Feline glaucoma causes acute, severe pain and progressive vision loss, requiring rapid recognition and appropriate management to minimize welfare harm.
Acute glaucoma is one of the most painful conditions in ophthalmology. The increased pressure within the eye causes intense, continuous pain that significantly affects behavior and quality of life. A cat with acute glaucoma may hide, refuse food, and show obvious signs of distress. Rapid recognition and treatment is critical because intraocular pressure above normal causes progressive retinal damage — every hour of delay worsens the prognosis for vision preservation. In cases where vision cannot be preserved, enucleation of the painful eye reliably eliminates pain and is well-tolerated by cats who adapt quickly to monocular vision.