How to Clean a kitten’s Eyes?

One of the most prominent and appealing parts of a cat is her eyes. Just like for humans, it is a very important organ for felines as well. Therefore, keeping their eyes clean and healthy is a basic task for each cat owner.

When do you have to clean your cat’s eyes?

Kittens are born with their eyes shut, and they remain closed for about the first two weeks. During this period, the mother cat stays with her litter almost all the time and takes care and keeps them clean.

After these little furballs open their eyes, they begin to learn how to groom by watching their mother and start cleaning themselves with more or less success.

Unfortunately, they are unable to clean their eyes correctly until they are young adults and have gained enough dexterity to clean this very sensitive spot of their body by licking their paws and rubbing their faces.

This is where you, their lovely owner, will lend a hand and help to clean their eyes.

Even if they are getting older, there might be times when cats are not able to keep these areas clean. Sometimes their eyes can become watery, unclean and some dirt can build up in the corner. This is absolutely normal because it is a natural reaction of the body to push the dust and foreign materials to the corner and keep all these particles away from the eyeball.

However, if your cat does not clean it properly and you also leave it unattended, an unwanted crust can form blocking the tear ducts and resulting in an unpleasant cat eye infection.

For this very reason, your job is to clean it regularly so that your furry friend will remain healthy.

The other special occasion when your cat might need a regular helping hand in grooming is when you have a flat-faced breed like Persian, Siamese or Himalayan.

Due to their different face shape, the produced tear fluid (which plays the role to keep the eyes clean and wet only) does not dries up properly resulting in quite runny eyes. To avoid any discomfort or risk of an eye infection, it is highly advised to provide regular eye care for these short-faced cat breeds.

After all, a small amount of dirt on the corner of your cat’s eye is normal but it is important to remove it before it gets worse and becomes unhealthy.

To ensure your lovely cat’s health and hygiene it is absolutely necessary to know the proper way of cleaning a kitten’s eyes.

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Things you need for cleaning your cat’s eyes

To keep your cat’s eyes clean, the first thing to do is to make a list of the necessary tools and collect what you need. Do not worry; the list is not long and quite easy to get:

• One clean bowl

Before you use any bowls, wash it properly so your kitten will not get any infection. The size of the bowl should be that much big that you can dip some cotton ball or cloth in it.

• Warm water

Since the kitten’s eyes area are quite sensitive, you have to make sure to use the right temperature of water. Boil some and then let it cool down.

It should not be too cold, and it should not be too hot either. Cold water can make her sick while hot water can burn her little body. The best solution is if you try it on your skin and if it feels comfortable, it should be fine.

• Fragrance-free cotton balls (preferably) or soft, absorbent cloth

For the cleaning process, the best option is to use fragrance-free cotton balls. Avoid the fluffy type as the small particles of those balls can get into your kitty’s eyes causing irritation to her.

You can also use soft, absorbent cloth but it has some disadvantage: you have to be very careful and fold the dirty parts of the cloth away again and again once you remove some crust. It is also recommended to use a second bowl of water for the final cleaning in case of usin