farrel kitten is she sick

Question
I sent an email last night but can not rember whom I asked so I will ask again..  On Christmas eve my husband and I found 3 kittens  in our shed 2 were already deceased, I am not really a cat person but could not leave the last remaining kitten to die.  I would estimate her age to be about 4 to 5 months old she appeared very skinny and weak.  She is putting on weight good and adapting to our home she is using the litter box and even plays with our dog...  She was not venturing past the bathroom door until last night.  I have just left her in the bathroom until I was sure she would use the litter box...  I am just totally amazed by the behavior of this kitten she still jumps up  as if to run away when I come into the room but then settles right back down when I talk softly to her.I know that she needs a full exam from the vet to ensure her health,  but I feel that a trip to soon to the vet would just be too much...  I notices last night that one eye is watery and she has a runny nose and sneezing...  After reading some other posts I hope that is is just a cold but wanted to know what would be best to wash her eyes and treat her symptoms until we can get her to the vet.  She is eating like a horse and using the little box.  I have treated dogs and know how to rehabilitate them but this is my first cat experience... I started of with lots of small meals to begin with and was feeding her caned kitten food.  Now we are letting her free feed on dry but still giving her about 6 onces of caned per day.  She has improved by leaps and bound but I do not want to rush her to fast she is just starting to trust people enough to sleep on the bed with us.  She has a really neat personality.  Also her edges of her ears were frost bitten on the outside edge is there anything I can do for this..  Thanks Jayme

Answer
Hi Jayme.  Thanks for saving this poor baby!  

As for the frost bite, once the damage has occurred, there isn't anything that can be done.  Keep an eye on it, though, to make sure it doesn't look like the tissue is necrosing.  If so, it may need to be removed surgically to stop it from spreading to healthy surrounding tissue.  Typically this doesn't happen, and frostbitten tissue will recover.

It sounds like she probably does have a cold starting.  It's best to keep her eye area clean with warm water and a piece of gauze.  There is an antibiotic eye ointment that's available without a prescription called Terramycin that you could use in her eyes, but it's mostly available online.  The best price I've found at a reliable source is here:

http://www.calvetsupply.com/index.asp?PageAction=PRODSEARCH&txtSearch=terramycin...

It's also available at www.drsfostersmith.com  www.entirelypets.com  www.lambriarvetsupply.com and many other places

Something that could help reduce her cold symptoms is to give her lysine.  This is a good immune booster.  And if the cold happens to be caused by the feline herpes virus, which is the most common cause of "kitty colds", then it should help even more.  It robs this virus of the arginine it needs in order to replicate.  Giving her 250mg of lysine daily should reduce symptoms.  You can get lysine at any pharmacy in a 1000mg tablet.  You can divide this into quarters, grind it up and mix it into canned food.  Or, you can buy a gel called Viralys at California Vet Supply, which is a lysine supplement for cats.

Lysine won't hurt things no matter what's causing the sneezing and runny eyes, and Terramycin is a decent ointment to keep the eyes clean and protected.  But a vet visit is a great idea, since lysine won't cure a bacterial infection, and Terramycin won't cure every eye problem.

Best wishes!  This little one was certainly lucky to have found you.