Is he an inside kitty or an outside kitty? One of my cats got in a fight once, a long time ago, and tore his inner eyelid a little. (Nothing serious.) We took him to the vet, and he said there wasn't anything they could do, but it wasn't a big thing -- just a minor irritant that causes tearing. Perhaps a similar situation is going on with your little guy?

He has been strictly an indoor cat since I adopted him, but I get the feeling he's always been a housecat. He isn't the least bit interested in going outside.

Hm -- does he have a flea collar? I know some cats are really sensitive to those -- my aforementioned kitty is, too.

No collar whatsoever. My niece gave me a pink collar for him at Christmas, but I thought it would be a little too emasculating and haven't put it on him.;-)

Hm -- has he been depressed lately? 8)

It sounds like it might be allergies, then, to me. There might be something in the air he doesn't like. (For me, a human (SHOCK!), my worst months are October and January. When I was in elementary school, it seemed I'd always be in the ER on Halloween due to asthma.)

I was going to work a depression joke into the question but decided I couldn't be bothered. He seems contented enough. He eats, sleeps, uses his litter box (oh does he ever). He's gained a little over a pound since I adopted him.

Some cats just have gunky eyes. It's more noticeable on a white cat with light eyes. They make wipes for this that you can buy at the pet store.

I mostly just use a wet paper towel on Moo Shu (cat) and Binky (dog.) Binky and I have a ritual every morning before I take him out where I wipe his eye snot/gunk off. He doesn't care for the ritual but he also knows he has to pee outside.

Cats just get eye boogers. No big deal. Wipe it away.

I know white dogs get reddish tear stains on their faces; the Maltese we had growing up did.

One of my cats gets this at various times. Just seems to be a minor allergy.

Bailey gets this in one eye, and she also gets a booger-build-up in the nostril on that side. It falls to me to clean her eye and pick her nose for her. Oh joy.

My white cat has had eyegunk his whole life, so he's used to me grabbing him and swabbing at his eyes.

Good to hear it's not a real problem. Nor is it even as distasteful as what essexjan has to do.

I was afraid of it being real eye trouble. If Trilby were to go blind, I would have to put him down because he wouldn't have a decent quality of life if he were blind in addition to already being deaf.

Thanks everyone.

Herpes. It's herpes.












No, seriously, it might be feline herpes, which is something that a lot of kittens get. It results in respiratory infections and the runny eye thing. It's treatable, and is usually treated when they're young. But like human herpes viruses, it'll always be there, and the watery eye can continue.

Lysine supplements help. You can buy them in a pet store -- and you can buy lysine-laced cat treats -- but the pet lysine is way overpriced. You can just buy regular human lysine at the drug store and crush it up. It's a little bitter, but my cats will eat it if it's mixed into wet cat food or baby food (which they love). (Every time I get out the mortar and pestle now, Zuzu comes running and starts chattering at me. She knows she's about to get something yummy and full of lysine.)

Could also just be allergies, but trying the lysine won't hurt, and it might make it go away.

Just to add to the noise: Fanty, one of four cats, also gets the reddish goop at the inside corner of his eyes. Kaylee (the dog) also does once in a while.

I might give the lysine a try.