Problem with New Kittens Eyes

Hi I hope you may be able to advise on my Kitten - he is 3 weeks on Friday - mum kept trying to move them outside I'm now worried about his eye he opened them later than his brothers - about 2 days ago - the eye is very pale (almost white) i am aware of a third eyelid but i don't think its that. Any ideas please!


Other than this he is doing well - apart from being more of a chatterbox!

Three weeks is not an unheard of age for a kitten to be opening their eyes. It is later than normal yes, but isn't necessarily an indication that something is wrong. 

What it can be an indication of is that he will be long haired. I don't remember how the genetics have to work out to get a long haired kitten, but I do know that they tend to be more in the 14-21 day range vs the 7-14 for a short hair. 

So, my guess is he is either just a little slower to develop or will be a long haired cat. I had one in my last litter who was the same in terms of having the delay in opening his eyes and he was absolutely healthy and normal- just developmentally a little slow. Nothing wrong with doing things on your own terms! 

As far as the half closed eye- to me it does just look like the third eyelid. Keep an eye on it and see how it looks once it is fully opened. If it looks cloudy or gunky consult your vet for a possible eye infection. 

He's a cutie- congrats and vibes that there is nothing wrong with his eyes! 

I'm still not really convinced as the 1st eye opened several days before the 2nd and it's the 2nd eye that is still not opening fully. The 1st eye has been opened for nearly a week now, but the 2nd eye just seems not to be catching up and has been open for a few days now and should be fully opened. We've had many litters of kitten before and have always had maybe a day between each eye never a week. I know the vet is the obvious choice but we thought we'd research first.

I think it's fair to be concerned. You did not originally explain how long the delay has been between the opening of the first eye and the second (just that he was far behind his litter mates in opening them altogether). Knowing that, I agree that the second one shouldn't be lagging this far behind and that contacting your vet is the next step. You could try applying a warm compress to the eye to see if it loosens any gunk that may be sealing it shut but, I would probably see the vet before trying anything. That way they can have the most comprehensive picture of what is going on. 

So, call your vet and get him in. Please let us know what they say.  Vibes again that he is just lagging developmentally and that nothing is seriously wrong! 

Took him down the vets today and have confirmed that the eye has infact not developed properly and will be blind in that eye.

Been advised that all we can do is watch it and if it appears to be looking worse to take him back, possibly for removal... Otherwise he is perfectly healthy, will just need extra care and is going to be more prone to catching eye problems.

Oh no I am so sorry to hear this. But, good for you for following your gut and having him seen. 

Glad to hear he is otherwise healthy. The good thing about it being a birth defect is that he will develop normally because he doesn't know any different. He may be slower to pick things up but he will grow and learn same as the rest of them. He will find his own way of doing things, and I have no doubt that once he gets his sea legs under him he won't act any different than the others! 

And, even if this isn't on your mind, my experience with rescue is that people crawl over each other to adopt cats with special needs. So, hopefully he will have no problems finding a home (that is if you don't keep him).