Sometimes a cat may experience increased tearing for no apparent reason. Before visiting the veterinarian, you should not try to give the animal any medications - it will be more difficult to diagnose.
What is the reason why a cat may have watery eyes? For any cat, severe watery eyes will not be the norm. When assessing the general condition of a pet or choosing a kitten to carry it home, you must definitely pay attention to the eyes - if they are watering.
The question why the cat “burst into tears” can only be answered by a veterinarian, and even then after the examination and tests are done.
Possible causes of tears
Most often, cats have watery eyes due to the following reasons:
- The conjunctiva is irritated by dust, acrid smoke, household chemicals.
- Allergic reaction to pollen, food. Any substance can cause an allergic reaction, and this possibility should not be ruled out even if the animal has never suffered from allergies.
- Injuries, microtraumas resulting from a scratch, impact, hit of a foreign object. At the same time, only one eye will water in the cat - the one that suffered, while the second should look absolutely healthy. In addition, the eye may water due to a blow to the head - it is necessary to examine the ears, back of the head and jaws of the cat.
- Congenital or acquired blockage of the tear ducts. If the lacrimal canal is completely closed, surgery will be required. If this is noticed at an early stage, special massage and medication can help with the obstruction of the lacrimal canals.
- Congenital or acquired volvulus of the eyelids - in this case, the eyelid is turned inward with cilia, and the conjunctiva is injured by hairs. Only surgical intervention will help here.
- Bacterial, viral, fungal infections. Sometimes it seems to cat owners that if the symptoms are not serious, then the disease is not serious. This is not true - you can ponder for a long time why a cat has tears from its eyes, and the reason is in the pathogenic microflora. Most viral infections are chronic and asymptomatic.
- The cause of discharge from the eyes can even be parasites - fleas, worms. To avoid this, it is recommended to regularly treat the animal from parasites.
Veterinarian assistance
To find out the reason why a cat may have watery eyes, the doctor may ask the following questions:
- when lacrimation began, what tear discharge looks like;
- whether the animal suffers from chronic diseases, whether vaccinations have been made;
- what changes were in the diet over the last month;
- are there any other symptoms of the disease.
You can help your cat a little before visiting the veterinarian by wiping the eyes with a damp piece of gauze (cotton wool is not used due to the possibility of separating irritating fibers).
The doctor will prescribe a drug for treating the eyes, depending on what the test results will be.
