Answer: Bathing a cat’s eye is useful as a first aid measure to help flush pieces of grit
or a grass seed, etc., out of the eye, or where the eyelids have become gummed together by
discharges.
Either a patent human eye lotion can be prepared as directed by the manufacture, or a
warm boric acid lotion can be made by dissolving two level teaspoonful of boric acid
crystals in half a tumbler of lukewarm water. In an emergency, or if nothing else is
available, just use warm water. Don’t add salt to it; if too much is added the resultant
brine will be very irritant and damaging.
With some else to restrain the cat, soak a small pad of cotton wool or lint in the water
or eye lotion, and squeeze the liquid out onto the lids, or onto the surface of the
eyeball.
Wet cotton wool, twisted into a spiral, can be used to gently brush away any foreign body
from the surface of the eyeball, provided that isn’t repeated to often. With eyelids which
are stuck together the wet pad should be gently wiped over the outer surface, mainly using
an outward movement, i.e. from the nose towards the side of the face, until the lids
gradually become free. Then the surface of the eyeball should be bathed. Repeated
re-soaking of the pad may be necessary. Finally, the surrounding skin area should be tried.
If there is obvious infection beneath the lids, or foreign body cannot be removed,
veterinary help must be obtained. If pain persists in the eye and the animal tries to rub
it, place one to three drops of warm olive oil onto the eye with an eye dropper or, in an
emergency, drop the oil from the blunt end of the pencil. Try to prevent the cat from undue
rubbing of the eye until the vet can attend to it.
Eye baths, as used by humans, are the wrong size and shape for use with cat’s eyes, so
don’t bother trying to find one. Finally, a word of warning: never let any dry material
contact the surface of the eye; it will stick to the moist surface and, when pulled off,
will remove the outer layer of cells.
