Cats are gorgeous creatures that are often vulnerable to outside elements that can cause them to have bad eye and ear infections. If not tended to, ear infections can cause excessive scratching to the area and eye infections can actually lead to eyeball removal if not treated properly.
Causes
When it comes to eye infections, if your cat is young, it may have chlamydia or mycoplasma which are bacteria that can cause problems. They may also have feline herpesvirus type one. Your cat may also have calicivirus. These occur with cats who have a weaker immune system or have been expressed to high-stress, for example through living at a shelter. Though older cats may also be affected with this.
Older cats who experience eye infections can indicate eye trauma, autoimmune disease, cancer and systemic viral infections like feline leukemia (FeLV) as well as feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV).
Symptoms
Ear infections
You will know if your cat has an ear infection as he will show discomfort. He will tilt and shake his head in the direction of the ear that is hurting him. He will continuously scratch and paw at his ear. There may also be discharge that comes from the ear that looks like coffee grounds (this means he or she has ear mites) and there will also be a strong odor.
Eye Infections
You will know if your little one has an eye infection as the whites of his or her eye may turn a shade of red. Also, the 3rd eyelid may be sticking out and covering part of the eye that is irritated. There may also be signs similar to respiratory infections and your cat will sneeze or there will be nasal discharge. There also may be liquid oozing out of your cat’s eye which is either clear, yellow or green and he or she may not be able to open the eye that is infected easily.
Solutions
For both infections, it is vital that you take your cat to a vet immediately. Your vet will take a swab of your cat’s ear inside and will look under a microscope to check for ear mites. If your vet sees that your cat has ear mites or a yeast or bacterial infection, your cat will be treated with anti-parasitics, antifungals or even antibiotics. If your cat constantly suffers with ear infections, you may take home medication for your cat which will help reduce the swelling of the tissue within the canal of the ear. You may also be given ear drops to apply at home.
With eye infections, you need to be very gentle. If your cat has a bacterial infection, he or she needs to be treated with antibiotics which will usually take the form of ointment that you can apply to the eye or eye drops. Vets will also often recommend antibiotics that you can apply on the eye as cats will often have viral as well as bacterial infections that occur together. If it is a severe case, anti-viral medication may need to be used.
No matter what, at the end of the day, it is our responsibility to look after our cat’s health problems no matter what!