When you adopt a cat, you have to make sure your cat is well-tended and many factors play a crucial role in keeping your feline’s health in check.
However, even after all the care, cats sometimes catch an illness, which is usually treatable if you consult a vet on time. Here are some signs of sickness in cats you should watch out for.
How to Know When Your Cat is Sick?
Unlike humans, cats communicate their feelings through their body language and by dropping subtle hints like:
- Lethargy
- Restlessness
- Unusual behavior
- Reluctance to eat
- Avoiding human contact
- Drinking more than usual
If your cat shows any of these signs, you should take it to your vet for a thorough health examination.
In the meantime, here’s a list of to-dos for you to ensure your cat stays healthy and happy for years to come.
This checklist will allow you to see if your cat is acting strange, which could be an early symptom of the onset of a disease.
- Body Condition
Being a loving pet parent, you should regularly check your cat’s body condition. As you run your hands through their body, you should be able to feel their ribs. In some cat breeds, you can also see their ribs clearly.
Therefore, when seen from above, a healthy cat should have a distinct hourglass-shaped waist and a thin layer of fat on their belly.
- Eyes
A healthy feline should have bright eyes without any signs of redness, soreness, or runniness. If your cat is squinting or avoiding light, or starts bumping into things without any apparent reason, this is a red flag. So, you should rush to a vet for a thorough health checkup.
- Ears
Cats have highly sensitive and delicate ears and require extra gentle care. If your kitty has white-tipped ears or thin hair, vets highly recommend massaging their ears with a little sunscreen to protect against the sun. The harmful rays of sun in scorching heat can lead to skin cancer in cats.
Ideally, there shouldn’t be any redness, itchiness, or unpleasant smells coming from their ears, nor any wax buildup or thick discharge.
Exhibiting unusual behavior like tilting their head on one side, increased head shaking, or excessive face rubbing against surfaces is an indication of an ear infection.
A word of caution: Do not insert anything in its ears trying to clean it or figure out what’s happening – it will only worsen the case.
- Nose
A healthy cat’s nose should be a little damp and soft for your touch. Bleeding, discharge, crusting, and excess sneezing are symptoms of cat’s flu.
On top of that, if your kitty’s eyes are also runny, this should prompt a warrant to schedule a vet’s appointment.
- Breathing
Unlike dogs, cats don’t breathe with their mouths open. So, seeing your feline panting or coughing is a red flag and you should consult a vet at your earliest convenience.
- Dental Health
Cats with bad breath never make good company. However, it’s also an indicator of an underlying kidney or digestive disorder.
Usually, it’s a symptom of excessive bacterial growth or plaque on a cat’s gums and teeth. This can lead to gum diseases and tooth decay and sometimes can cause heart, liver, and kidney problems.
A healthy cat’s teeth are supposed to be white or cream in color without excess brown and thick tartar. Depending on your feline’s breed, the gums should be black or pink – but not red or swollen.
Ideally, you should brush your cat’s teeth twice a day. However, if you still notice symptoms like excess saliva, bad breath, hesitation to eat, dropping food, and clawing at their mouths, take your cat to a vet.
- Skin
Your cat’s skin shouldn’t show any signs of itching, crusting, scaling, black or white spots, inflammation, or infection.
Cats also get acne, and it’s tempting for your kitty to pick at it. So before your cat makes its skin worse by excessive picking, take it to a vet for proper treatment.
- Coat
Cats usually shed their hair the whole year, but they double down on shedding in summer and autumn. So it’s recommended to train your feline for regular grooming from an early age.
Some breeds may have thinner coats; however, normally cats are supposed to have thicker and shiny coats without any bald patches, broken hair, fleas, or dandruff.
Cats can also pick up fleas and ticks when you take them outside. These parasites suck your cat’s blood and cause discomfort in your kitty. However, you can keep them under control through different types of treatments and frequently grooming your pet.
- Nails and Feet
Naturally, a kitty’s nails should be smooth and white or black. Any roughness or flakiness in nails demands a vet’s expertise. Normally, you should regularly check your cat’s nails by gently squeezing on their paws’ pads so that their nails fully emerge.
Moreover, you should also check their dew claw. Depending on your cat’s breed, it could be inside their leg – right above the paw, on their front leg only, both front and back leg, while some breeds may not have it altogether.
Being a pet owner, you should be cleaning their nails regularly, especially in winters. The antifreeze in winters can be harmful for a cat if they walk on it and then also eat it while grooming themselves.
As for their feet, lift up their feet and check their pads for pebbles or splinters.
- Digestion
Cats are picky about their food, the reason being it takes a ton of energy for them to recover from a digestive issue.
Even though sometimes cats get more fussy about their food and changes in their appetite are normal. However, you should watch out for their appetite and be mindful of what you and your family are feeding them.
If you decide to change their diet, go slow for the first 7-10 days. In the meantime, pay attention to their feces. It’s supposed to be a brown-colored solid without mucus or blood.
If their poo is anything other than that, you should consult your vet.
- Thirst
Cats seem to quench their thirst from unexpected water resources, like a puddle or a dripping tap. So don’t sweat if your feline isn’t drinking the water you’re giving it.
Nonetheless, you should always have a bowl of clean water available for your kitty. In the event your cat gets excessively thirsty and increases its water intake a lot more than usual, that’s a red flag. Take your pet to a vet as soon as possible.
- Body Language
A cat’s attitude is quite telling – it shows how it is feeling. So if they are feeling bad or are a bit under the weather, you’ll notice it in their behavior.
If your feline is quieter, less playful, and sleeping more than usual, that’s a giveaway that something is off.
Sick cats tend to shy away from humans touching them. They also start peeing in different places other than their litter box – your bed or a couch – or simply get aggressive for no apparent reason.
Even though this animal is a completely different beast and is known for hiding its illness, you can still see this unusual attitude to figure out what’s going on.
- Protection from Your Household Hazards
Cats usually love playing with objects, such as ribbons, electrical cords, rubber bands, etc.
Therefore, it’s highly recommended to keep all potentially hazardous things out of your feline’s reach.
Carefully hide the cords in cord covers and stow away the ones you don’t need. You can also use bitter apple spray on the cords to prevent your kitty from chewing cords and potentially getting electrified.
Moreover, store your soap, lotion, chemicals, and cleaners in a safe place. If you see them eating an inedible item, consult your vet immediately.
- Learn about Your Feline’s Breed
Different breeds of cats show different behaviors and suffer from different health issues. You’ll find some breeds with more chances of hereditary diseases, while some may have lower life expectancy than others.
Therefore your best bet is to study your feline’s breed and their possible health issues to avoid any unexpected headaches.
- Vaccination and Regular Health Check-up
You should vaccinate your kitty from an early age to protect it from any fetal disorder. Even then, it’s equally important to take it to a vet for an annual checkup. This is one of the most efficient ways to make sure your pet has the optimum body weight, is up-to-date on wormer, vaccination, and all the treatments it may need.
Conclusion
The above checklist pretty much covers everything that you should use to be mindful of your cat’s health. It will allow you to ‘play vet’ every now and then and carefully examine your cat’s body condition and behavior to spot early symptoms of an illness.
This means that you can consult your vet on the onset of a disease and treat your cat right on time to keep it happy and healthy.
