r/cats • u/her01nparty • 19h ago
Advice how to not ruin trust with eye wipes
hello. me and my partner suspect our tabby boy is allergic to dust. he gets really thick looking eye boogers in his right eye, and often squints it. neither of us realized how bad it was until a few days ago unfortunately because he had been rubbing them on the walls to get them out on his own so more than often his eye squinting/watering was infrequent enough to not raise alarm bells. this wall is lower to the ground and i have been very depressed for awhile so as gross as it sounds i figured the little black/brown spots were dirt and didnt pay much mind to it. i bought some eye wipes today for him and the chunks im getting out are quite large and it seems to keep coming back so.. this unfortunately will probably have to be a frequent thing. i brought him to the vet for the allergies a few months ago and did mention my concern about the eye squinting but was told it was probably related to the allergies. i am now trying to figure out how to get him to hold still for me to be able to wipe out all the gross stuff. i dont want to force him (but im willing to), ive already cried over the thought of breaking the bond me and him have but i obviously wont let it get worse or build up again. i dont know. every youtube tutorial of cleaning cat eyes ive looked at already has a cat in it that is comfortable with being handled like that. he can already tend to be skittish, the house he was in before we got him was abusive to him. he isnt comfortable with his paws being touched or being held for extended periods of times. i just need tips if you guys have any. im heartbroken making him do something he doesnt like
1
u/ShottySHD 19h ago
Unfortunately, force will mostly be the only way (for now). Ive had to do the same thing. They dont like when I have to grab em and clean em. Might be skittish for a bit but I dont think the trust will be broken. Ive had 6 cats in the last 10 years, having to force them all to do some sort of cleaning (eyes, butt etc). But, they all still came to me and loved me up. I should note I was not the primary can opener either.