Black third eyelids and goopy eyes

girlieq

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So, Rowan has had vet checkups, and he's got a clean bill of health, but I recently noticed that his third eyelids have this black/very dark red stripe on them, right on the edge (well, the edge that you can still see when their eyes are open. The rest seems to be white). He's a gray kitty, even his nose, the skin around his eyes, his paws, and his lips, but I've never seen a cat with any color but white on their eyelids. Is that normal?

Also, his eyes always have sleep in the corners (like he's a human who has just woken up). I always assumed that it was because Rowan doesn't wash much (I've only seen him wash his face once, so I take a wet cotton ball and clean his eyes at least once daily), but they're black/dark red. Bella had a sleepie in her eye yesterday, and it was the same yellow/white color that mine are. Could there be something wrong with Rowan's eyes?
 
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girlieq

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I don't have any problem cleaning his eyes... He doesn't particularly like it, but I see it as just one of those things that a cat's slave needs to do. And I shouldn't have said cotton balls... they're really more gauze-y than cotton-y.

I just don't know if it's a normal cat thing, or if it's a sign that he's somehow not healthy. The vet has seen him two, or maybe three times now, and he says that Rowan's eyes look fine, but I'm not sure that I've volunteered the fact that they've always got sleepies in them. And it's not like the goopies make his eyes stick shut, because they're just in the corners. I've just never had a cat with eye gookies before, and black seems (in retrospect) to be a strange color for them to be.
 

gayef

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I cited that thread because of the reference to the goop's actual color. The dark reddish-brown discharge you described is what prompted me to think of it. What you described doesn't sound like it needs a vet's attention.

~gf~
 

stampit3d

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Has he always been this way...or is this something that has developed?
In any case I do think I`d let the vet know about the "goop" and see what he has to say about it.
Linda
 

chichismom

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Originally Posted by GirlieQ

So, Rowan has had vet checkups, and he's got a clean bill of health, but I recently noticed that his third eyelids have this black/very dark red stripe on them, right on the edge (well, the edge that you can still see when their eyes are open. The rest seems to be white). He's a gray kitty, even his nose, the skin around his eyes, his paws, and his lips, but I've never seen a cat with any color but white on their eyelids. Is that normal?

Also, his eyes always have sleep in the corners (like he's a human who has just woken up). I always assumed that it was because Rowan doesn't wash much (I've only seen him wash his face once, so I take a wet cotton ball and clean his eyes at least once daily), but they're black/dark red. Bella had a sleepie in her eye yesterday, and it was the same yellow/white color that mine are. Could there be something wrong with Rowan's eyes?
If you open his eye up- like if you were going to put a contact in your eye- and there is redness or swelling in the tissue above the eye-which is usually white-he might have conjunctivitus and needs some antibiotic ointment to clear it up. I see he is pretty small it might also just be kitten eye
 

plebayo

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I was just going to say, it sounds like conjunctivitus, and like he could have a mild URI with all the goopyness. Many young cats get mild URI's and colds. I would get some antibiotics for him, and maybe some eye drops.
 

forthefurballs

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Originally Posted by GirlieQ

...his third eyelids have this black/very dark red stripe on them, right on the edge (well, the edge that you can still see when their eyes are open. The rest seems to be white). He's a gray kitty, even his nose, the skin around his eyes, his paws, and his lips, but I've never seen a cat with any color but white on their eyelids. Is that normal?
I looked at some of my cats, one, a dark brown tabby, also has a dark ring on his 3rd lid. It's a dark redish brown color. And another, an orange tabby also has a dark streak on his 3rd lid. It seems like it's just pigment, like how some of them have dark splotches on thier lips and inside their mouths.
 
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