Cat squinty eye

Yesterday I noticed my cat was squinting her left eye and has been getting more eye boogers than normal in that eye. I was waiting it out a little bit to see if it went away but it’s still happening today. My thought at first was maybe it got scratched somehow. Wondering if I need to take her in to be seen or if it’s something that might go away on its own. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hello - first of all, a 'squinty' eye is potentially an emergency.  Peices of grit in the eye, other foreign bodies, glaucoma and injuries all have the potential to cause excessive pain and blindness; these cases should directly be shown to a vet.

If you know how irritating it is to have something hurting an eye yourself, you will understand the importance of attending to these cases quickly.  If nothing else, a sore eye is likely to be scratched, potentially damaging the surface and worsening the condition.

So what could it be?  Trauma - a scratch to the surface (even a tiny one) a foreign body (even a tiny one) or direct injury are all possibilities.  There are also some anatomical changes that can affect eyes - a lash brushing against the globe's surface, for example, instead of growing in the usual direction, is known as entropion and can cause havoc.  Lumps to the surface and other awkward anatomy may be obseved, along with blockages to the tear-duct - for example, a lump or polyp in the nose.   In short then, there is a big range of changes that can affect the eye and tests are general needed in order to establish what is going on.  However, the squinting that you are describing implies pain, so I reiterate that this ought to be done quickly.

Of course, sometimes a cat gets some dust in its eye, which waters.  The water does its job and flushes out the spec, solving the problem.  I hope that this happens in evry case but please do not depend on it, because the list of other posibilities is long.

'Squinty eyes' are on the list of potential veterinary emergncies until they have been shown to be otherwise.