My cat won't close his eye (and blinks using his third eyelid)

blizeH

Hi,

This morning, for whatever reason* my cat, Mo, cannot close his one eye. He doesn't seem to be in any pain at all, and seems his normal happy self, but nontheless he won't close his eye, and if he blinks he uses his third eye lid (which looks kinda strange).

Has anyone heard of this before? Is it something that quickly passes? Should I just get him to the vet ASAP? If he was in pain I'd be incredibly worried, but it's only started happening this morning and he seems okay with it, and could indeed be fine already and I'm worrying over nothing, but I'm still thinking unless it's something common that will quickly go away, and not cause him any pain that I'm going to leave work early and take him to the vets. Any thoughts very welcome, thank you!



* I think he has maybe got into a fight, probably with his much smaller brother who is an absolute nightmare despite my efforts to stop him, is an absolute bully!

krlyr

I wouldn't take any risks with an eye-related issue personally. Many animals, cats included, don't need to blink like humans do, but if his third eyelid is on show more than usual it could indicate an issue (not necessarily eye-related, I believe they can show the third eyelid when suffering other health or stress-related problems)

blizeH

Thank you, just a heads up that we registered him at the new vet and they were very helpful/nice - said it's 'Horners Syndrome' which is a problem with the nerves in his eye Anti-inflammatories and eye drops will hopefully help but he may not ever recover 100% unfortunately.

Also got some Feliway just to stop his younger brother being such a scamp - just in case it was a fight with him that caused it...

krlyr

Fab to have helpful vets but sorry it wasn't better news. Had a quick look and it can have some external triggers, did they run through these with you? Things like a middle ear infection or a bite wound can trigger the Horners Syndrome and also need to be addressed - so antibiotics could be worthwhile if the vet hasn't ruled out these as possibilities (especially if you think they may have been scrapping)

blizeH

Yup, great shouts thank you - the vet did check for all of those, any external wounds (there was a small bump on his head we also noticed a few days ago) and also his ears etc - so think she covered everything

He seems already slightly better, after just one day with the eye drops and anti-inflammatories, so really hoping that level of progress continues!

MissGolightly

my 1.5 year old cat very rarely closes his eye properly, only when he's in a deep sleep, normally he just blinks with his 3rd eyelid, i did ask the vet about it, but he said it's not a problem. he's just our little freaky eye furbaby!

blizeH

aw bless him! well as long as they're happy, that's the main thing I guess!!

krlyr

MissGolightly wrote: »

my 1.5 year old cat very rarely closes his eye properly, only when he's in a deep sleep, normally he just blinks with his 3rd eyelid, i did ask the vet about it, but he said it's not a problem. he's just our little freaky eye furbaby!

This is actually normal for most animals as their third eyelids do the job of moisturising the eyes - they probably think we're the freaky ones, blinking all the time :rotfl:

Abbafan1972

Hi, was looking at this thread yesterday and you had a photo of him here but it's gone! He really looks lovely and I could munch him!

As long as he's ok!