"White Shadow" Over Part of Eye??

I just noticed that my 2 year old red tabby has a whitish "shadow" over the corner part of his left eye. Vision seems to be just fine and the eye isn't weepy.

I will take him to the vet, but any idea what this might be??

Is it more like a white covering?
If it is it is called their 3rd eyelid.

And If im not mistaken... it usually appears when they dont feel good. Which is usually when they are sick and need to see a vet.
Please let us know.

It's kind of an opaque shadow that covers about 1/4 of the eye. It is pretty faint but it's definitely there. At first I thought that maybe he got scratched in the eye by my other cat and had an injury, but I'm not sure. It doesn't seem to bother him so far...I don't think it's glaucoma or anything like that, it isn't covering his cornea. Weird!!

It does sound like it's his third eyelid and if that is the case your kitty is probably not feeling very well. He should be seen by your vet. Cats are extremely good at hiding pain so it's important to notice these other signs that your cat is not well so we can get them to a vet before their illness gets any worse.

Thank you so much for your feedback! However, the "third eyelid" comes from the inner corner of the eye, correct? This 'shadow' is the outer corner.

Originally Posted by julia123

Thank you so much for your feedback! However, the "third eyelid" comes from the inner corner of the eye, correct? This 'shadow' is the outer corner.

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Hmmmmmm......
You are wise to take him to the vet then.

Whether it's the 3rd Eye lid or something else - either way something does Not Seem Quite Right!!

This most definitley needs to be looked at by a VET!!

Could be a cataract too. Though I'm not to sure how common this is with cats.

Does it look a bit like this: See kitty on right.



Both of his eyes have it, one is much worse. The eye that isn't as bad has a white shading around the corners Its a cornea ulcer, caused by a viral infection when he was a kitten. Have it checked out ASAP- maybe it's from some kind of injury and can be treated. My cat can see, but not very well.

Originally Posted by SolarityBengals

Could be a cataract too. Though I'm not to sure how common this is with cats.

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It's not uncommon for cats to have cataracts. I have an adopted kitty that came with cataracts in both eyes. The vet said they were most likely from an injury at some point in time. There's nothing we can do about the cataracts but they don't seem to bother him and he gets around just fine. Do have your kitty checked out though.

Thanks for the advice!! No, it doesn't look like that picture...it's more like a sort of smokey swirl over just the outer corner of his eye. I'll see what the vet has to say.

My moms dog had a "smokey" shadow in one of her eyes and it turned out to be an infection behind the eye. If left untreated she could have gone blind and almost did. Thank you for considering taking her to the vet and let us know what it is.