What is epiphora?
Tears are the fluid secreted by the lacrimal gland outside the eyeball. Normally, the tear fluid is drained into the nasal cavity through the nasolacrimal duct. If there are too many tears, or the nasolacrimal duct is blocked, the tears cannot flow out of the nasal cavity and overflow the eyelids, which is called epiphoresis.
What causes epiphora?
Mostly due to abnormal location of the punctum: stenosis and occlusion of the punctum; or inflammation, tumor, trauma, foreign body, congenital atresia, drug toxicity and other factors, causing stenosis or obstruction of the lacrimal duct; or the lacrimal sac The surrounding orbicularis muscle relaxes, the function of the tear pump is reduced or lost, and the tear drainage is hindered, resulting in functional epiphora.
Why do tears turn brown?
Tears contain porphyrin, which is an iron-containing metabolic waste produced when red blood cells in the body rupture. Discoloration, especially when exposed to sunlight, can become darker.
Causes of cat’s tears:
Too much salt intake, giving cats human food
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Human food is high in salt for cats. Have you fed your cat human food recently? Give it a potato chip when you eat snacks, give it some meat when you eat, give it a piece of fish when you drink soup, and leave a piece of duck wings for it when you eat Zhou Hei Duck, and reflect on whether you have done anything similar .
If you have, stop these behaviors and give your cat more water, and the cat’s tear marks may disappear quickly.
The salt content of cat food or cat treats is too high
Some cat food or canned cat food itself contains excessive salt. cat food.
Get angry
The gallbladder meridian is stagnant and hot, causing nasal congestion and dry throat.
“The Origin and Syndrome of Various Diseases” points out that there are body fluids in the five viscera and six fu-organs, and those that pass through the eyes are tears. If the dirty qi is insufficient, the liquid cannot be treated, so the eyes naturally burst into tears.
Due to the recent intake of a large amount of meat, the content of iron porphyrin compounds in the body increased rapidly, and the increase in liver bile was limited in a short period of time, and the bile pigments could not be quickly excreted with the bile, resulting in the accumulation of bile pigments and the content of iron porphyrin compounds in the body. will also be high.
Sick
Infection of the ear canal
The face is interleaved with the auditory nerve and the face Nerves, when the ear canal is infected by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, or the ears are swollen, painful, and itchy, the cat will scratch frequently, affecting the trigeminal nerve and stimulating the secretion of the lacrimal gland. When too much tears cannot be discharged from the nasolacrimal duct , tears will form.
Blockage of the nasolacrimal duct
The nasolacrimal duct becomes inflamed and swollen due to infection, causing the nasolacrimal duct to be blocked or partially blocked, so that tears cannot flow from the nasolacrimal duct normally. When the tube is discharged, it will naturally overflow, which in turn will form unsightly tear marks.
Entropion
Entropion of the eyelid is the so-called inverted eyelashes, which will cause the eyelashes to irritate the cornea all the time. Seeing them appear watery can also cause very serious tear stains.
Lacrimal adenitis
It is mainly due to the infection of the lacrimal glands that secrete tears, resulting in abnormal secretion of tears, and the nasolacrimal duct is too late to discharge so many tears, resulting in the outflow of tears, which will also form over time. Ugly tears.
Feline nasal branch
Feline herpes virus causes infectious conjunctivitis and tracheitis, which can lead to tears And excessive secretion of eye mucus, nasal pus will also appear.
Unvaccinated cats develop tear streaks and nasal pus, and you need to pay special attention.
Genetic defect
Due to the breed, she was born with a short nose, the structure of the nasolacrimal duct is tortuous and narrow, and the tears cannot flow out of the nasal cavity. It is easy to cause tear stains. There are mainly some flat-nosed cat breeds. This situation is difficult to avoid and can only be cleaned up.
Air pollution
The content of dust or formaldehyde in cat litter
exceeds the standard.
Main cat litter varieties:
Fuller (mineral cat litter), spray clay, silicone , grass (pine sand, bamboo sand, grass sand, paper sand, etc.), coarse grain cat litter (tofu cat litter, corn cat litter, wheat sand, etc.) can produce dust, among which Fuller and bentonite cat litter are more dusty. Dust can cause abnormal tear secretion.
Formaldehyde pollution is also the cause of excessive tears in cats, and the content of formaldehyde in grass and cat litter is usually high. Cat litter should be chosen carefully.
How to reduce cat tears
Reduce salt intake
Control diet and reduce salt intake. At the same time, choose a cat food that is suitable for your cat, and try to eat less cat snacks of unknown quality.
Replenish water
Replenish water, create a suitable drinking environment for cats, and let cats drink water or supplement fluids actively. Cats drink enough water every day, which can speed up the excretion of metabolic waste and is not easy to appear Tears.
Taurine supplementation
Bile pigments are the main catabolites of iron porphyrin compounds in the body, including Bilirubin, biliverdin, bilirubinogen and bilirubin, etc., the most important of which is bilirubin.
These compounds are mainly excreted in bile. As an excretory fluid, bile acid can firstly promote the secretion of bile in the liver and accelerate the excretion of porphyrin through bile.
At the same time, taurine in the liver combines with bile acids to form taurocholic acid. Taurocholic acid can increase the solubility of lipids and cholesterol, relieve bile blockage, and reduce the cytotoxicity of some free bile acids. Inhibit the formation of cholesterol stones and increase bile flow, thereby reducing the porphyrin in tears to achieve the effect of removing tear stains.
This is the underlying principle of eliminating tear stains.
Sick
Consult an online licensed veterinarian, and if necessary, send it to a pet hospital for further diagnosis and treatment.
How to deal with cat tears?
Remove dyed hair
Depending on the severity of tear marks minus the hair near the tear marks, minor tear marks may not be cut,
Stubborn tear marks, use rounded scissors to carefully Cut the main dyed hair from the tear to prevent the cat from being cut by the scissors.
Cleaning of tear stains
For tear stains or dry eye stains, use a damp cloth or cotton swab to wipe,
If it is difficult to wipe, you can use boric acid solution or Vaseline wipe.
Be careful when scrubbing, don’t hurt them, and be careful not to contaminate your cat’s white fur with the boric acid solution.
After wiping, put cat-specific eye drops on the cat, which can improve the cat’s tear secretion.
Cleaning the ear
By the way, check the ear for inflammation or black, greasy discharge, which can be cleaned with a cotton swab dipped in ear lotion.
