Author: Katie Grzyb, DVM

Do Cats Blink to Protect Their Eyes? A cat’s third eyelid can also extend upward to protect their eyeball from trauma. For example, when a cat moves through tall grass, or when a cat is capturing prey, their third eyelid elevates to avoid scratching their cornea. One school of thought is that the membrane of this eyelid is thin enough for cats to be able to see through it, which gives them an advantage when hunting prey. Featured image: iStock.com/tzahiV,WRITTEN BYKatie Grzyb, DVM Veterinarian Dr. Katie Grzyb received her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Ross University in 2009. She continued her clinical training at…,Most of a cat’s day is spent sleeping, so naturally their eyes are completely closed during that time. But what about when they’re not napping? Do cats blink like we do? How can you tell if your cat is blinking or squinting, or if something is in their eye? When your cat blinks, does it mean something else is going on, or that your cat is trying to communicate with you? Do Cats Blink to Clear Their Eyes? Cats do indeed blink, just like their human counterparts, though their eyelid movements and biology differ from ours in many ways. Cats have both upper and lower eyelids that cover and protect their eyes. When a cat blinks, both upper and lower eyelids move toward each other, but they don’t usually completely close like ours do. Instead, it may look like your cat is squinting. Cats also have a third eyelid, called a nictitating membrane, that helps with tear production through special glands located in the membrane. The nictitating membrane is pink and located in the inside corner of the eye, under the upper and lower eyelids. This membrane is very thin and can move very quickly. When a cat blinks, partially closing their upper and lower lids, the nictitating membrane moves diagonally across the eye very quickly. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to see the membrane moving. Instead, it may simply look like your cat is squinting. These three eyelids work together to protect your cat’s eyes, but blinking in cats doesn’t serve the same purpose it does in humans. When we blink, our eyelids spread tears to keep the eye surface moist and remove debris. Cats, however, don’t blink to remove tears. Instead, their tears evaporate after particles are removed from the eye. This allows cats to get the benefits of blinking without ever fully closing their eyes.

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Treatment for Cats That Are Peeing Blood Treatment of hematuria depends on the underlying cause. When a male cat becomes blocked and cannot urinate, unblocking their urethra under sedation is necessary. This requires hospitalization, often for one or two nights, to monitor urination. Some urinary tract stones can be dissolved with prescription diet changes while others require surgical removal. Surgery often requires at least one to two nights in the hospital for pain control and close monitoring. Urinary tract infections are treated with antibiotic therapy, which is often decided by a urine culture and additional testing. These do not usually require hospitalization. Kidney infection that causes elevations in kidney enzymes or severe dehydration often requires hospitalization with fluid therapy and intravenous antibiotics for several days. Cancer often requires surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy for remission or improvement. Systemic diseases such as chronic kidney disease will need management and therapy with fluids, diet changes, and often supplements. These systemic diseases require diagnosis and therapy to clear up the blood in the urine, and hospitalization depends on how bad the symptoms are. The most common cause of blood in the urine in cats, FIC, is treated in several ways. Decreased stress in the environment is the most important point of therapy, since stress is the major cause of this condition. Fluid therapy, pain medications, anti-spasm medications for the urethra, and sometimes behavior modification medications are used for treatment of this condition.  Unfortunately, even with the proper therapy, blood can continue or recur in the urine. If this occurs, lifelong management changes may be necessary and will need to be discussed with your veterinarian.,Preventing Blood in Cat Urine Hematuria prevention is tailored to the underlying cause. Any cat with urinary tract issues, especially if they are frequent and recurring, can be helped with environmental and diet changes. Low-Stress Environment Cats with FIC need to be in a low-stress environment. Giving your cat a quiet room to stay in, their own food and water bowls, and their own litter box and toys are all helpful if they are experiencing anxiety. The rule of thumb should be one litter box per cat and an additional litter box in the household (for example: if you have three cats, you should have four litter boxes). Encourage Play High perches and plenty of stimulating toys can be helpful to reduce stress levels in the home. Keeping litter boxes and beds away from loud machines such as clothes dryers or dishwashers  is also helpful, along with keeping the litter boxes and beds clean. Cats are neat animals and they can get stressed out by a dirty litter box. Diet It is important to ensure that your cat is eating a well-balanced cat food based on their life stage. Cats with urinary tract inflammation are often eased onto prescription diets that can help maintain a normal urine pH. These include: Hill’s® C/D Multicare Stress Cat Food Royal Canin® Urinary SO Dry Cat Food Canned food is also preferred over dry kibble because of its higher moisture content.,Hematuria, or bloody urination, can be terrifying when you are uncertain what caused it in your cat. Bright red blood can be seen in the urine of cats for multiple reasons, ranging from bacterial infection to general inflammation from stress. Diagnosis of the underlying cause of the hematuria is necessary to start the right treatment for your cat.

Can a Cat Die From a Seizure? Deaths from seizures in cats are not common. Most often, fatalities come from untreated status epilepticus, toxin ingestion that causes other metabolic abnormalities, or chronically low blood sugar that leads to a ketotic state, where the body burns fat instead of sugar. Certain infections such as feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), which is often fatal, may also cause seizures, but the deaths are usually not caused by the seizure itself.,How Vets Find the Cause of a Cat’s Seizures Testing for extracranial causes of seizures is much easier than testing for intracranial causes. The only way to thoroughly image the brain and its surrounding tissues is via MRI, which can be expensive for pet parents. Thus, your veterinarian will start by ruling out extracranial causes first. This testing includes: Full bloodwork to investigate any bone marrow, kidney, liver, or gastrointestinal diseases Urine testing to look for signs of infection or kidney disease Taking your cat’s blood pressure to check for hypertension Infectious disease testing to rule out viral infections (such as FIP, FIV, feline leukemia), bacterial infections, parasitic infections (Toxoplasmosis), or fungal infections such as Cryptococcus Abdominal imaging through x-rays or ultrasound to further stage chronic diseases such as kidney disease, liver disease, or cancer Intracranial disease is often confirmed or ruled out with an MRI. This allows imaging of the brain and the meninges (tissues surrounding the brain). Often, a sample of spinal fluid is obtained to help rule out certain infectious diseases and assess for inflammation.,A seizure is defined as a sudden, controlled electrical disturbance in the brain that can lead to behavioral changes and a change in levels of consciousness. Seizures of any kind are frightening to watch, especially when they happen to our feline friends. In general, seizures themselves are usually not life-threatening unless they are violent or prolonged. Seizures can occur for many reasons in cats. They can either be intracranial, meaning they’re caused by factors inside the brain, or extracranial, meaning they’re caused by factors outside of the brain. Most seizures are symptoms of an underlying condition inside or outside the brain. Epilepsy, for example, is a disorder of the brain that causes repeated seizures from an unknown cause when there’s no obvious brain injury. Unlike the human and canine worlds, epilepsy is a rare condition in cats. That’s why it’s important to investigate all possible causes of seizure activity in cats to appropriately treat them before simply arriving at a diagnosis of epilepsy.  Types of Cat Seizures Many people who are unfamiliar with seizures probably picture full-body shaking, foaming at the mouth, and loss of consciousness. Although this is common in cats, seizures can also exhibit different symptoms, and not all of them are obvious or violent. From most common to least, the types of seizures in cats include: Focal Seizures/Partial Motor Seizures: These types of seizures are the most common in cats and only affect a focused part of the brain, leading to localized body effects, depending on which part of the brain is affected. There is usually no loss of consciousness, although the cat may seem dazed. These are usually nonviolent seizures that can be missed by pet parents as the signs are usually subtle—ear flicking and whisker, mouth, and eye twitching. Generalized Seizures/Grand Mal Seizures: This type of seizure leads to a loss of consciousness and total body function, causing tonic-clonic movements or convulsions. The entire body is affected since a larger area of the brain is often affected. Muscles in the body will move involuntarily and often drastically. Often, cats will clench their mouth, drool, urinate, or defecate during the seizure due to loss of normal body function. Psychomotor Seizures/Complex Partial Seizures: These types of seizures cause involuntary strange behaviors, including growling, violent chewing at the tail or skin, loud vocalization, or random racing spurts. These are similar to focal/partial motor seizures and are even sometimes considered a specific type of these seizures, as they do not affect consciousness. A well-known example of a psychomotor seizure is a “fly-biting” seizure because a cat will abruptly start chomping their mouth at the air as if trying to catch flies. The age when seizures start, seizure type, and frequency are considered patterns. Determining the type of seizure pattern can help determine diagnoses and treatments to administer.

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