Third eyelid half closed

My dog is a blue merl sheltie (right eye blue, left eye brown) and already has eye problems. It‘s a buildup of some mineral or something. It‘s been diagnosed but I don’t remember what the vet said. What I‘m worried about is that the third eyelid in his blue eye is half closed, partly covering the pupil. The one in his brown eye is visible, but I don‘t know if it‘s closed any more than normal. A few weeks ago his eyes also seemed a bit irritated, but the third eyelids weren’t showing as much. I want to take him to the vet, but my family doesn’t have enough money at the moment to spend on a dog‘s eye problems. Please help, I love him and I‘m worried :( thanks, Reuben

Hello!  I'm sorry to hear this - it can be really stressful when money and need are at odds.  It's my job to comment on animals' needs - I am a vet, after all - and while I don't know very much about your dogs' individual case, I am conscious that I am not going to say what you want to hear. An irritated eye is often an emergency, so I can't safely say any more than that you need to contact your vet or (assuming you are in the UK, it now being Sunday evening) their emergency equivalents to be triaged.  Eye conditions can change really fast and are often true emergencies, so I cannot safely advise you to do anything else. Best of luck and please do let us know what happens next.

If you are in the UK, you might want to check out the PDSA, which is means-assessed charity care, who may be able to help.

I live in America. There are no places I can take him for free, everything is expensive here. And now I’m scared

It might be fine, but it might not (it is hard to know from here) and the way you can control the 'might nots' is to seek medical advice.  Vets often triage over the phone and will be able to tell you how much of an emergency they feel it is.  Best of luck.  

(I personally tend to see eye cases because of glaucoma / foreign body / ulcer possibilities).