Third eye lid showing..

Hi, I just got back from the vet with my Basil and the vet said that Basil's third eye lid is showing.. I was bringing him in just because his eye didnt look right.. The vet said that it usually shows if he is sick or not feeling well.. Well according to the way he is acting, he is feeling fine, no temperature.. The vet is kind of stumped why his third eye lid showing without being sick.. She gave me antibiotic eye ointment to use for a week and if he is not better to bring him to a vetrinarian opthmalogists.. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you in advance from Cheryl and Basil

Third eyelid showing can be an early symptom of illness, an indication of dehydration or a way to tell if your cat is running a fever. One of my cats showed his third eyelid for one week before be came down with a whooping case of songbird fever (salmonella). I had taken him to the vet and they had said what yours did, there is nothing wrong with him. He also died from the bacterial infection.

Just watch him and don't take anything for granted. If you see anything going wrong, litter pan misses, not eating, lethargic, get him back into the vet quickly.

I posted this the other day, and only recieved one response.. I just wanted to repost and see if anyone has any experience with thier cat's third eye lid.. I brought my cat to the vet and the vet confirmed that it is his third eye lid showing. She was rather stumped why it was showing because he is so full of energy and acting like he is feeling fine.. If its not gone by next week I will bring him to the vet opthmalogist.. Poor kitty! I didnt even know there was such a thing. I am so worried about him!

Did he take blood for a blood test?????

No, the vet did not take any blood.. Basil has no fever, no sneezing, no signs of infection, no strange behavior, full of energy, eating, drinking, using litterbox. The only thing new is the third eye lid..

Cheryl...I encourage you to re-read hissy's post from 7-20. She knows that this could be an early symptom of something serious. I would have my vet do a blood panel & urine ck. right away...today, if possible. I hope that it is nothing serious but your gut feelings are telling you that something is not quite right. Get it checked out.
Lei

hi i'm new to this site. my 15 year old cat is also showing this eyelid. she seems fine otherwise though, her usual self. no problems with eating or going to bathroom. is there anything l can do here at home for her? should l take her to vet?

Again, if the third eyelid is showing, there is generally a reason. Dehydration, fever, oncoming illness, it is a good idea to get the cat to the vet and have a routine bloodwork done. Just play it safe. If the third eyelid is a hereditary trait, you would see it from day one with the cat, when it suddenly appears, something is wrong- tapeworms, some sort of parasites, anything really. My vet calls it a cat's early warning system-

Nursecheryl81, Hissy is right on the mark. You really need to get a blood panel done if the 3rd eyelid is still showing. There "is" a reason for that and it "is" a symptom that something is wrong - that 3rd eyelid does not show in a healthy cat.

Out of curiosity, I'll also throw in....have your cats been recently vaccinated? Both of my twins were vaccinated at the same time, from the same batch... only Duke had a reaction and it was 2 weeks later, but it was the 3rd eyelid showing that was the initial symptom. I took him in to the after-hours vet and found out he also had a slight fever, and was slightly dehydrated. They kept him overnight, and thankfully he was fine to come home the next day.

Please understand that with some illnesses, the earlier you catch them the easier (and therefore cheaper) it is to treat. It could be something as simple as food allergies (what do you feed kitty anyway?) or it could be something else more worrisome. You won't know until you take kitty in.

Lora

Last June I noticed that with my Toby. He seemed full of energy, was eating and playing and pooping and peeing just fine...just had the third eyelid showing....and I actually thought he might have an allergy to something that was irritating his eyes. I called the vet and he said just to watch for any different behavior or sign of a fever. Within a week I started to notice that he was sleeping more than normal, and when I`d sift the litter there seemed to be lots more little pieces which made me think he might be having loose bowel movements so I called the vets office again and they said to bring him right in. They found he had the beginning of an upper resp. infection. They gave me an antibiotic to give him and within two days he was back to his old self again.

I agree with everyone else. Ares third eyelid was an after thought of his infection which we are still treating. but is a sign of sickness for sure.

Does anyone know where I can find a good picture of what this third eyelid looks like? I think Jack's show a little bit normally, but I want to make sure I know what I'm looking for!

Did your vet do any eye tests?

I couldn't find one on a google search for cats, but I did find a dog pic. The difference is that a cat's eye will look like this, but be white in color.

http://www.veterinaryvision.com/publ.../Cherryeye.htm

I hope this helps. In my experience it has always meant that something is wrong - whether an eye infection or something more serious.

Thanks. I can see a little white membrane looking thing in the inner corner of each of Jack's eyes, but looking at older pictures I think it's always there so hopefully it's nothing to worry about. They're going in for neutering in a couple of days so I'll have to ask the vet about it.

It's always a sign of stress

Here you go


http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/cat_eyes.asp

last fall my cat had her 3rd eyelid showing we then didnt know it was bad but later she started sneezing (sometimes even blood) and her nose starded swelling so we took her to the vet and it turned out she had a bad fever. i would just keep a close eye on your kitty.
but ever since then her 3rd eyelid has been showing a bit from time to time but it doesnt seem to be anything bad or so...