Answer: Humans have the distinction of being the only pieces to display their emotion by crying (and incidentally by laughing as well) , so although your cat won’t by happy about this condition, it isn’t crying that is responsible. However, these wet streaks are due to tears (lacrimal fluid) overflowing down the face. On white cats this condition (epiphora) produce a characteristic ginger-brown stain.
Where this is a long-standing problem, unassociated with any irritation or inflammation (such as with injures, foreign bodies in the eye or respiratory disease), it usually arises because the ducts (naso-lacrimal ducts) which normally drain the fluid from the surface of the eye are unable to take all, or any, of the fluid. It occurs especially in cats with flattened faces, such as Persians.
Lacrimal fluid as continuously secreted by the gland above the eyeball for the purpose of washing away micro-organisms and dust from the surface of the eyeball, aided by the occasional wiper action of the eyelids in blinking. In normal cats the fluid then passes down the naso-lacrimal ducts into the nasal chambers, but if the ducts become blocked, or if the bulging of the eyeballs prevent the fluid reaching the duct opening, as in flat-faced cats, it has no alternative but to flow the front of the face. Blocked ducts can sometimes be unblocked, but this is a time-consuming procedure necessitating a general anesthetic.
