My kitten has white eye discharge while on URI meds. Should I worry?

I strongly disagree with your vet, in my experience both oral and topical (eye ointment called teramycin) are necessary in such a case, otherwise you run the risk of it becoming a chronic infection for life, both respiratory and the eye.

This is probably an upper respiratory infection. it's very common in young cats and is very contagious to other cats as well. It is treated with antibiotic eye drops/ointment and oral antibiotics for about 2 weeks. if left untreated many cats will end up blind or even die from the disease. I advise going to your vet asap to start the treatment right away.

Kitten needs to be examined by the veterinarian today. Many cats will get viral infections that cause sneezing and upper respiratory symptoms. Some of these kittens will get viral infections that also affect the eye and can cause painful ulcers which can progress and dive deeper into the eye (which is not good). Lysine supplements for cats may help with viral infections in general but your kitten still needs to be examined today. The doctor needs to check the eye for an ulcer, scratch or perhaps a foreign object trapped under the eye lid. You must also protect the eye from any scratching with an elizabethan collar. I hope this helps and best of luck.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. It sounds as though Link may be dealing with an upper respiratory infection. If left untreated, this can progress and become much worse. If you are unable to get into a veterinarian, I would recommend starting on a lysine supplement for cats and also taking Link into the bathroom with the hot shower running to see if the steam will help Link breathe better. You can also look into Care Credit and apply for a line of credit to be used for veterinary care. I hope this helps and that Link gets better. The lysine supplement I recommend is called Duralactin with Lysine and you can find this online. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Unfortunately, it appears that his infection was not completely cleared when the antibiotics finished. This happens sometimes, where the infection requires a longer than normal treatment period. I recommend having Smokey rechecked by your veterinarian, so they can further evaluate his condition and give another treatment plan. I hope that helps and Smokey gets better soon.

Cats often are infected with herpesvirus as kittens, and it can come and go throughout their lives, but often it flares up during times of stress (such as adding a new kitten). They can also get secondary bacterial infections in the eyes and upper respiratory infections. If it's not improving on its own or he starts squinting or pawing at his eye he may need antibiotic drops from your vet.

Your kitty likely is suffering from an upper respiratory infection and should be seen by a vet for an exam and deworming. It will likely need prescription antibiotics. In the meantime (until you can take her to a vet) you can tak a cloth with warm water an soak the eyes. This should help with opening them. You can then gently wipe off the purulent discharge.