What to Do When Your Cat’s Eye Is Swollen
📝 Summary
A swollen cat eye usually comes from a play-related bump or scratch, a stray foreign object, an insect bite or sting, or inflammation such as conjunctivitis. Gentle cleaning with saline and a cat-specific eye drop often helps mild cases, while a suspected bee sting (with a venom-bearing stinger) or viral conjunctivitis from cat flu needs veterinary care. Keeping your cat's paws clean also prevents further infection.
1 Why a Cat’s Eye Swells
During play, kittens sometimes get bumped or scratched near the eye, or a foreign object like dust can get in, causing redness and swelling. Clean the eye gently with saline solution. If there’s also a lot of eye discharge, the issue may be ‘internal heat’—clear away any debris and apply an erythromycin eye ointment, while switching your cat to a plainer diet.
Insect bites and stings are another cause. A bee sting or mosquito bite can make the eye swell and water. Check the area for a stinger and remove it, since some bee stingers carry venom and shouldn’t be ignored. If you’re not confident handling this, take your cat to a veterinarian.
If the eye is red and the cat is tearing up, blinking repeatedly, or has heavy discharge, it may have conjunctivitis. A cat-specific eye drop (two drops, two to three times a day) can help. When the conjunctivitis is viral—caused by cat flu (feline herpesvirus)—you must treat the underlying illness, often with an L-lysine supplement alongside the eye drops.
2 Treatment and When to Get Help
Because cats tend to rub their eyes with their paws, keep the paws clean to avoid introducing infection while the eye heals.
If the swelling doesn’t improve within a day or two, or if your cat seems to be in pain, see a veterinarian for a proper diagnosis and any prescription treatment.
Want to learn more about pet health?
Explore our pet health channel for more science-based care guides
Read More Articles →