# My cat's eye is twitching? Should I call the vet?



## lovelysarahg

Hi everyone,
I've had my cat now since August and generally haven't had any big problems with him. He's a 3 year old Siamese/Persian mix, a pretty mellow guy - maybe a little skittish with loud noises and new people, but that's not too big of a deal. The problem I am concerned with is his right eye seems to be twitching - it kind looks like he's trying to wink.
Now, I've been talking to my mom (a former ER nurse) about this, and she said that if he doesn't seem to be in any pain (he doesn't) and there's no discharge (none), I shouldn't worry too much. He's eating just fine, I've managed to get a good look at the eye and there isn't a scratch or any sign of pus. It almost seems like this a nervous habit of his - is that even possible for cats?
I'm still so worried something might be wrong He was doing this for a day or so about a month ago, but it stopped shortly after. This is my first cat - can anyone tell me if this is normal or should I take him to a vet?


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## Lady Stardust

My boy cat does this (same description, looks like he's winking at me) but he's 11 years old and has cataracts and the winking started around the time they started to show up.  At 3 years old though maybe it's allergies?


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## lovelysarahg

That's what my mom is saying, which kind of makes sense. I've been making a point to unplug the air fresheners I use when I'm not in the room (maybe the sprays are triggering it) and vacuuming the carpet as much as possible.
Still...I'm worried. It is good to hear that someone else's cat is doing this and sounds pretty healthy otherwise though.


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## Lady Stardust

Yeah Storm's perfectly fine he just has cataracts but he's an old man lol.  Once in a while he gets a little tear drop from his eye (the left one is worse than the right) but he doesn't mind, we just wipe it off.  One of my cats kittens use to wake up from her naps with crusty goo making it hard for her to open her eyes and she was just a little thing, I think she had allergies too


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## aklein

My Dante is nicknamed Twitchy for a reason.  His eye and part of his face twitch sometimes for up to a minute at a time.  He isn't in any pain and the vets can't really figure out what triggers the twitching.  They think he may have had an infection as a kitten that damaged his nerve development on that side of his face or he may have suffered some physical trauma as a kitten.


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## Straight-Laced

It doesn't sound like anything too urgent OP.  

The plug-in air freshener or frequent vacuuming (stirring up dust) may be bothering him though.
Cats are SUPER sensitive to fragrance, talc, sprays, chemicals etc, and given cats are only the size/weight of a newborn human baby, they have lower tolerance for these things than grown humans. 

My cats sneeze and blink a bit if I'm wearing face cream they don't like, and sunscreen in particular.  They also hate scented candles.
They're sensitive little critters


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## ILuvShopping

if it happens constantly for more than a day, maybe just call your vet and ask about it. maybe it's just like a human twitch, sometimes my eye will twitch for practically a whole day and then nothing. 

one of my cats went through a couple of days where his whole head would twitch. it didn't seem to bother him. he would just lay there and his head would twitch. or if i touch his neck in a certain area it would twitch. kinda freaked me out but it was only a short period of time and hasn't happened since. sort of reminded me of the older people who sort of have wobbly heads? not sure what else to call it as i'm not even sure what causes that in older age.


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## lovelysarahg

Thank you all so much, I feel a lot better!
I think I'm going to wait on calling the vet once it seems to get worse or he starts acting like he's in pain. Unfortunately, our house is so old that I think there will always be little bits of dust and whatever around, but I'm going to look into getting a natural/organic air freshener (if one exists) and vacuuming less.


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