Blocked Tear Ducts In Cats May 2026

This time, it was both eyes. Mochi would sit by the window, watching birds with a tragic, weepy expression, as if each sparrow’s song broke his heart. Sophie tried warm compresses. She tried gentle massage along the side of his nose. She even held him over a steamy bathroom shower, hoping to loosen whatever was stuck.

Sophie looked down at Mochi, who was busy licking his paw and wiping his own weepy face. He didn’t seem sad. He didn’t seem uncomfortable. He was just… Mochi. blocked tear ducts in cats

“Chronic inflammation,” Dr. Lian said. “His ducts are narrowing over time. Some cats just have this anatomy. We can flush them periodically, but… he might always be a leaky boy.” This time, it was both eyes

Sophie first noticed the problem when she went to kiss Mochi’s forehead. Instead of the usual soft, dry bump of fur, her lips met a damp, rusty streak beneath his left eye. She tried gentle massage along the side of his nose

Mochi, unbothered, blinked slowly. His right eye was clear and bright, a perfect amber marble. But the left one wept a constant, silent tear that matted the white fur around it into a brownish crust. She’d wipe it away with a warm cloth, and within an hour, the stain would be back.

The vet, Dr. Lian, explained it simply. “Blocked tear ducts. In flat-faced cats like your Mochi, the nasolacrimal duct—the tiny drainpipe that carries tears from the eye to the nose—sometimes gets kinked or clogged. The tears can’t drain, so they spill over.”

One afternoon, a neighbor came over and saw Mochi asleep in a sunbeam, his face streaked with brown.