Cat Illness Symptoms - Keeping Your Kitty Healthy

By Wendy Pan

Cat illness symptoms can be easy to spot, like vomiting up a hairball, or harder to determine, like when they are running a temperature. Some of the more familiar symptoms of illness are eye and ear discharge, hair loss, sneezing and coughing, and diarrhea or constipation. Hairballs are quite normal, and not usually a problem. Other signs require some attention to notice, such as loss of appetite, excessive thirst or abnormal urination, skin problems, and depression.

Cats normally alternate periods of sleeping and rest with periods of play and activity. Some cats eat whenever they are hungry if you allow them to self feed, or daily when you set down some food. A loss of appetite, of course, will be seen by their food dish remaining full, or if they turn away from it. When you clean out their litter box, you would notice any loose stools from diarrhea, and if constipated, you may notice them spending a long time in the litter box trying to defecate.

One symptom alone is not usually serious, but in combinations, cat illness symptoms may indicate real problems only a veterinarian can diagnose. If your cat is lethargic, not acting normally, there could be other causes. Combined with thirst and weight loss, it could point to chronic kidney failure. While not curable, this is controllable with diet and medication.

Cat flu, or a respiratory infection can be fought with antibiotics and care. Symptoms include what you might expect, coughing, sneezing, runny eyes, fever, heavy breathing, loss of appetite and fever. Just like in humans!

Abscess can be from an injury or cat fight, when infection sets into a wound. Symptoms will include swelling, fever, and lethargy. This is treatable with antibiotics or occasionally surgery is needed.

Combinations of cat illness symptoms can mean more serious problems like feline diabetes or distemper. The signs of feline diabetes are similar to human diabetes symptoms, increased thirst and urination. Other signs include weight loss, poor coat condition, loss of appetite, and general lack of energy. This condition can be treated, again as in human cases, with insulin injections and diet.

Other cat illnesses symptoms the vet can diagnose include feline distemper, leukemia, ringworm, urinary tract infections, worms and cat AIDS (FIV). Cat illness symptoms mirror our human symptoms, and if you take your cat in to see the veterinarian on a regular basis, just like seeing your own doctor, prevention is the best medicine.

Keeping your cat healthy is part of cat care and your responsibility as a caring cat owner. Your kitty may need special food, or medicine, and testing only a vet can provide. Most cats enjoy happy, healthy, long lives and become part of the family. And you can usually tell when your cat is not feeling right because their activity patterns will visibly change. That is the time to stop and pay attention closely, so you help your little friend through a problem time in their life. They depend on you for everything!

Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about cat illness symptoms, please visit New Cat Scratch Posts for current articles and discussions.