/eyedrops.jpg
http://maxshouse.com/Medicating_Your_Cat.htm

Try very hard not to touch the eye with the nozzle of bottle- because you'll
contaminate the bottle and risk spreading the infection to the other eye or
prolonging the infection in the infected eye. To play it safe, you might
want to ask your vet to split the bottle into two- one for left eye only and
one for the right eye only.

Best of luck,

Phil

Rene S. wrote:
Hello,

one of our cats has glaucoma, and he gets three eye drops, two of them
twice per day, so I have several years' worth of experience. Here are
some things that help me:

1. It's easier to administer the eye drops if the cat is on a counter
vs. the floor. You aren't bending over or contorting in strange ways.
2. If your cat struggles, shut the both of you in a bathroom or other
smaller room. She can't escape and you will have more control of where
she goes.
3. Be confident! If you're nervous, the cat can sense that and get
nervous too.
4. I turn the cat to the side and have him/her sit down. I grab the
head firmly with three fingers, and open the eye with my index finger
and thumb. With my other hand, I give the drop. I then "massage" the
eye by gently opening and closing the eyelid a couple of times to make
sure the drop coats the surface of the eye.
5. I let the cat go and give a treat. Yes, there will still be head
shaking/eye squinting, and you can't stop that, but at least I've
coated the eyeball.

If you are really having trouble, ask your vet about getting an
ointment instead of a drop. They can't shake that out!

Thank you Rene. I will try opening/closing the eye to make sure the
drops coat it all. So far I haven't had a problem with holding her still
while I put the drops in, but that might be because I only did it the
one time and she didn't know what was happening yet. We'll see how
things go in 3 hrs, when I have to give her the next dose.

Nadia (and Kotyo and little Sweety)

--
Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo
Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety

Phil P. wrote:

I have to medicate 200 cats' eyes a year. Trust me- this is the easiest and
most effective way to medicate a cat's eyes.

From behind with the cat facing forward, put your right (or left) arm around
her and your hand under her chin- so she's between your arm and your body.
Gently pull down her lower cheek with your thumb- this will open the eye and
form a little pocket at the bottom of her eye. With your other hand resting
on her head, squeeze the drop(s) into the pocket. After a few times, you'll
be a pro! If you can't get the drops into the pocket, try to drop them on
the sclera (the white of the eye)- its much less irritating than the iris
(the colored part)

Here's a picture of how its done: http://maxshouse.com/eyedrops.jpg
http://maxshouse.com/Medicating_Your_Cat.htm

Try very hard not to touch the eye with the nozzle of bottle- because you'll
contaminate the bottle and risk spreading the infection to the other eye or
prolonging the infection in the infected eye. To play it safe, you might
want to ask your vet to split the bottle into two- one for left eye only and
one for the right eye only.

Best of luck,

Phil



Thank you Phil. I will try this method with the pocket next time. The
picture makes it look easy - hopefully it really is that easy...

I am keeping the bottle well away from her eye so there's no chance of
it getting contaminated. And she is only getting drops in the one eye
which has the scratched inner eyelid - her other eye is fine, thankfully.

Have you seen a lot of cats with a scratch or tear in their inner
eyelid? Do they normally heal ok?

I have never had this happen to any of my cats before, and it was very
scary. Earlier today she was just squinting a bit more than usual with
one eye, I went out to do some shopping and when I came back less than
two hours later there was this bloody mucous-like stuff on her eye. It
was kind of worm-like in shape, and shifted around on the surface of the
eye when she moved her eyes. I had no idea what it was at first, until
it moved to the tear canal and flowed out like regular tears or normal
eye discharge... She's still having this blood-tinged discharge coming
out of her eye, poor thing. Hopefully the eye drops will fix it.

Nadia

--
Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo
Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety

"Nadia N." wrote in message
news
Phil P. wrote:

I have to medicate 200 cats' eyes a year. Trust me- this is the easiest
and
most effective way to medicate a cat's eyes.

From behind with the cat facing forward, put your right (or left) arm
around
her and your hand under her chin- so she's between your arm and your
body.
Gently pull down her lower cheek with your thumb- this will open the eye
and
form a little pocket at the bottom of her eye. With your other hand
resting
on her head, squeeze the drop(s) into the pocket. After a few times,
you'll
be a pro! If you can't get the drops into the pocket, try to drop them
on
the sclera (the white of the eye)- its much less irritating than the
iris
(the colored part)

Here's a picture of how its done: http://maxshouse.com/eyedrops.jpg
http://maxshouse.com/Medicating_Your_Cat.htm

Try very hard not to touch the eye with the nozzle of bottle- because
you'll
contaminate the bottle and risk spreading the infection to the other eye
or
prolonging the infection in the infected eye. To play it safe, you might
want to ask your vet to split the bottle into two- one for left eye only
and
one for the right eye only.

Best of luck,

Phil



Thank you Phil. I will try this method with the pocket next time. The
picture makes it look easy - hopefully it really is that easy...

It really is. Its basically just hugging your cat and with your hand under
her chin, your thumb is automacally in the right spot to pull her cheek down
a little and open a pocket. Do a dry run before you try it with the meds.
After you see how easy it is you'll be more confident and probably get it
right on the first try. One of the third eyelid's jobs is spreading tears
across the surface of the eye- so, as long as you get the drops in the eye,
the eyelid itself will spread the meds.


I am keeping the bottle well away from her eye so there's no chance of
it getting contaminated. And she is only getting drops in the one eye
which has the scratched inner eyelid - her other eye is fine, thankfully.


You're very lucky its only a scratch.



Have you seen a lot of cats with a scratch or tear in their inner
eyelid? Do they normally heal ok?


I've seen a few. Most were caused by fights with other cats. Sometime cats
do it to themselves if they try to scratch an itch in or near their eye.
Superficial scratches usually heal well and pretty fast. If the cartilage
was torn or the cut extended into the margin of the eyelid, she would have
needed a complicated surgery.


I have never had this happen to any of my cats before, and it was very
scary. Earlier today she was just squinting a bit more than usual with
one eye, I went out to do some shopping and when I came back less than
two hours later there was this bloody mucous-like stuff on her eye. It
was kind of worm-like in shape, and shifted around on the surface of the
eye when she moved her eyes. I had no idea what it was at first, until
it moved to the tear canal and flowed out like regular tears or normal
eye discharge... She's still having this blood-tinged discharge coming
out of her eye, poor thing. Hopefully the eye drops will fix it.

Nadia

It doesn't sound to bad. If it was your vet would have recommended surgery.
The third eyelid is a very important piece of equipment.

Let me know how it goes.

Best of luck,

Phil

Nadia,

How are things going?

wrote:
Nadia,

How are things going?

So far so good. She's had a full day of the eye drops now, and the
blood-tinged discharge from her eye seems to have stopped. I assume that
means the scratch/tear in the inner eyelid is closing up.

Of course now that she feels better it's harder to give her the eye
drops :-) She waits until the drop starts to fall and then shifts her
head just a tiny little bit, just enough so the drop lands on her fur
instead of in the eye. But I'm managing...

I'm using a combination of Phil's and Rene's techniques. I pull her
lower cheek with my thumb and get the little pocket to form at the
bottom of her eye, but I don't always manage to get the drop right in
the pocket - she moves and the drop lands on the eye. Then I do the
thing Rene suggested of opening and closing her eye a few times in order
to get the drop to coat the eye... I think so far most of the drops have
gone where they're supposed to.

Kitten resilience is amazing. To look at her today, you wouldn't know
that there's anything wrong with her eye. She's not even squinting anymore.

Thanks everyone for your help. I will keep you updated on how Sweety's
eye is doing.

Nadia (and Kotyo and little Sweety)

--
Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo
Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety

Any advice on giving a cat eye drops?
I've only given her the first dose so far. But I don't know how to keep
the drop from spilling out of her eye. I had someone holding her head, I
gently pulled open her eye (a little bit, so some of the surface of the
eye was visible but it was not fully open - I was afraid it might make
the tear in her third eyelid worse if I pulled too much). I popped the
drop in, and it did hit the surface of the eye, but then it just sat
there, and when I let Sweety go she shook her head and the liquid from
the eye drop came flying out.

Contact the vet to find out what to do -- don't leave administering a
medical procedure to chance.

Carol Wilson, Cat Artist
http://www.cafepress.com/carolwilsoncats
http://CarolWilsonCatArt.imagekind.com

cwcatartist wrote:
Any advice on giving a cat eye drops?
I've only given her the first dose so far. But I don't know how to keep
the drop from spilling out of her eye. I had someone holding her head, I
gently pulled open her eye (a little bit, so some of the surface of the
eye was visible but it was not fully open - I was afraid it might make
the tear in her third eyelid worse if I pulled too much). I popped the
drop in, and it did hit the surface of the eye, but then it just sat
there, and when I let Sweety go she shook her head and the liquid from
the eye drop came flying out.

Contact the vet to find out what to do -- don't leave administering a
medical procedure to chance.

Carol Wilson, Cat Artist
http://www.cafepress.com/carolwilsoncats
http://CarolWilsonCatArt.imagekind.com

Thanks for the reply. I've managed to improve my eye drop application
technique, following Rene's and Phil's advice. The eye drops are going
where they're supposed to go - in the eye. Her eye has improved a lot,
and soon we'll be able to stop torturing her by putting things in it.

Nadia (and Kotyo and little Sweety)


--
Little Monster pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Kotyo
Sweety pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nnakova/Sweety