Cat Symptoms and Health Advice: My Experience
What should you look out for if you think your cat is sick?
Is your cat showing a loss of appetite or drinking less water? Urinating more or less? Is your cat going to the toilet more or less frequently? Do you notice any diarrhea or vomiting?
Key signs to watch for:
1. Loss of appetite
2. Lethargy
3. Diarrhea
4. Fever
5. Weight loss
6. Not drinking anything
7. Vomiting
Often a cat may vomit because of hairballs or in the case of my white cat, if she eats too fast she will vomit it all up. So be aware of the type of vomit and especially if it has liquid or bile.
I know from experience that a serious illness can take hold in your cat rapidly so being aware of the symptoms and what to look out for is crucial. In my case I had two twin cats, brother and sister who were nearly one year old. They lived mainly outside in the garden and one day I noticed the male cat showing signs of lethargy and loss of appetite.
I assumed he had eaten something that disagreed with him but the next day he had disappeared never to be seen again. Five days later his sister showed similar symptoms and I kept her inside. For two days she had not eaten and was vomiting and seemed very lethargic with no appetite. I rushed the cat to the vet only to discover she had panleukopenia (often called Feline Distemper) which she caught from her brother. She died at the vet two days later after intensive care.
Panleukopenia is found in soil and can live in the environment for up to 2 years, it is often fatal and effects kittens mainly. This is quite a common disease in feral cats and unvaccinated cats that roam outside. I had no idea about the disease and I didn’t vaccinate them for it so I learned a valuable lesson there. I now have two kittens that I made sure I vaccinated.
So my advice is to keep an eye out for symptoms of illness and if you feel it is serious enough get the cat to the vet ASAP. Sometimes however cats will feel a bit under the weather and may temporarily lose their appetite or sleep much longer than usual, if the cat continues this behaviour then you will know something deeper is wrong. There are so many potential diseases that can affect cats so take a look at the links below for more information.
By: R Kilgarriff
