Third Eyelid Question

Okay so there was this girl that my roomie works with who was moving out of town and no place to take her kitty (3-yr old Molly) except for the humane society (who I already know has their foster homes packed to the brim...there isn't really a shelter for them) so I decided to take her in since my baby has been wanting a friend for quite some time.

Well the girl said she was spayed and had all her shots and she seems pretty healthy as far as I can tell (no dire-rear! ).

Although, she does seem to have a lot of that eye gunk (tear-like yellow goopy stuff), well more than seems normal for a cat not of the persian persuasion (wow...try saying that three times fast! ).

She's still a little skittish and hides under the bed most of the day. My cat has stopped hissing at her and seems to be interested but I think she needs more time because she still hisses and growls any time he comes in the room.

But anyway, like I was saying she's still really skittish and it's hard for me to hold her and inspect her like I would my cat, but I have noticed that her third eyelids are pink-red. Well the left one is pink and the right is pretty red.

My kitty's healthy and his have always been white. Could this be a sign of a problem? :?

 

upper respiratory infections can be brought on my stress. This kitty could have been fine when given to you but just the stress of the new environment could be enough to make her ill. She should probably see a vet - sometimes the third eyelid doing that can mean a fever.

And this URI could be passed onto your cat - so you should probably get kitty checked asap.

Nice of you to take this cat in...that is very sweet.

 

Of course I didn't want it (anything she might have) passed on to my baby.

But there is a question there. When I first got my baby from the pound and another baby who has since passed on :cry: they both had URI with different symptoms. The dr. said that they would have it forever and all we could do is treat the symptoms and that they would live normal lives. He was such a good vet in other ways...not like some of the wackjobs I've heard about here, that I always believed him. Is that true? That a URI is a virus and can't ever be "cured"? Cause that was the impression I got from him. :?:

 

Hi. That was really nice of you to take this kitty in. It sounds like this kitty has conjunctivitis (eye infection). If it's this, the vet will give you eye ointment to place in the cat's eyes 3X a day. Conjunctivitis is very contagious to both people and other pets, so you have to wash your hands after touching the eye area. You may also want to ask your vet if the other kitty should be treated as well, as they may have gotten it.

 

URI are a virus and most healthy cats can get over them without any medical intervention...I've had cats get one URI and never get it again.

But where I foster it's quite common for me to have URIs going through the house - I just have to be very careful with my resident cats. My bluepoint, Tilly, caught URI from the foster I had last May and she still has a fever coat.

And last year I had a 2 week old kitten with an URI (mother cat had it but the other kittens didn't catch it). We nearly lost that kitten. I know the people who adopted her and due to the severity of it she will always carry the virus and she's been ill 2x since they adopted her. Luckily Cynthia was adopted by very very caring people and they deal with her illnesses quickly.

 

Thanks guys I knew someone here would have ideas about what it was. :y_the_best: