Although cats are very good at hiding when they are in pain, there are some common signs of illness in cats you can find.
Body Language
When you know your cat well enough, you will be able to pick up on differences in body language easily. Even though they will hide their immediate pains, when things are seriously going wrong, it will show.
If you for example stroke the body of a cat and they got hurt somewhere on their body because of a fight, an immediate reaction can be read on their body of pain or irritation. They could hit you with their paw, mew at you, show tail swipes or try to nip at you.
Litter Box Behaviour
When your cat spends a lot of time on the litter box or goes often to the litter box in a day, it usually means there is something going on with either the urinary tract or there is some form of blockage.
If your cat sits long in the litter box and ends up rubbing their behinds over the floor while walking away from the litter box, it means there is some form of hard feces or blockage going on. Keep an eye on it, although anyone can have some problems with this, there might be an underlying cause or your cat could be dehydrated.
Litter Box Production
Blood in the urine are clear signs of urinary problems, although other causes can also be the cause. As soon as you see blood in their urine (or discoloured urine), it is time to pay a visit to the veterinary clinic with the cat.
Wriggly white worms in their feces is a sign of a worm or other parasite. Here a quick treatment of anti-worm medicine is in place. In some places in the world you need a prescription from your veterinary, while in other countries you can simply buy it in the shops.
Blood in the feces is not directly a great danger, but it could be a sign there is something wrong.
State Of Their Body
If a cat looks very rough in their fur and/or smells bad, it could mean the cat is not cleaning itself anymore due to arthritis.
Is a cat eating a lot, but doesn’t gain any weight (stays thin), then there is a high chance the cat has worms or another form of parasite.
When you pull the skin of the cat between two fingers upwards and it doesn’t fall immediately down again onto their body, it means the cat is dehydrated and needs water urgently. Although a cat could just have forgotten to drink, there are also more serious causes to that sort of sign. It could for example be a sign that the kidneys are not working properly anymore, but instead are just flushing the water out of the system without taking it up to the body.
Food Intake
When a cat drinks a lot there is a good possibility to be something going on. For example excessive drinking could be a problem with some form of diabetes or the kidneys could be failing.
Excessive eating could mean that the worms are eating away all the nutrients the cat so desperately needs. More serious matters are at hand when cats stop eating all together. Even worse when they stop eating and drinking.
Have I missed any signs of illness in cats, then please let me know in the comments below!