help kitten with eye goop & a few other questions...

I'm surprised that the shelter didn't bathe her and clean her eyes, get rid of fleas, etc. Do you know how old she is? If she is real little, you will probably only want to use baby shampoo on her. If she is older, you can use flea shampoo. As with dogs, you need to treat the pet and your home. A trip to the vet could take care of her rabies vac (if old enough) and you could get some drops for her eyes. Although I would not rush to treat her eyes unless the discharge is green, it may just run it's course. And heartworm... hmmm that's a good question. It seems to me that cats should be on heartworm prevention but I'm not positive.

You really need to take her to the vet as soon as you can. She needs a stool sample checked for worms, and the vet will give her a thorough physical exam. Stray kittens can have a lot of health problems. Heartworm preventative is a prescription medication also. Most upper respiratory infections/ eye infections in cats are viral and they will run their course. Just keep the eyes and nose clear with a warm damp paper towel. I'd advocate for the disposability of the paper towel here because you don't want those germs spreading around your house. There is one kind of pinkeye bacteria that can spread from cats to people, but who knows if that is the kind she has.

Check out the sticky at the top of our forum for more information about selecting a good kitten/cat food. Most of us here believe that the closer an animal's life replicates its biological wild design, the healthier it will be. I feel that good raw meat with raw bones is very good for health. Try giving Maggie some raw chicken wing tips. Also being that she is so young, she may need help getting her beneficial gut flora established. Feed her some acidophilus, or yogurt. You can also buy feeder mice (already dead) from pet stores. Mice would be the most biologically correct diet for a cat. My cats get both a kibble (Innova EVO) and raw.