squinting very suddenly

Five month old kitten very suddenly started squinting. One of his inner eyelids seems to be over part of his eye (the side toward his nose). When he opened it all the way, it looked kind of cloudy. It seems to be getting worse in the last hour. He was turning his head like he couldn't see out of his one eye. He seems to be starting to squint in his other eye too. He's sleeping now. Could he be having a stroke? Should I wait until morning to take him to the vet, or does this sound like an emergency? He was fine immediately before he started squinting. He ate and pooped after I noticed it. He got grumpy because we were handling him so much trying to look at his eye, but we didn't touch it. Can anybody help? Thank you.

Please call the vet in the morning... if it gets any worse do you Know the ER vet nearest you?

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I do know where the emergency vet is. He's still sleeping. Do you think I should wake him up to check on him? I'm not sure how to tell if it's worse - like if it gets harder for him to open his other eye?

No if he is asleep let him sleep... Is there any gunk?

He just woke up and looked at me with two big wide open eyes. But then his right eye kind of drifted shut again, and he went back to sleep. I'll keep watching him. Thank you very much for replying. ...and no gunk, just that weird lazy-eye all of the sudden.

Yeah He still needs a vet but it is not a ER thing IMHO

He may be having a herpes flare-up. Ella has that problem occasionally. We just give her some l-lysine for a few days.

Sounds like he needs to go to the vet...not an ER situation, IMO, but definitely get to your regular vet ASAP, especially if there is any gunk in his eye. Eye problems can escalate very quickly and if left untreated can become an ulcer. Your vet will probably prescribe some antibiotic eye drops or gel, stain to eye to check for an ulcer, and treat accordingly.

My boy Nelson was fine one minute, squinting the next, got him to the vet the next morning and then we had 3 months of eye drops and then a very expensive surgery to take care of the problem (he had an indolent ulcer from feline herpes that had to be surgically removed). Here's hoping yours is a much simpler fix! Most of the time these things will go away after a few days with antibiotics.

If your vet thinks the problem might be related to feline herpes, as many, many eye problems are, consider putting your cat on a daily dose of Lysine. A quick search on this forum will bring up tons of information regarding herpes and lysine.

Best of luck!

Any updates on this kitty?