My cat's eye is squinting after a fight. Should I take her to the vet?

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Jynx. I always treat eye problems as emergencies since the eyes are very special sense organs and injuries/problems with them can deteriorate very quickly. It sounds like she may have scratched or poked the cornea (the outer surface of the eye). If the cornea is damaged, it needs to be treated right away and evaluated for a possible foreign body also. This condition is very painful so that's another to treat right away. Your vet can get a detailed history, do an exam, advise some tests (corneal stain, tear test if needed, measure eye pressure) and then advise a sound treatment plan with follow up appointments as needed. Eye drops, eye ointments, pain medicines, e collars to prevent self trauma to the eye, etc are all possible treatments. Good luck with Jynx.

If there is an emergency vet within a reasonable distance, I would recommend that Willie get checked out sooner than later. Eye problems can be very painful, and can go from bad to worse very quickly (even overnight). There can be many causes of squinting an eye, including something stuck under the eyelid, corneal abrasion or ulcer, autoimmune disease, among a few others. Without personally seeing it I can't be certain, but what you may be seeing with him "looking to the upper right" is the effect of a raised third eyelid covering the inner part of the eye to make it look weird. You can try to flush the eye with a saline eye rinse, but do not apply any medications topically. Keep him inside in a dim room since bright light makes many eye problems more painful.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. From the pictures you posted it does not look that there is anything very serious going on with her left eye. Squinting the eye could be result of trauma (usually scratch from another cat) or infection. Please, keep wiping the eye and giving her soothing eye drops. If the eye is not back to normal after 5-6 days, you will have to try and get her seen by a vet.

Poor girl. If she is indeed closing the eye and seems bothered by it, there is a good chance she has a scratch or ulcer on the the from some unknown trauma she may have caused herself. She will need prescription antibiotics from your vet to get this to heal properly. I would recommend taking her in soon to get this treated before it gets any worse. Best wishes with Millie and I hope she feels better soon. Take care.

Hello, A cat scratch to the eye can be a serious emergency and warrants evaluation by a veterinarian. It is important to have the eye evaluted because if left untreated, Fluffy may develop a severe infection inside the eye. However, with prompt treatment and application of an E-collar she should make a speedy recovery.

Please take her in right away to have the eye checked. If the claw punctured her cornea it can become infected and without proper treatment she could lose sight in that eye. They will stain the eye to check for corneal damage and start the appropriate treatment right away. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Princess.

Your vet will need to take a look at your cat's eye to see if the scratch perforated the cornea and involved other structures of the eye. Your vet should also see it to treat it because not treating it can lead to vision loss depending on the severity of the injury. The course of treatment will depend on the severity of the injury and the part of the eye that was injured. If the wound is non-perforating and has no wound edge or opening, an Elizabethan collar will be used to prevent your cat from scratching at its eye, along with antibiotic or atropine eye solutions. Non-perforating wounds that have a mild break in the tissue, or a pinpoint wound perforation, may be treated with a soft contact lens, an Elizabethan collar, and antibiotic or atropine solutions. If the scratch goes deep into the eye and involves other structures in the eye, surgical repair will likely be needed. Your vet is the best person to determine what course of treatment is best.