Third Eyelids

Question
Hello

My cat Saffie has had her third eyelids come up over her eyes and neither our vet or us can come to a conclusion as to why this has happened. They are not always up, and some times not as much as other times. Our vet has given her a very thorough going over and has found nothing wrong with her. She is still very bright, outgoing and playful. So we can't understand why this has happened. All of our others are fine and have no problems apart from our 6 month old kitten who has a grade 1 heart murmur. Again she has been checked and she is completely healthy and is constantly playing with toy's and our two other young adults.
Can you please shed some light on this for us please as we are at a total loss.

Many Thanks
Emma

Answer
Emma,

I am providing some of the feedback I received from some other breeders on this concern.  I have sanitized the responses I received to remove names and e-mail addresses.  The responses are in no particular order.

You can give these to your vet and seen what your vet says.

"inner ear infections can cause Horners syndrome which puts the third eyelid up about 1/3 of the way.
put in a drop of Tetracaine and see if the lid goes down.
if it does  I would ask the vet to check the ears closely and give a broad spectrum antibiotic for 14-21 days"



"We had a girl who exhibited these signs. It turned out that she had an ear infection. Unfortunately, it took a couple of visits for the vet to find this, as her only symptom was the third eyelid showing up without any eye problems. The pupil on her one eye was also different than the other eye."



"Sometimes cats get lazy third eye lids and they just are so relaxed they cover part of the eye sometimes and then sometimes they are down.  I had this a couple times also and nothing wrong with the cat just seemed to keep her third eye lid up sometimes and I was told it was because of lazy third eyelids.  Just makes it hard to show because judges think they are drugged or sick which is not always the case.
"The cat I had that kept her third eye lid up lived to be 18 years so definitely was not something wrong with her.   But again I was told that it was because of lazy eyelids and some cats just have a tendency to by lazy with them."



"If the cat has been examined by an Opthomologist and is found healthy, I would think there may be something pressing on a nerve up to the brain.  I had a kitten that I thought was hydrocephalic as his 3rd eyelid protruded out, but was otherwise healthy.  My vet never diagnosed any fluid on his brain, so I kept researching possible causes.  I found that sometimes, if the cat has a deep ear infection, the inflamation will press on a nerve up to the brain and the third eyelid protrudes.  So I took a chance and gave my kitten major antibiotics and on the 2nd day of treatment, the eyelid retracted.  Sure, it could have been a coincedence, but in any event, glad it resolved.  The kitten is perfect."



"Are you sure she is free of worms?"



"Did your vet pull back the 3rd eyelid to make certain there was not an abrasion or ulcer.. .. that has always been the case with my kids?"



"I have recently had a problem exactly like this and like your vet she pronounced my cat totally healthy.  However, she felt it was probably Torovirus which very little appears to be said about it but you can read about it at this link http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/torovirus.html

"She was also wormed but it didn't make any difference.

"The problem was self limiting and her eyes returned to normal in about 6/8 weeks."




"Might be a viral thing.A couple of years ago I had two cats do this, first the daughter then the mother. It lasted a few months then went away on its own. Vet could not find anything specific, but suspected a viral agent, likely URI related."



"You dont say what breed it is . If it were a persian I would suspect entropian , maybe the little eyelashes are irritating the eye ??"


Best regards... Norm.







Emma,

I will check with a couple of sources, so it may take me a while to get back to you.

Best regards... Norm