There are many illnesses that are difficult for pet owners to assess in cats because our cats can't tell us how they are feeling. We can only watch and observe for changes in behavior and those looks on their faces or in their actions that say "I'm not doing well." One disease is glaucoma. Unlike other diseases that cause the eye to produce goop (herpes), or appear to be red and bloody (uveitis), or make the second lid appear (injury, other diseases), glaucoma may be impossible to detect at home. Your cat may paw extensively at the eye; may shake its head. Blood veins may appear pronounced as the disease in the eye is at its worst. The pupil may become dilated or fixed, not contracting as much as the other eye. But really-that could be anything. If you find your cat pawing at the eye, shaking its head, and especially if you do find goop running out, bloody eye, second lid coming down, take your cat to the vet. Your vet can check pressures, and put in drops to lower pressure. The cat would need drugs for the rest of its life to keep pressures low. Your cat doesn't have all of the same options humans have of various surgical techniques to lower pressure but some techniques can be deployed (including lens replacement which is what is done for cataract surgery.) Many cats face having eyes removed. Untreated glaucoma-for pets and humans-can lead to optic nerve damage and loss of vision. The increase in pressure will also make the cat sick-just as with humans-vomiting, dizziness, lack of eating, etc.
It may not be a bad idea to have pressures tested in your cat once a year or anytime you feel the cat is troubled by an eye.
None of our cats have glaucoma but we know humans who do and it can be difficult for humans to detect it in themselves-even if they have annual eye exams-as the symptoms for them appeared as headaches, spotty vision when they bent over and came up again, etc.-signs they and their doctor thought were simply related to sinus trouble. Until it wasn't.
This is separate from cataracts which will appear as a white or milky cover over the cat's eye as it grows.
