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My kitten is about 8 months old, when we found her at 5 weeks old I was told she has under developed eye lids and I should regularly give her eye drops to keep her eyes hydrated. She also has some scar tissue on her eyes from being dirty as a baby. She squints a lot and her pupils don't seem to dilate when she looks at light. I know she's not blind but why does she have these vein-like tendrils coming from the colored part of her eye and touching the scar tissue on the front of her eye?

My kitten is about 8 months old, when we found her at 5 weeks old I was told she has under developed eye lids and I should regularly give her eye drops to keep her eyes hydrated. She also has some scar tissue on her eyes from being dirty as a baby. She squints a lot and her pupils don't seem to dilate when she looks at light. I know she's not blind but why does she have these vein-like tendrils coming from the colored part of her eye and touching the scar tissue on the front of her eye?

Updated On November 15th, 2019

Pet's info: Cat | American Longhair | Female | spayed | 8 months and 14 days old

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Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

Veterinarian

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It's hard to say for certain based on a picture alone, but it's possible that the vein like things you are seeing are synechiae, or areas where the iris attaches to the back of the cornea. This can happen with severe eye inflammation, usually due to the herpesvirus in kittens. It's also possible that she had an eye malformation at birth like persistent pupillary membranes. The final possibility would be that the veins are on the outer surface of the cornea and are a reaction to irritation of the eye. I would definitely recommend having Shadow examined by your vet if any of these signs are new.

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