Watery eye

Question
Hi Jana, I read your bio clearly and understand you're not a vet.  BUT, if you could let me know if my cat should be seen, I'd appreciate it.

I have a five year old male cat who has a watery eye.  It's not that usual, but it's persisted off and on for a couple days now.  He's definitely not agitated and seems to be behaving normally.  He's eating, drinking, and playing.  The eye waters, he squints around for a while, and then clear liquid with a teensy bit of very light yellow matter emerges.  He lets me look at the eye, and I don't see any hair or foreign objects in there.  It isn't red at all, and he doesn't seem to give it any more attention than normal.  I've tried a couple warm compresses and that seems to improve things for a few hours, but then it gets watery again.

Does this warrant a trip to the vet, or should I keep on with the compresses?  Would saline solution be beneficial?  

Thanks much!

Amy

Answer
Cats just seem to get these Amy. This is how I look at my own cats when they do this:

I watch it for a couple of days. If it resolves by then and hasn't produced a pronounced half shut eye or squint, it probably was a hair in it under the third eyelid.

If it gets red, puffy or swollen, it's an immediate trip to the vets. That can be anything from an infection to a sticker in the third eyelid.


Some cats get stuff under that third eyelid and you just can't see it but if he scratches the surface of the eye it can also cause this watery, blinking and can get infected.

They can also get stuff in their tear ducts which will then clog and cause this same thing you are seeing.

Since it's been more than two days I'd take him in. Eyes can get nasty looking very quickly and I never mess with any eye problems for my own cats. I get them right in.

Hope that helps!