Hello All!

Our newish kitten (19ish weeks old) Trotsky has had a gunky right eye since we got him, he also occasionally sneezes and has visible dried black boogers under his nose. I clear the corner of his eye for him twice a day, once in the morning when it is dry and then again in the afternoon when it tends to be a goopy, stringy, translucent white consistency. After he's been resting or sleeping he will often have the upper lid slightly lower for a small period of time until he completely wakes up.

He eats plenty, plays loads and now that he is on wet food only we have consistent litter tray visits. All in all he seems very happy and adores our older cat. But the possibility of 'cat flu' has been getting me a little worried.

He's been to the vets twice so far for jabs and each time the vet has checked him over and has said that he looks fine. Pointing out the following about my concerns;

The discharge from the eye is not the right consistency or colour for infection.
Bogeys are probably just bogeys, he doesn't have a runny nose or goopy discharge.
Sneezing can be bought on by any airborne particles in the house such as air fresheners, deodorants, dust etc... Since it is just the odd sneeze here and there it is nothing to worry about. He said that he seems healthy and just to keep an eye on him.

Anyway, just wondering what you guys thought about it. I have a lot of confidence in my vet and we're back in three weeks time for another jab where he'll be looked at again. But if there is any advice you guys could give then I'd be grateful.

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I would feel reassured by your vet's comments.

He may even have a very mild respiratory infection or as the vet says it could just be a slight allergy to something in the environment. You could try removing things and see if that makes a difference.

I wouldn't worry about it though!

ive had a similar problem with one of mine
my vet put him on synulox? but it didnt really make any difference so after around three weeks she took him off it. hes fine, its just natural to him we think now

he has no other problems we had him fully checked out

Well today I didn't need to clean his eye at all. He did sneeze a few times though, weirdly it was first whilst he was laying in the sun outside, but we've noticed now that he sneezes when ever he looks up at the sun either whilst outdoors or whilst indoors.

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Not sure if it's the same in cats as humans BUT humans often sneeze when going from a dark room into the bright sun light. Or when looking into bright sunshine. It's because of the proximity of the visual nerve to the nerves in your nose so when your nerves in your eyes are stimulated making your pupils constricted the signal can 'jump' to your 'nasal' nerves causing you to sneeze! (somewhat simplified version of events but that's the basics of it)

I'm not a vet though and know nothing of feline anatomy so couldn't say if its the same for cats

On the whole though your kitten sounds similar to mine and he has just outgrown it all that's wrong with him is his paranoid mum

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