Cross-Eyed Cats!

Have you wondered why some cats seem to be cross-eyed? Is it because they are staring at you just a little too intensely?  Or are they just checking to see if you are actually paying attention to them?

Well, it turns out cross-eyed cats actually have a medical condition known as strabismus.  Strabismus describes the abnormal positioning or direction of the eyeball. Normally, the eyeball is held in place and moves from side to side and top to bottom under the influence of small muscles which attach directly to the eyeball. Occasionally one muscle may be longer or stronger than the muscle located on the opposite side. This causes the eyeball to veer off in an abnormal direction. One or both eyes may be affected. If both eyes deviate towards the nose, the cat is referred to as cross-eyed. Cross-eyed cats are just like any other cats, they just see life a little differently.

Cross-eyed cats inherit this condition, no treatment is recommended as the abnormality is generally a cosmetic problem which does not affect the quality of life.

There are a small percentage of cats that are cross-eyed as the result of nerve damage in the eye muscles. If a cat has a disease in the vestibular system, which helps the cat to retain his balance, the cat may experience a constant spinning sensation. In order to adjust to that, his eyes move abnormally.  This is not a cosmetic problem and should be seen by a veterinarian.

All and all, cross-eyed cats are beautiful animals that have no outwardly difference from other cats except their cosmetic disparity. 


Did you know that we have three beautiful wild cats with the cross-eyed condition?  Yep, we sure do!  Harley, Kaiya and Freddie are all cross-eyed and live normal lives at In-Sync Exotics!

Our white tigers are special tigers because they have several health issues they must overcome.  Did you know for instance, that when stressed or confused, all white tigers cross their eyes?  Now, not all of our white tigers look cross-eyed—Kazuri and Kiro  have normal looking eyes.

As it turns out, the white tiger cross-eyed condition is directly linked to the white gene and is not a consequent of inbreeding.  Unfortunately, white tigers cannot see as well as normal tigers and suffer from photophobia (light sensitive).

As to our cross-eyed cougar, Freddie, we have no idea whether this is a genetic issue or if he was injured prior to his arrival at In-Sync Exotics.

Bless Kiaya's heart, she is blind in one eye and cross-eyed in the other!  We don't know what happened to her eye only that she has a scar that extends across her nose coming from the corner of that eye.  Because her other eye is crossed it's sometimes difficult to tell what she's looking at since she seems to be looking about 10 feet to the left. 

When we questioned the previous owner as to what may have happened to her, the reply was that he just didn't know. 

Thankfully, Kaiya's vision problems don't seem to bother her at all.

We hope you enjoyed this posting on our cross-eyed cats.  As a reminder, we only have two days left, with February 29th as our last day, to donate towards our Big Cats Need Vaccinations!  Thanks to a kind donor last week, we are getting closer in meeting our goal of $1025!  We are short only $160!  Can you help us meet our goal today?  Yes?  Great!  Please visit our Razoo project HERE to make a generous gift. 

Thank you  to everyone who contributed towards our cats' vaccinations--we really appreciate your heart and dedication towards our cats' health care needs!

We hope you enjoyed today's blog posting.  Let us know what you think of our cross-eyed wild ones by clicking on the reaction buttons below and don't forget to share the blog with others by clicking on our share buttons!  Thank you!

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