2 week old kitten, feline herpes, eyes are swollen :( what can I do?

I’m so sorry you’re kitty is having so much trouble; you’re awesome for trying so hard! Has your vet mentioned an L-Lysine supplement? Some vets don’t carry it but it comes in a powder you can add to wet food and it is a viral replication suppressor. Let’s say the virus was replicating from one to twenty every hour it would slow it to ten every 2 hours. This gives kitty’s immune system a better chance to kick the virus and push it back into the background. If it is herpes kitty will have it forever but just like in people it flares up in times of stress and having lysine at home can help keep it in check. In smaller kittens the dose is usually 250mg twice per day. I have seen and heard of vets using serum spun out from kitty’s own blood to help heal the eye of bad ulcers or really bad eye damage that occurred from infection. I’m not sure if it’s useful in this case but potentially worth looking into.

You are an angel to rescue and care for this wee kitten.
Our cat was extremely ill with cat flu as a 6 week old and with a lot of care and love she made it through and is now almost 16 years old. I wish I had known about L Lysine back then. If you look for it make sure it is the powder and is just lysine and no other ingredient. For such a young kitten give about 250mg twice a day. It doesn’t mix well into fluids but try it.
For your kittens eyes you can try gently dabbing them with cold used black or green tea tea bags as long as they haven’t had milk or sugar on the bags. Maybe allow some of the tea to cool to refresh the bag but a new bag each day.
My cat still gets Lysine to keep the herpes at bay as she will always have it and if she is stressed then it appears as a weeping eye and snuffly nose.
We found that she responded to being held or carried almost continually in the crook of our arms when she was a sick kitty. Don’t be afraid to sing to your kitten, it helps calm them.
You have great advice from KZ and Kaitlan and you are doing the right thing.
Please let us know how things are going.

Your kitten is old enough to have this medication. I have been putting vet prescribed eye medications in kittens eyes as soon as they are ‘open’, but they are stuck shut with crusty infection. I have a kitten now that I put triple antibiotic Vetropolycin Opthalmic Ointment into his right eye, and it has cleared up within a week. I hope this helps!

The vet can do an enema for your kitten or give you one and show you how to use it. My kitten also had one eye that was shut, oozing yellow stuff. One week later on the triple antioiotic ointment, his eye is open and clear.

Sending healing vibes to your sweet little kitten that she fights this and gets over it soon!!