Tears in animals perform the same physiological function as in humans. They protect the eyes from dust and foreign bodies. Therefore, tears should be present in your pet's eyes from time to time. It’s another matter if the eyes are constantly watering and the cat looks sad and sick. What to do in such cases and why the cat’s eyes are watery, you will learn from this article.
Causes: Why do cats have watery eyes?
So yours a pet constantly "cries".
Copious clear tears or an incomprehensible cloudy liquid flows from the cat’s eyes. There are many reasons for this condition - from debris and minor injuries to serious illnesses.
Under no circumstances should you let things take their course and think that everything will go away on its own. Your health depends on your decisive, timely actions. pet. First of all, you need to determine the reasons that caused watery eyes.
And then, if necessary, immediately contact a veterinary clinic.
Most common reasons pathologies:
Glaucoma in cats occurs due to increased intraocular pressure and impaired outflow intraocular fluid. The disease is characterized by lacrimation and photophobia. The eye or both affected organs are red and the pupil is dilated. The condition of the four-legged patient is depressed;
Features of some breeds
The flow of tears from the eyes, often found in purebred cats, is not at all the norm for them. Due to their physiological characteristics Persians, Scots, Britons and cats of some other breeds suffer from teary eyes more often. However, when proper care for your four-legged friend, his eyes will be clean and clear, like all healthy cats.
Why do Scottish cats have watery eyes?
Scottish fold cats have a specific skull structure. They have a short, snub-nosed muzzle. The tear ducts are very short. Therefore, whenever there is any irritation, tears flow easily from the eyes. If the discharge is clear and not very abundant, you should treat it as a breed characteristic and regularly care for your pet’s eyes.
U Persian cats their eyes water because with a very short muzzle they have large bulging eyes. This makes it easier for debris, dust and infection to enter. Long, very fluffy fur also “helps” the cat.
It should be noted that British cats are less susceptible to teary eyes than their other short-faced counterparts. The British have a more massive skull, well-developed cheekbones, and are not as snub-nosed.
But tearfulness still occurs in this breed, especially in small kittens.
It is necessary to take care of the eyes of babies. Wipe them daily with a swab moistened boiled water.
When should you go to the doctor?
Examine your animal carefully. If the discharge is clean, clear, and does not contain blood or pus, there is no need to worry. Your adult pet or little kitty At the same time, he behaves playfully and eats well, too. good sign. No treatment is required here, only proper care is required.
The situation when a cat's eyes water is quite common. This symptom indicates the presence of some external or internal irritant. A cat's tears are especially noticeable after sleep, when the tear fluid dries in the corners of the eyes, but this is normal. If the discharge is too abundant, it is also accompanied by additional symptoms, then you need to pay due attention to this. Owners need to establish the cause of this phenomenon and prevent the development of a serious illness in their pet.
Causes of lacrimation
If your cat's eyes are watery, there can be a variety of reasons. Perhaps some substance has entered the organ foreign body. This likelihood is especially high if the animal has tears flowing from only one eye. In this case, the pet behaves restlessly, rubs its muzzle and blinks both eyes.
Trauma also leads to similar behavior. Damage can occur accidentally if the pet bumps into a sharp object. Often this becomes a consequence of a skirmish with fellow tribesmen. If one eye is open, and the other is constantly blinking and watering, then with a high degree of probability we can talk about the presence of mechanical damage. But if both eyes water at once, then the list of possible causes expands significantly:
- Some infectious diseases can cause excessive tears. The most dangerous of them are calcivirosis and herpes virus. Such diseases do not go away on their own and require immediate treatment.
- Tears in a cat can be caused by inflammation of the organs of vision, for example, conjunctivitis or iritis. Inflammatory processes can flow onto adjacent tissues. First, in an adult cat or kitten, one eye becomes watery, and then the second one is affected.
- Some individuals have congenital pathology, not dangerous, but unpleasant. The eyelashes are curled towards the eye. Owners of the Sphynx and Rex breeds often encounter this situation. Constant friction is accompanied unpleasant sensations and tearfulness. To correct such a mistake of nature, a simple surgical operation is used.
- There are cat breeds that have an innate tendency to watery eyes. Among these we can note Persian cat and some other breeds that are characterized by short muzzles. But if an animal of one of these breeds, in addition to watery eyes, there are other alarming symptoms, then you need to check your pet to rule out others possible reasons such phenomena.
Why do my kitten’s eyes water if no disease is found? The reason may be allergic reaction, from which cats suffer just like people. The most common things can cause allergies in your furry pet: various substances: from feed and detergents to house plants and insect bites. Often the root cause of allergies is worms. Helminths themselves are not capable of causing allergies, but the toxins they secrete often act as an allergen.
How to help your pet?
What to do if your cat has profuse, prolonged lacrimation? Treatment is impossible without a correct diagnosis, so a visit to the veterinarian cannot be avoided. First of all, fluid from the conjunctival sac is taken for analysis. An important point in determining the cause of the disease is the owner’s data on the animal’s behavior. The cat is also examined for infectious diseases. Once it is determined exactly why the cat is crying, you can begin the appropriate treatment.
One of the most common causes of cat lacrimation is conjunctivitis.
Inflammation of the conjunctiva may be preceded by infectious diseases, corneal injury or irritation of the mucous membrane of the organ of vision chemicals. If your cat's tears are flowing and her eyelids are noticeably inflamed, then we can most likely talk about conjunctivitis. No treatment of this disease leads to the transition of the disease to chronic form. A dangerous complication is purulent form, in which the cat’s eye turns red and the animal’s temperature rises. The most common drugs for treating this disease are:
- Taufon;
- Sofradex;
- Tetracycline;
- Tsiprovet.
Lacrimation with calcivirosis is only one of the symptoms.
The virus affects respiratory system and often poses a threat to the cat's life. If a cat has a watery eye, while he is coughing and breathing heavily, then there is a high probability of having calcivirosis. The disease is extremely contagious, difficult to treat and often accompanied by complications:
- pneumonia;
- arthritis;
- indigestion.
The drug Fosprenil is widely used to treat the disease. Therapy is supplemented and symptomatic treatment, since the disease is quite difficult for animals to tolerate. It is necessary to treat eyes and mouth ulcers.
If a little kitten's tears flow?
What to do if your kitten has excessive lacrimation? It is obvious, excessive discharge that should be alarming, since for small kittens slight moisture in the organs of vision is the norm. In this case, the eyes should be clean, without crusts in the corners of the eyes. But if they look cloudy, and the discharge is too abundant, then such manifestations need to be taken more carefully.
If one eye does not open, you need to check your pet for injuries and foreign objects in the eyeball. Often, due to their inexperience and curiosity, kittens stumble upon various objects that come their way. If the baby's eye is watering, then you need to carefully examine the organ. The foreign body must be removed carefully without damaging the eyes. It is better to do this together so that the little patient does not cause himself even more harm by involuntary movement of his head.
If the kitten has caused an injury to itself, it will be noticeable as a red area in 1 eye. Minor injuries degrees can quickly heal on their own, and more severe cases can threaten the animal's vision. But only a specialist can determine the severity of the damage, so if the eye is watering due to injury, then you need to show your pet to a veterinarian.
If the animal did not damage the eye, then why might the kitten's eyes water? The reason for this may be too bright lighting, strong odors, or simply a weakened immune system. In the latter case, the kitten will have pathogenic microorganisms in its body, in which tears can flow almost continuously. In addition, do not forget about all the diseases that cause lacrimation in adults. Little kittens are susceptible to them in the same way as their adult relatives.
The eyes are one of the most vulnerable organs from birth. The problem can occur not only in children, but also in older cats. There can be several causes of watery eyes in kittens; often this is a sign of some disease. If you notice this problem in your pet, you need to take him to the vet. Why do the kitten’s eyes water, what to do in this case and how to help him? Only a specialist can accurately answer these questions.
Cats, if they are healthy, generally do not have excessive tearfulness or discharge from the eyes. There may be several reasons why a cat's eyes are watery:
What else to pay attention to
In addition to tearfulness, the owner may observe swelling in his pet's eyes, discharge from them, or dried crusts. The animal may be lethargic and hide from the light. If it is tormented, it rubs its eyes with its paws, which can injure them even more. The owner should also be alert to dullness of the eyes, changes in their color, excessive bulging or, conversely, hollowness. It is recommended to show the animal to a veterinarian at the first symptoms in order to begin treatment on time and avoid serious complications.
Diagnosis and treatment
What to do if a kitten has watery eyes, how to treat it? As soon as the owner notices increased tearfulness in his pet, he can rinse his eyes with boiled water or tea. The veterinarian can find out the reason for this phenomenon by talking with the owner and based on the results of some tests. To make an accurate diagnosis, it is sometimes necessary to take swabs from conjunctival sac. If worms are suspected, an animal's stool sample is taken for examination.
If a kitten has watery eyes and conjunctivitis is detected, you can rinse with a weak solution of furatsilin or potassium permanganate, or chamomile decoction. It should be taken into account that it is necessary to rinse not only the diseased eye, but also the healthy one, to prevent the disease. There should be a separate cotton swab for washing for each eye. For the bacterial form of the disease, you can use medicinal ointments, which are applied up to 3 times a day.
If the eye is injured, before contacting a doctor, the owner can rinse the pet with saline solution and then treat it with 1% tetracycline ointment. If the eye is swollen or increased in size after an injury, the cornea should not be allowed to dry out. To do this, you need to drip clean water into it every 5 minutes. warm water. If a foreign body has entered the organ, the doctor injects the animal with an anesthetic before removing it. Then the eyelid is turned outward and the procedure is performed using tweezers.
If the cause of increased tearing is a disease such as ulcerative blepharitis, then some areas of the eyelids will need to be cauterized, after which they will be lubricated with antibiotic ointment. Entropion of the eyelids will have to be treated surgically, to prevent suppuration, the eyelids are treated with an antiseptic.
To prevent your pet from experiencing increased tearfulness in one eye or two at once, the owner can worry about this by carrying out simple preventive measures. Already with early age Little kittens need help and daily care for their eyes. You can wash them simply with boiled water or tea or use with a special drug"Diamond Eyes" This remedy should be instilled twice a day, 2 drops in each eye. In order for the eyes to be as open as possible, the kitten must be held by the scruff of the neck with its head raised up. After instillation, be sure to lightly wipe the eyes with a clean cotton pad so that the kitten does not scratch them.
It is useful for a healthy kitten or adult cat to wipe their eyes once a day with a clean cloth soaked in water. This will relieve them from souring and dry crusts that may appear after sleep. Wiping should be done carefully, without pressing, from the outer corner to the inner. Decoctions from medicinal herbs, for example, chamomile, calendula, sage or St. John's wort.
Daily care of your pet's eyes should be carried out before each use. medicines prescribed by a doctor. If washing and prescribed treatment for several days does not give a visible positive effect, you must contact the veterinary clinic again.
How to treat the animal, the dosage and duration of use of medications, the doctor reports in each special case. The owner can only provide first aid to his pet to alleviate his suffering. You must be attentive to the health of your pet.
The animal's body, like the human body, signals problems and failures. If your cat has water in one eye, squints it, looks sick, and refuses to eat, you should immediately contact a veterinarian. He will tell you what to do at home, what medications and how to give them in order to restore your pet’s health and prevent his blindness.
If the cat long time one or both eyes are watery, present brown discharge or with a whitish tint - this is a manifestation of several serious diseases at once. Along with them, the animal also exhibits other signs of pathology:
- severe itching (the cat constantly rubs its eyes with its paws);
- lethargy and poor appetite;
- redness of the whites;
- increased body temperature;
- photophobia and swelling of the eyelids;
- dried crusts and hair loss in the corners of the eyes.
Pathological discharge may change its character. At first they are liquid and transparent, and after a day they are already thick and with pus, then they pass, then they appear with renewed vigor. If one of your cat's eyes is watery, swollen and squinting, you should not delay your visit to the veterinary clinic. Timely measures will completely relieve your pet from suffering and restore his vision.
Natural causes of tearing
Sometimes a domestic cat's eye becomes swollen for a short time, does not open, and waters. This is quite a normal situation after sleep. It is enough to rinse it with warm brewed black tea or running water. Abundant transparent tears often appear in purebred long-haired pets. Their tear ducts are irritated by their long fur. To prevent the animal from suffering, it must be periodically combed, the hair on its face trimmed, and the eyelids treated with special drops.
A little lacrimation is considered normal among Scots, Persians and british cats. These breeds "cry" because anatomical features cranium. They have shortened nasal and tear ducts. Watery eyes usually do not cause discomfort to your pet. All that is required from the owner is hygienic treatment and observation. If the cat’s eye is already swollen and very watery, pus has appeared - these are symptoms of an infectious process.
Painful tearing
Experienced breeders know that if a cat has one eye watering for a long time, this is a sign of a serious pathology:
- An allergic reaction often causes swollen eyelids in pets and excessive tear production. It is triggered by various allergens: pollen, household chemicals, cosmetics, especially aerosols, new food with additives, tobacco smoke, poplar fluff or household dust. The pet's eyes become red, frequent sneezing and scabies appear. To save him from suffering, they are treated with antihistamines and, if possible, protect the pet from contact with irritants.
- Chemical or thermal burns eyelids and corneas. Pets get such injuries if household chemicals, all kinds of solvents, dyes, and varnishes come into contact with their faces. Before sending to the veterinarian, you need to find out what solution the pet was burned with - alkaline or acidic. If alkali gets into your cat's eyes, wash them with an aqueous solution at home. boric acid, and if the eyelids are burned by acid, a soda solution is suitable. When you don’t have such products at hand, it’s enough to rinse the face with plain tap water.
- Foreign objects. If your cat's eye is red and watery, it could be a piece of hard food, a splinter of wood, a speck of sand, or sand. They rupture the membranes of the eyelid, cause inflammation, swelling, and activate the production of tear fluid. To remove foreign objects, the pet's eyes are washed with running water and then wiped with an antibiotic solution. If the cornea is seriously damaged, independent actions can only cause harm and cause complete blindness.
- Injuries. Very often, if several mature cats live in a house, clashes and fights occur, as a result of which the pets injure each other’s eyelids with their claws. It often happens that a cat's red eye becomes watery after a walk. He could have been injured by a dry branch on a tree or a stem in the grass.
Important! In any case, if pathological symptoms appear in a pet, a veterinarian examination is necessary. He will examine the cornea and determine the extent of damage to the eye. If conjunctivitis is suspected, an analysis of the eye fluid will be required to determine the causative agent - fungi, bacteria or viruses. In special cases, an ultrasound of the eyes and patency tests are performed tear ducts, ophthalmoscopy.
Treatment at home
When infectious eye diseases are detected in cats, they are prescribed instillations and rinses. aqueous solutions antibiotics:
- Sofradex;
- Sulfacyl sodium;
- Kanamycin;
- Levomycetin.
In this case, not only the affected eye is treated, but also the second one, even if it looks healthy. Apply an antibiotic ointment (for example, tetracycline) 2-3 times a day and wipe the eyelids with Furacilin solution. With severe swelling of the eyelids and severe pain V eyeball The animal is injected with a solution of hormones (hydrocortisone and novocaine). Such procedures are carried out in a hospital.
If a foreign body gets into the pet's eye, the veterinarian removes it with a cotton swab, injection needle or tweezers, and then injects an anesthetic into the eyeball.
Excessive tearing caused by an allergen is treated with antihistamines and hormonal ointments.
As additional remedies to basic medications, some cat owners use tinctures and decoctions of beneficial herbs. For example, sage, chamomile, St. John's wort, calendula. They wash your pet's eyes twice a day. The procedures help get rid of pus, stop inflammation, and heal affected mucous membranes. Instead of herbal recipes, it is allowed to use strong brewed black tea or a weak solution of manganese.
Disease Prevention
To prevent cats from having watery or inflamed eyes, it is necessary to carry out deworming on time, undergo systematic veterinary examinations, and vaccination. It is important to follow the rules of hygiene: cut the animal’s hair, comb out its fur, bathe it, clean its eyes and ears. When the first symptoms of the disease appear, it is better to play it safe and take your pet to the veterinary clinic rather than self-medicate.
It's not uncommon for pet lovers to find that their cat's eyes are watery. Attentive owners, of course, will immediately want to rid their pet of this problem. So why do my cat's eyes water and what can I do about it?
What to do first?
First, you need to calm down. If a small foreign object gets on the eyeball, it can cause one of the cat's eyes to water. Fluffies love to roll around on the floor, where tiny particles are almost inevitably present. If dust or hair gets on the surface of the eye, then an unconditioned protective reflex is triggered. The lacrimation increases and foreign object washed out. Most likely, the cat will cope with this problem on its own, but you can help it by simply washing it with warm boiled water. You need to drip water so that it flows from the outer corner of the eye to the inner one.
This makes it easier to wash foreign particles from the surface of the eyeball.
Often, a cat may accidentally touch the sclera while washing. This may also be the reason why your cat's eye is watering. In these cases, you need to observe the animal for at least several hours. If tearfulness is caused by these reasons, and the cornea is not damaged, then it will soon go away on its own.
Other external reasons
Why else do cats have watery eyes? As you know, cats are territorial animals. Therefore, they zealously defend their territory and the cats living on it from other cats. Often cats fight fiercely. During a fight, animals can damage their eyes. Besides, mechanical damage may occur when running through bushes or colliding with a foreign object. Such reasons are confirmed by the presence of other injuries in the cat. Mild damage to the cornea may only result in excessive tearing. But in order to avoid the development of complications in this case, it is better to show the animal to a veterinarian. If necessary, he will prescribe anti-inflammatory drops or drops that enhance the regeneration of eye tissue.
Why do my cat's eyes water? This phenomenon can be caused by too bright light. By nature, cats are nocturnal animals. The visual system of cats is designed in such a way that they can see perfectly in the dark. But even in the light sunny day cats see well. However, the bright light from fluorescent lights causes them to squint, and irritation from too much light can cause your cat's eyes to water. Bright light is also harmful to humans visual system. Therefore, it is worth making sure that the lighting at home is comfortable for both the owners and their pets.
Causes of lacrimation in kittens
What to do if a kitten's eyes are watery? If the kitten has tears in its eyes after sleep, in this case there is no need to worry too much. In kittens, clear discharge is not a symptom of any pathology. This happens only because the kitten has not yet learned to properly and regularly care for its eyes.
The anatomical features of the skull of some cat breeds, such as the British Fold, Persian, which are expressed by shortened lacrimal ducts, are the reason that cats of these breeds have watery eyes throughout the first year of their life. By the time the shape of the skull is finally formed, lacrimation, as a rule, stops.
Another cat breed is characterized by increased tearfulness. Don Sphynxes often have a genetically inherited anomaly - entropion of the eyelids. This deviation causes the cilia to constantly scratch the surface of the cornea, causing a foreign body effect. This is why a cat of this breed has constantly running eyes. This problem is eliminated by the surgical method.
Experienced owners know that kittens must be wormed for the first time before the age of one month.
Diseases that cause lacrimation in cats
Tearing is normal physiological process, characteristic of all healthy animals. Normally, it is almost invisible. Only after the animal sleeps can small discharge be detected in the corners of the animal’s eyes. But if a cat has been watering in one eye or both for quite a long time, then the reasons may not be so harmless.
If a cat's eyes are running, and at the same time the pet is sneezing and coughing, then this may be a symptom of a cold. You can catch a cold in cold weather; wool that gets wet during rain cannot warm the animal, and a cold draft is an additional factor that increases the risk of a cold. A cat with a cold, in addition to watery eyes, coughing and sneezing, has the following symptoms:
- lethargy;
- lack of appetite;
- hot and dry nose;
- runny nose;
- elevated temperature.
It happens that only one eye of a cat is watery.
The cause of this phenomenon may be an eye disease such as keratitis or conjunctivitis. This bacterial inflammation is treated with special eye drops, which contain an antibiotic wide range actions. In severe cases, your veterinarian may prescribe antibiotic injections. If a cat's eye is watering, but the animal feels well and does not refuse to eat, treat it with Anandin, Tsiprovet, Bars, Iris or Diamond Eyes drops. These drugs have an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, and it is quite possible that several treatments will solve the problem. If pus is flowing from the eyes, local treatment you can use special eye ointments, such as Tetracycline or Levomycetin. But in any case, when pathological discharge from the eyes of a cat, the animal must be shown to a veterinarian. He will show you how to properly treat a watery eye, determine the cause of the disease and prescribe effective treatment.
