Help! Is kitty's eye going to be OK?

I'm going to leave it at this: A family member tripped while carrying our beloved kitten, who apparently hit his face off the doorknob.

What the heck is wrong with his eye? Is it going to be OK? I don't want to bug a vet, assuming one would take my call at this time Xmas eve.



Am I going to need to take him to a vet?

Trauma to the eye causes the third eyelid to close to protect it. It's hard to tell how bad it is, since that comes out for almost any discomfort, even for a eyelash stuck in the eye. Watch the eye over the next day ortwo and see if the third eyelid goes down. You can use that as an indicator like swelling, the more it goes away, the better your cats eye is feeling. If it doesn't get beter in a couple days, you will need to go to the vet. My cat developed a retinal ulcer, basically a divit in his retina, from a untreated trauma to his eye he got at the shelter.

Thank you so much! We're really new at being cat owners. I was scared his third eyelid (didn't know that's what it was) was detached or otherwise damaged. But that's not the case, right, it's just protecting his eye since it was smashed off the doorknob, apparently?

I'll start worrying again in a few days if it doesn't go down.

Thanks so much.

(Everyone else -- you agree right?)

Welcome to TCS. What a cute kitty. What is his name?

The picture definitely looks like the third eyelid is covering part of the eye, which is a protective reaction for a cat. As long as you don't see any bleeding or drainage from the eye, I would just watch it. How is the kitten acting otherwise?

Thanks! He is cute isn’t he?

No, he isn’t doing anything else out of the ordinary.

In fact, his eye is already looking much, much better! Thanks so much everyone!

Welcome to TCS! Sorry it's under such stressful circumstances, but your little guy is sooo cute! I can tell you're not smitten with him in the least!

If the eye does appear to be bothering him and he starts rubbing it or squinting, you can apply a warm compress (washcloth) to it to help ease the discomfort. If it does start weeping a colored discharge, take him to the ER vet or at least call your current vet and leave a message on the answering machine.

What a beautiful little kitty. I have no other suggestions than the good ones you've already received - except that when I first got my cats, I did check to see what my vet's policy was on emergencies - turns out they work with a emergency vet in the area. I put up all the numbers on my fridge and my cell phone, and did a dry run to make sure I knew exactly where the e-vet was. Good thing I did - a couple of weeks later I had to run on a Sunday night, and I know I would have been too nervous to check mapquest, etc.

Once my little girl's eye looked 'weepy' to me - I did call the e-vet, they told me what to look for and when to 'panic'. Turned out she probably had gotten something in her eye (like a human would) and all was well (of course, I ended up taking her to the regular vet the next morning just to be sure - I was a very new meomy too!)

Never ever fear to call a vet or e-vet for advice - my vet or e-vet will ask questions to see if you need to come in immediately or not, and if they sound impatient to you, time to find a new vet. One caution - an e-vet will expect payment at the visit; to be fair, they've all probably been stiffed more than once.