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Conjunctivitis Remedies

Updated: 09/24/2008

How can you determine if your dog or cat is suffering from eye conjunctivitis?  Well, there are some pretty straightforward, can't miss symptoms when it comes to this problem.  You may notice a reddening of your pet's eyes, as well as a thick discharge coming from the corner of one or both eyes.  You might also see that your pet is rubbing its face on the floor or on other objects and is continually scratching around the eye area.  The animal may be producing excess tears which will cause your pet to blink a lot more than what it normally would, and due to a buildup of conjunctivitis may not be able to open or close its eyes completely.

Before you begin to treat the problem it is important to determine the exact cause of the conjunctivitis.  It is quite common that allergies, different types of infections and feline respiratory diseases will be the onset of this particular condition.  Though in many cases, there will be other signs or symptoms of the virus or allergies that accompany the conjunctivitis.  However it is also possible that the conjunctivitis could be a result of some type of physical damage to the eye, such as a thorn or some other foreign object lodged in the eye.  This is the kind of situation that you want to be particularly careful about as attempting to treat the eye without having the object removed could cause further damage. 

In order to clean the eye area you will want to use about a liter of warm water and very gently pour it over the affected eye(s).  Using a piece of soft, cotton wool soaked in the water, carefully wipe around the eye and remove any discharge, but do not wipe over the eye.  Once you have cleared most of it away you will be able to more carefully examine the eye to determine if there is any type of object inside the eye that should not be there.  If there is any possibility that this scenario exists then do not attempt to treat the problem yourself. 

Alternatively, there are a number of homeopathic herb treatments that can be very successful in clearing up the problem of conjunctivitis due to allergies and other possible infections.  Some of the best remedies include Euphrasia, Aconite, Pulsatilla and Sanicula.  These herbs can be purchased at your local health or homeopathic store or through numerous online sources.

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

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[YEA]  09/24/2008: Beth from Auckland, Middle-Earth New Zealand writes: "I tried the advice from your column for dogs with conjunctivitis or pinkeye. I applied a small amount of ACV on the neck on my pet dog and in 1 hour, the conjunctivitis has almost gone! Not only that but his eye has opened (was full of goop and closed), and he is playing with his toys again! I poured a tablespoon of ACV onto the neck and massaged it in. Fantastic and thanks!"

[YEA]  08/20/2008: Raul from Memphis, Tenn. writes: "My poodle had a bad eye and ear infection. We went through the ususal treatments. My vet is now adding a new wing to her clinic (just joking) but that is how I feel. So I got on the internet when I say this sight. I read about the ACV treatment. Willing to try anything I mixed the mixture and applied as directed. Later that evening I noticed his eyes were no longer red. Four days later it had cleared up.His ears are better so as a prevention I put a little in his ear. His infection is in check now. Thank you all for the sudgestions. It really did work."

09/13/2008: Gwen from Denver, Colorado replies: "what is the formula?"

[YEA]  04/20/2008: Heidi from Aurora, Colorado writes: "I tried this on my 10 year old Calico. Her eye started to get goopy and she was listless. I felt so bad for her, but because of financial problems, could not afford to take her to the vet for a couple of weeks. I tried the ACV treatment on the scruff of her neck for 3 days in a row. The morning after the first treatment, she was doing a little better. By the 3rd day, she was fine. It has been 2 weeks now, and she's still doing great. Thank you so much for telling us about this. IT REALLY WORKS!!! BB Heidi N."

09/22/2008: Dolores from Hobe Sound, Florida replies: "What is the formula for ACV? My cat has eye problems and also ear mites. I use a commerical ear cleaner
but they keep coming back. I hate putting her through the ear cleaning so often."

[YEA]  02/23/2008: Casey from Lancaster, PA writes: "Dreading another vet bill, I looked online for a home remedy to clear up a "goopy" looking eye infection developing in one of my cat's eyes. I read that if you massage a little ACV into the scruff of the neck, it clears up within minutes. Very hard to believe, I know - but I decided to give it a try.  I massaged some into his neck and he promptly ran off to hide for awhile.  He came back out about an hour later, running around and playing.  I looked at his eyes and honestly couldn't even tell which one had the problem.  Two days later, still all clear.  I don't know why or how it worked, but it did and I'm very thankful someone posted the suggestion and I wanted to pass it on."

[YEA]  01/26/2008: Marcella from Petaluma, CA writes: "ACV for Cats: Three Cheers! My seven-month-old rescue kitty came into my home with an upper respiratory infection and later developed some conjunctivitis in his left eye. Following the advice on this page, I gave him a dropperful of ACV right into the fur on the nape of his neck and massaged it down into his skin. Some of the liquid ran down the sides of his neck, where he licked it off. Within 90 minutes of his first dose, the conjunctivitis started to clear up, and his energy perked up considerably. He is now free of both the upper respiratory issue and the eye infection, with no vet visit needed. I know give him a maintenance dose every few days and yes, he's a little stinky from the vinegar, but happy and healthy nonetheless. I've also started taking the ACV myself. Good stuff."

BABY SHAMPOO

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[YEA]  09/15/2006: DJ from London, ON writes: "Washing the eyelid and conjunctivitus area with warm water and baby shampoo significantly cleared up the conjunctivitis. I didn't wait to see if washing the affected eye with baby shampoo cured the conjunctivites and pink eye, however I did notice that the affected eye was significantly better by the time I was able to get my dog into the vet's office two days later. I simply wet a face cloth with warm water and applied some baby shampoo, using the running water to foam up the shampoo, and then cleaned the eye lids and as close to the conjunctiva as I could. I reapeated this every couple of hours throughout the day. The weeping was significantly diminished. I also noticed that the next morning the eye seemed to have improved and was weeping considerably less than the morning before. She also stoped rubbing her face, and appeared to be more comfortable. I still saught anti-biotic medication from the vet to properily cure the problem."

CHAMOMILE TEA AND LAVENDAR OIL

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[YEA]  09/07/2007: raymarie from atlanta, usa writes: "2 week old kittens each had one eye crusted shut. Vet sister, who lives in another state, suspected conjunctivitis (common in newborn kittens). I steeped a chamomile tea bag, let the water cool and added 2 drops lavender essential oil. Soaked a soft cloth and bathed (do not rub) the eye area until the extra crud was removed. I repeated the process 3x per day until it cleared up! Worked awesome!"

ESSIAC TEA

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[YEA]  12/31/2006: Gayle from Tulsa, OK writes: "Over 3 years ago, our cat, Flora, developed a mass (tumour) in her abdomen and lost a significant amount of weight. She was about 12 years old at the time. I started giving her a dropper of concentrated essiac tea once a day and mixing about 1/2 teaspoon of the powdered herbs in her food. The tumor went away and she put weight back on. She is now 15 years old and doesn't look or act like a 15 year old cat. I've continued to give her the dropper of concentrate at least once a week up to every other day. I've also given the powdered essiac herbs to our dog for allergy eye drainage that would easily get infected. Since we started the dog on this, her allergy eye problem has been gone for over a year now. Again, about 1/2 tsp once a day."

GOLDENSEAL ROOT POWDER

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[YEA]  08/09/2008: Tia from Eugene, Oregon writes: "A long time ago, my parents stumbled across the medicinal properties of Goldenseal. Last year, during the rainy Oregon winter, a 1/2 feral litter of kittens started trying to find shelter on my porch. Not long after they started coming around, the mother left them (went into heat i assume) and came back with a hellish upper respiratory infection. She proceeded to spread it to the whole litter. I had no money to take them to a vet, and they were dying of it. I wasn't sure if the Goldenseal would be poisonous to them, but I figured they were so bad off, it was worth a try. I used the liquid extract, started small, maybe one dropperfull to two cans of wet food, and eventually raised it to 3 droppersfull (between 1 adult and 5 3-4 month old kittens). They improved from even the smaller amounts, and improved drastically from higher dosages. Although for those that couldn't smell the wet food, i had to mix a few drops in canned salmon or tuna juice to get them to eat it. It didn't harm them. I swear by the stuff now, and have used it on my own indoor cats (though I've never gotten them to take it without forcing them.) Everyone should be aware that goldenseal doesn't just work on humans."

[YEA]  01/26/2008: Christa from Vancouver, Canada writes: "Dog with Conjunctivitus(SP?) Take 1/2 Tsp of Golden Seal root Powder and add 1/2 cup boiling water.let steep with lid on for 10 minutes. Let cool. Strain. Carefully wash mucous our of eye with warm water by gently dabbing on the corners of the eys. Be careful not to use same cloth on both eyes as reinfection could occur.

2 people makes this easier. Have someone hold the animals face with one arm and open the animals eyes with the other. Talk gental and flush eyes with golden seal liquid. I have done this twice today and the difference in mucus is remarkable. I will do this 3 times a day untill it is gone and at this rate, I think it will be gone by tommorow. I used one of those plastic syringes and it seems to be a great way to fill the eye with the liquid. Yes..It always works and always has. For an open wound on an animal or person, try to wash out wound if possible and then throw golden Seal powder on wound. do not worry after this. The Goldnseal will form a scab and will seal up the wound and the Golden seal is a natural antibiotic. It will amaze you. If the animal licks it , it will only help them..so no worries. Amazing Herb TTYL "

HONEY

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[YEA]  08/29/2008: Barbara from Miami, FL writes: "kitten/conjunctivitis: my vet refused to treat male 5.5 wks old kitten due to flat chest syndrome so I quickly found your website. used a diluted 2/1 mix of sterile water to honey applying twice a day alternating with warm compresses, for 10min. time in thrre hour intervals. the following day I saw Kit drinking milk- cream -egg yolk, mix.I then tried stepping it up a bit, on day three and used diluted ACV [Apple Cider Vinegar] but seems too strong. Now after concocting a mixture of tea bag (tepid) soaked in honey as a compress Kit is roaming aroud with affected eye opened more then closed. Rubbing me to distraction. HOPE THIS HELPS!"

NEEM

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[YEA]  05/21/2006: Deanne from Santa Cruz, CA writes: "My dog had a weeping eye and then both eyes. I am a huge fan of Neem products which are anti inflammatory, anti-fungal and anti-viral. I opened 100% Neem capsules into his food when all else failed. I tried Eyebright tea, antibiotics, Eucanasia. It went on for almost a year. Finally Neem works for many ailments I tried it and it worked. Occasionally it comes back but I haven't had to use anything and it goes away. Neem products have flea and tick powder and Pet Shampoo. There are several companies. My health food store has one brand and the Web has several others. Be sure it is 100% and not diluted with other ingred. It is similar to Tee Tree only better. The Neem tree grows in India. most Indians cannot affort medicine. They use the Neem tree for cleaning their teeth, tincture, oils, lotions and more. It is a verital pharmacopia."

SALINE SOLUTION

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[YEA]  09/16/2008: Nicole from Redding, California writes: "I have seven cats and most of them, at one time or another, have suffered from conjuntivitis or other eye ailments. In the past I spent a fortune going to the vet for pills and creams, some of which did not work too well. Then someone told me to try saline solution. Since I am a contact lens wearer and this is something I always have on hand, I decided to give it a try. Thus far, it has always worked like a charm! I just soak a cotton ball with saline solution and then clean the cat's eye with it. For the first couple of days, I try to do this at least 3 times per day, and then once it starts to clear up, I do it once a day for about 5 days. It's not only a more effective remedy, but it is a lot easier to administer to an angry cat than creams and ointments."

TEA

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[YEA]  06/23/2008: Maria from Milton, Florida writes: "Who would have thought that in a million years, a tea bag would help cure the lump on my 6 day old kittens eyes. We think that the 2 kittens had Conjunctivitis. Like everyone else we didn't have any money for the vet and so we decided to try searching the internet. We found the wonderful Earth Clinic and tried making some tea. We cooled the bags off and squeezed them onto the kittens eyes that have the lumps in them. I woke up this morning and the lump is 90% gone. It's definitely amazing!!! Their eyes are not yet opened because they are a few days too young, but hopefully the tea will continue to help them."

[YEA]  04/09/2008: SuzieQ from USA, USA writes: "HOLY MOLY, TEA WORKED!!! My cat had started to show symptoms of conjunctivitis; redness of the eye, swelling of eyelids, inner eyelid almost 'sticking' in place accompanied with tearing/goop near his eye ducts. Unfortunately some of us cannot afford to pay vet visits--I was putzing around the internet and came across EARTHCLINIC.com -saw the natural remedy of using tea (green, black or chamomile) to rid 'pink eye' and decided what the heck, let's try it. Within a couple hours the swelling had gone down and redness seemed to diminish. After 2-3 days of administering tea soaked cotton balls (a separate one for each eye) his ailment ceased. Earth Clinic rocks and more people should check out natural remedies. TRY IT I SWEAR IT WORKS!! THANK YOU TOO!!!"

[YEA]  07/31/2007: Pamela (islandbliss37@aol.com) from Richmond, VA writes: "I have a Yorkshire Terrier that had gotten pink eye..I went to this site and tried the black tea remedy,,and sure enough it was gone in a couple of days.. Thanks earth clinic.. Keep the natural remedies coming.Saved alot of money not going to the vet."

[YEA]  12/22/2006: Jody from OH writes: "Eye infection.. I just purchased a dog, upon his arrival I noticed some buildup around his eyes. I immediately used lukewarm water and soaked two tea bags, one for each eye. I wrapped him in a towel so he couldn't squirm around and placed a slightly dripping tea bag on each eye for a moment. It must have felt good as he didn't move. I did this a couple times a day for the weekend. I always recommend a vet for eye problems, but this will work in a jiffy until you can get to the vet.

Another solution, you can boil 1 qt of water for a 10 mins to sterilize and mix in a tbsp of boric acid, not borax.. After the water cools, you can use it to wash out the eyes carefully. You can do this two or three times a day.. If the infection is in both eyes, use two separate cloths or cotton balls, one for each eye."

 

 

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