General Question

susanc's avatar

What is this black crusty stuff coming out of my kitty's eyes?

Asked by susanc (16144points) April 29th, 2010

First I thought it was just eye-boogers, though it was dark. Now
there’s more of it, and his inner eyelids are a little bit closed in the low inner corners. I’m calling the vet in the morning, but meanwhile, if you know of something else I should do…. thanks.
(He doesn’t appear uncomfortable.)

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15 Answers

escapedone7's avatar

Look up feline epiphora
Something is probably irritating the eye. Excessive tearing in cats can dry to a discolored brown. I recommend holding a warm wet washcloth as a compress over the eye to loosen the crust around the holes for the tear ducts, otherwise they might become blocked.

You need to take her to a vet as soon as possible.

Another good search term would be epiphora in cats

poofandmook's avatar

interesting. My cat sometimes gets black/dark brown stuff around her nose, but it’s always a tiny bit and right in the creases of the outside, never in her nostrils. I just assume they’re boogies and clean them off for her. But that’s on her nose, not the eyes, and there’s never been more than a little tiny bit.

Keep us updated… I would really like to know what the vet has to say.

susanc's avatar

I’m putting a warm sterile compress on his eyes for a few minutes – he doesn’t mind – and I’ll let you both know what happens. Thanks to you members of the Let’s Take Good Care of Our Kitties Club.

poofandmook's avatar

@susanc: where’s the club for the people who are pretty much owned by their kitties? ;)

jazmina88's avatar

my dog has lumps on her eye…some grow and fall off. and she gets the brown icky stuff.
I’ve had one removed. but she is 16 and i wont make her go through that again.

augustlan's avatar

Hope the kitty is ok!

anartist's avatar

Hope she’s on her way to the vet! And comes home with bright shiny wide open eyes.
I never knew anyone other than myself who called them “eye-boogers” [shortened to “eye-boogs”]

erichw1504's avatar

One of my cats has the same problem. The vet said it was just herpes. I thought it was allergies.

anartist's avatar

@erichw1504 JUST herpes? Isn’t that incurable?

erichw1504's avatar

@anartist Yes, I just make sure I keep his eyes clean. Not much else you can do.

susanc's avatar

“JUST herpes?” – exactly. I’m taking him (cats can be boys, you know!) to the vet. Donna, the truthful receptionist I’ve known for 15 years, asked if he’s been sneezing (a little bit, when he wakes up) and then she too thought maybe herpes. Yikes.
The boogers weren’t there this a.m. but that’s probably because I steamed them off with a warm washcloth last night. But I mentioned he’d been drinking a lot of water and she said, let’s check his kidney function.
Let us pray for his kidneys. He’s not even eleven yet. My kitty Pinknose died of kidney cancer fifteen years ago in the same house, drinking the same tap water and eating the same mice and kibbles.

susanc's avatar

Okay, all: trip to the vet cost $259. Yes. They looked at his eyes, they looked at his bunghole, they asked me a lot of reasonable questions, they explained stuff to me, they did blood and urine tests, and they sold me a teeny squeeze bottle of eyedrops. Holy shit. So I’ll wait till tomorrow to see if he has herpes, forsooth. If he does, they said add lysine to his food – get it at the grocery store.

anartist's avatar

@susanc fingers crossed for you and boycat. What’s his name?

augustlan's avatar

Thanks for the update. Hope he’s doing better! :)

susanc's avatar

Thank you both. He seems perfectly fine. His name is Gris-gris.
I didn’t name him, but I honor the good person who did, and he likes it.

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