I go the shivers reading your post. There are so many eerie similarities between your cat and my Fritz, who is now at the bridge.
Fritz was born on July 4, 1988. Shortly after we got him, he started vomiting, stopped eating, and the third eyelid popped out. I can distinctly rememember him seeking out heat and facing the wall, as well. Long story short, Fritz had a kinked intestine - I know there's a medical name for it, but it was explained to me as a kink. He was about 10 months old at the time and had to have a large portion of the (large) intestine removed.
He lived to be 16 years without any complications from his surgery as a kitten - BUT - he could have easily lived a longer, more pain free life.
When Fritz was about 10 years old, I noticed him straining and urinating in copious amounts. At the time I was about 18-19, a college student and lived at home. What does this have to do woth you and your cat? Well, I brought this to the attention of my mother, who was adamant that we let nature take its course. Those were her exact words. Eventually, he had to be treated for the horrible urinary tract infection he had. We took him to a crapshod vet who gave him Baytril and caused him to loose his vision - but thats another story.
My point is that the UTI never got under control and he had all sorts of $$$$$$$ complications from it. Because it wasn't treated early, it led to kidney disease, and eventually he died of renal failure ;o( He was in extreme amounts fo pain, and all because we let nature take its course.
Funny thing is, when my mother had a terrible cough, she also said those famous words - let nature take its course - and ended up with chronic bronchitis that nearly killed her.
When you let neature take its course, you may not end up with a dead cat, but a chronically ill and painful one. Most problems can be prevented or controlled with early vet treatment. If you wait, you also run the risk of skyrocketing vet bills, because not only do you have the underlying issues to deal with, but the complications that arise from it.
So ... when the third eyelid pops out in a cat, it always means extreme pain/fever/illness. In this cat's case it may just be an upper respitory infection as you describe sneezing and nasal discharge. You CANNOT just sit by and do nothing. His immune system is probably not up to par or entirely run down and incapable of fighting off infection. I live by a colony of feral cats and when nature takes its course with them, the ensuing result is a slow, drawn out, painful, agonizing death.
Please rush this cat to a vet ASAP! There are so many low cost vets and vets who work with payment plans that money doesn't have to be an issue!!!

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