Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment for Watery Eye Cat

Watery eye cat is known as epiphora is a condition which causes the abnormal overflow of tears in the cat. This kind of condition usually see from the brachycephalic breeds like Persians and Himalayans, so if you have one of those species, you should know what you should do while your pet has this sign of watery eye. The watery eye also connected to the other two congenital abnormalities like entropion and distichiasis. Both are the conditions which the eyelashes or eyelids turn inward causing the irritation to their eyeball.

Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment for Watery Eye Cat
Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment for Watery Eye Cat

If your cat has allergies, viral infection or similar to a common cold, or a foreign object trapped into their eye, they eyes will become watery for a temporary period. Meanwhile, if your cat’s eyes have been watery since their birth or get watery extended for a long time, you have to go the veterinarian to check it to what kind of problem they had.

To notice whether your cat’s eye get this watery problem or not, you should notice some symptoms which can help you in treating them well. The common symptoms are:

  • Reddish or brown staining on your cat’s face below their eyes
  • Ulceration of their cornea
  • Droopy skin around their eyes orbit
  • Eye discharge
  • Inflammation of their eyes
  • Scratching of their eyes
  • Squinting
  • Red eyes

If your cat has one or more those symptoms, you should know how you should do, but if your cat has good health, you should know the causes of these watery eye cat problems. The causes of this problem are various, such as:

  • Distemper
  • Parasites
  • Trapped foreign elements
  • Facial bone fractures
  • Scratches
  • Trauma
  • Glaucoma
  • Squamous Cell Carcinoma
  • Eyelid tumors
  • Entropion, the turning inward of their eyelashes
  • Distichiasis, the irregular growth of their eyelashes
  • Tear duct blockage
  • Feline Leukemia Virus
  • Feline Infectious Peritonitis
  • Feline Immunodeficiency Virus

For those cases, there are some treatments which will help you in curing the watery eye based on the causes itself. The treatments are:

  • Removal the foreign thing which is trapped in their eyes
  • Using antihistamine treatment for managing their allergies
  • Using topical antibiotics for infection treatment
  • Use the pain alleviating ointments to aid the healing process of congenital abnormalities, conjunctivitis, and trauma
  • Use catheter for the tear duct blockage case to open the duct and allow the fluid to pass
  • Surgical repair of their eyelid for the abnormal eyelid formation like entropion
  • Removing hairs using a cryosurgery for distichiasis
  • Surgically removed for eyelid tumors

Those are the treatments you should do if your cat has certain causes of water eye problem. To ensure what kind of causes of the watery eye in your cat, you should go to the veterinarian to know further about it. Let them diagnose and make the perception of your cat’s problem. You should ensure that the problem of watery eye cat has the best treatment for your own pet.

See also Iris Eye Exam