How do you know if a cat is in pain?
If you see any symptoms of pain in your cat, it may indicate that the disease is in a very neglected state. To prevent the development of the disease, it is necessary to visit a veterinarian with a cat at least once a year, even if there are no complaints!
Signals of the cat's body that can talk about pain:
🐱 Eyes
The eyes will often be closed or half-closed and will resemble the letter V. The gaze in this case is often unfocused. In a healthy cat, the eyes will be wide open, the gaze will be focused
🐱 Body posture
The cat can often assume a half-crouch position. In this case, the back will be slightly arched up, and the neck will be down. The head will be lowered to the floor. This is one of the most common poses. In fact, every cat in pain is looking for a position in which it will feel better
🐱 Wool
Wool that has lost its smoothness and shine, the appearance of disheveled and "prickly", tangles, greasy wool, wavy position of wool on those parts of the cat's body where it should not be like this (or according to genetic characteristics, the coat of this cat should be straight, but began to "worry" or vice versa) - all these may be symptoms diseases
🐱 Movement
A cat can walk with a limp / staggering / periodically stretching its hind legs back / with its spine arched to the top, etc.
🐱 Moustache
If the whiskers stick out strongly in different directions, have the appearance of bruising, then this may indicate pain in the cat's body
🐱 Ears
If the ears are constantly spread apart, completely lowered or only the tips - this may also indicate pain in the cat's body
Behavioral cues that may indicate that your cat is sick:
🐱 Grubbiness
🐱 If suddenly your cat refuses to go to the tray and does it in various other places, this may indicate that the cat has some kind of urinary tract disease
🐱 Aggression can be a symptom of acute pain
🐱 Timidity and the desire to hide indicate a general malaise, which may be caused by various diseases
🐱 Excessive tenderness and purring, which was not characteristic of your cat before, may indicate pain
To prevent the occurrence of the disease in your cat, visit a veterinarian regularly, be attentive to your cat, do not immediately write off the strange behavior of the cat or changes in its body to the weather, bad mood or "harmfulness" of the cat itself, then you can make your cat live with you as long as possible 🙏🏻