Cat with sudden third eyelid showing and vision trouble at 1 year

Abstract

Haw's syndrome is a common disease in cats, without sexual distinction, occurring in young animals, and is characterized by acute bilateral protrusion of the third eyelid, due to an inadequate anatomical position of the autosomal sympathetic innervation and when the smooth muscle tone becomes reduced or absent, its development is idiopathic and may be associated with viral infections. The aim of this work is to report the case of an 1-year-old cat, taken by the tutor to the veterinary care due to visual and hunting difficulties, presenting bilateral protrusion of the third eyelid at the ophthalmic examination and without other systemic signs. For diagnostic conduct, the instillation of sympathomimetic agent was adopted, with 1 drop of 10% phenylephrine eye drops in both eyes, after waiting 20 minutes, the return of the third eyelid to the medial corner was observed, leading to the diagnostic confirmation of Haw’s syndrome. It is worth mentioning that changes in the post-ganglionic sympathetic system tend to respond to sympathomimetic medications in an average period of 20 minutes, as observed in this case. It is concluded that Haw's syndrome is an extremely important affection in the ophthalmic clinic of young felines, causing discomfort to the animal, due to the difficulty of seeing what also causes trouble for the tutor. Therefore, in cases of Haw Syndrome, is of great relevance a differential diagnosis made with other pathologies that present similar clinical signs, for a correct diagnosis and successful therapeutic conduct, providing life quality to the animal as observed in the presented case.