Eye infection of a kitten? Or what?

[SablePoint]

Almost 4 days ago, I rescued a tiny orange stray kitten, only looks to be about 6 weeks old. Well, one of his eyes squint at times. It is runny at times, but his eye looks the most squinted when he wakes up from sleeping. The eye ball look healthy, his eye/around the eye is not swollen.
Both eyes are wide open when he plays around and plays with cat toys though!

He looks very healthy though, and don't act sick. He's very active, well behaved, and lovable - not a stray any more! lol
No mucus from the nose. He doesn't have any breathing problems. Mushy poops - but I think that's normal. He does have a mild case of fleas - but all strays do. I gave him a bath yesterday. What a good boy he was! No whining, just a few mews. He did better than my nearly 14 year old cat!

We are not going to keep this kitten. Unfotuantly, the good shelters in our area are either full with animals or do not except stray kittens, kittens, or strays. So far, our only option will have to be the county pound - which is a horrible place for such a wonderful kitten, imo.
We cannot offord vet bills right now. It's the holidays. Unfortuantly this rescue happend at the wrong time.

So, tell me, what can I atleast do for his eye while he's here right now? Any home treatments? Could it be contagious to other cats? Could it be Feline Herpes? Please tell me so I can atleast be aware and make him comfortable right now.

Regards,

SablePoint

 

[nermal71]

Not sure about your area but we have several vets here that if you have a stray will treat it for either a discount or even free. We have one that will wave the exam fee and all you have to pay for is meds. Might be worth a try to call some of your local vets. It does sound like the eye is infected. And that is common in kittens but should be treated. I would try taking a cottonball saturated in warm water and wipe the eye and see if that helps.

 

[Violet23]

take it to the vet, it could have the start of an upper respiratory infection, and in a young kitten without treament it could be fatal. unless you can get some cheap antibiotics, that is the only thing i can recommend

 

[Nela]

Can you get some polysporin drops from the pharmacy? You can put a drop in the eye in the morning and at night. I also used a warm compressto clean them.Give it a few days to see if it improves. If it doesn't, or if it gets really irritated, he'll most likely need a vet visit.

Both my cats are FHV positive. Houdina used to get the runny eye randomly as a kitten often enough. I was always able to treat it with polysporin with the exception of the one time where she had colored nasal discharge. I didn't even bother that time as I knew she'd require antibiotics. Baloo was a kitten that was found in the trash with his siblings, he too was treated with it.

Obviously a vetvisit is better but I certainly understand when you end up with a rescue and you want to find a way with the finances you have. Is there any way you can rehome him yourself by posting ads online? It'd be much better than sending him to the pound. I would try to avoid that if possible.

Wishing you lots of luck!