Giving a cat any kind of medication can be a tough job, but eye medication is probably the hardest. Having anything come near the eye is enough to make anybody flinch, including cats. If your kitty needs to be given regular doses of eye medication and you're not sure how to make it a less miserable experience for both you and your cat, read on.

Avoid Contamination

The very first step you must always follow is to take every precaution in avoiding contamination. This means washing your hands thoroughly before applying the medication. The CDC recommends that you wash your hands for at least 15 seconds in order to remove as much bacteria as possible. This will help to prevent new bacteria from being introduced into your cat's eyes.

In addition, if you need to medicate both of your cat's eyes, make sure to alternate hands or at least fingers when you do so. For example, you could put the medicine on your right pointer finger for the right eye, and your left pointer finger for the left eye. This will prevent bacteria and viral activity in your cat's infected eyes from being transferred over to the other eye.

Utilize the Scruff

All cats have a flap of loose skin on the back of their neck called a scruff. The scruff is used to help mother cats to carry their kittens when they're small, but it continues to be a useful tool even once cats reach adulthood.

If you firmly grasping the scruff and lightly pull on it, your cat should go relatively limp. Don't lift your cat off the ground, as the scruff can't support the weight of a full-grown cat. However, if you pull the scruff while you apply the medication, your cat should be less likely to wince or try to scratch you.

The Inner Eyelid

Lastly, when you're applying eye medication yo obtained from the veterinary clinic, you might see the inner eyelid appear. Cats have more than one eyelid per eye, and the inner eyelid is designed to help prevent dirt and sand from reaching their eyes. If you're applying an eye medication in the form of a cream or gel, it's okay if you apply it to inner eyelid. When your cat blinks, the medication will spread over the whole eye. You don't need to try and forcibly move the inner eyelid; in fact, you could end up hurting your cat's eye if you tried to do so.

While it might be intimidating at first, many cat owners are tasked with medicating their cats' eyes and are able to do it. If you still feel like you can't figure out how, talk to your veterinarian for further advice.