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My cat's eye is watering, but she's fine. Should I wait to see a vet?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 12 years and 8 months old | 13 lbs

One of my cats eyes started watering a day and a half ago. She shows no symptoms of anything else. She is eating, playing and acting normal. She is indoor only (we do have another younger cat as well). Can I monitor it for a few days before bringing her to the vets or should we bring her in right away? Is there anything I can try at home like warm, wet clothes?

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on November 16th, 2017

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. I would say that based on the picture and your description, as long as the eye does not look reddened or inflamed and the discharge is not green or yellow then I would say waiting 2 or 3 days should be fine. If at the end of the two to three day time frame the discharge is still there and is not any better or is worse, then I would schedule an appointment with a veterinarian to have this looked at. The eye discharge could be from allergies, infection or trauma. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please feel free to contact me with any other questions you may have and I would be more than happy to answer any you may have.

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    Answered By Kevin Sanada, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on March 23rd, 2018

    This often happens with conjunctivitis (aka pink eye), but can happen if the outside of the eye gets scratched or there is a problem within the eye. Conjunctivitis can be caused by a few different infections, but is commonly caused by a virus that most cats harbor and comes out during times of stress. These infections can become complicated with bacterial infections though and cause more problems. If the eyes appear worse and/or have a lot of yellow/green discharge, then I would recommend taking her to the vet for an evaluation. They will be able to better inspect the eye and provide the most appropriate treatment. For now, you can flush the eye 3-4 times a day with saline (can get this at the pharmacy or supermarket in the eye care section) to help clean and soothe it. Below is a link to a good video that demonstrates how to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDGzdUTUdNI I hope that helps and Cap gets better soon.

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