How to Clean the Eyes
So your cat has eye goop and you want to get rid of it? How?
To clean the eyes:
Step 1: Use your fingernail to carefully flick off any dried chunks of crud. Flick away from the eye so on the lower lid, go down, upper lid go up, and in the crease by the nose, towards the nose. You can also use a flea comb to do this. Now, if you have a show persian, don't do this because it will pull some hairs out... I know sadly...
Step 2: Use a make-up pad or soft cloth, moistened with "something", and gently wipe the eyes, inner to outer. You may have to repeat this several times to loosen dried crud.
Now, I use those little round cotton make-up pads because they don't shed lint like a cottonball. (No sense in cleaning the eyes and putting more stuff into the eyes.) One (or half of one -- yes I cut them in half) per eye so you don't spread germs from one eye to the other. A soft cloth does work except it needs to be thoroughly rinsed between usages.
The moistening stuff... Well there are lots of options:
-- water -- if works just fine for general, low crud cleaning
-- salt water -- 1 tsp of salt in 1 cup of water, similar to natural tears, and is claimed to kill the yeast
-- saline solution -- preservative free, very convenient, in the contact lens section or order some online
-- Eye Envy solution -- the original version which must be refrigerated works better than the new, non-refridgerated version, it probably has an enzyme in it to remove stains and something to kill the yeast
-- boric acid solutioin -- you can buy it premade or make it yourself, my version is 1 cup boiling water, 1tsp boric acid, and 10 drops goldenseal, but the recipe does vary (Note: some cats have an issue with boric acid)
-- colloidal silver -- some people use this, I have not tried it for eye stains
and my favorite...
-- Bausch & Lomb ReNu contact solution -- basically a saline solution with a bit of boric acid, 1 bottle lasts many months even with show cats
Step 3: Dry the eyes and, if you screwed up and got stains, pack them. Packing eyes means to take powder and gently push it into the hairs using either a q-tip or a make-up brush where there is potential for staining. The idea is two fold -- one is the powder will absorb the tears and two is the powder often has something in it to kill yeast. I do this at night only.
So, things you can use:
-- cornstarch -- it works well
-- Eye Envy powder -- works better than cornstarch, but costs more
and my favorite...
-- Breeder-Care -- I really like it, but it ships from Indonesia so the shipping is high (and folks, it is SAFE... many show people use it, it's by a show person)
One thing I would not recommend is using bleach or a bleaching agent. If you google it, there are recipes for a bleach paste that some show people use. Don't! It can hurt the eye is you get it in one. Also, while it does work on removing the stain, it also does something to the hair which will cause more staining -- so it's a vicious circle.
Having said all this and having a plethora of eye staining products, prevention is best. When I got Charlie, my newest show cat, I learned a huge lesson -- if you clean the eyes 3 times a day, you rarely need anything other than ReNu solution and make-up pads. Tom Lukken, her breeder, told me that he didn't use powder at all or any of the other trips show people use, and her eyes were pristine when I picked her up. And he was right -- constant, gentle cleaning, prevents much of the problems. So, her eyes are wiped 3 times a day and there is no staining! (And thanks to him and Charlie, Peaches' eyes are cleaner too!) I use only the ReNu and make-up pads... The photo is of her at a recent show WITHOUT any powder at all. (Getting a white cat, or one with all white around the eyes, has sure made me more disciplined on the grooming!)
Are there other things that can be done to prevent eye staining and excess tearing? Yes, and I plan to discuss each of these individually:
-- trimming the eyes (tomorrow)
-- lysine
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