SYMPTOMS OF CAT ILLNESSES Custom Search Cat Illnesses are too often diagnosed late in the course of the disease. Many loving cat owners wait too long to take their kitties with feline illnesses symptoms to the veterinarian. The results are suffering pets, heartbroken owners, and a higher financial cost. The goal of this page is to help you go beyond the obvious signs of an emergency to include the more subtle symptoms that your kitty is in big trouble if you don't head for the veterinarian right away. I was born surrounded by cats because my father loved cats. I either inherited a gene from him that made me instantaneously love cats or became a cat lover just from always having them around me. From the beginning, I was extremely sensitive to the signs of cat illnesses. Of course, that sensitivity was greatly enhanced as my veterinary training educated me thoroughly on the various aspects of cat anatomy, physiology, cat behavior, and feline diseases. However, you certainly do not have to be a veterinarian to be able to recognize signs of cat illnesses in your own cat. It's rather simple, actually, once you learn the basics. In spite of that, the most painful part of my career has been the too numerous occasions upon which a loving owner brings their precious kitty to see me or writes to me on this website when the cat should have been examined by a vet much earlier. All too often, not only is the cat brought in late, but he's come to me too late. At those times, knowing that I could have saved their beloved cat's life had I examined him a month or week or even a day earlier is difficult for me to face and heart-wrenching for the owner. In most cases, it has also meant prolonged suffering for the cat.
I have thus come to the conclusion that while recognizing signs of cat illnesses is easy to learn, it is not common sense. It does, in fact, have to be learned.In order to fully understand your cat's illness symptoms, we need to talk about the basic anatomy of a cat. I promise it won't be anything too complicated ...just be aware that cats have the same organs you and I do, including kidneys, a liver, lungs, a pancreas, large and small intestines, a colon, a bladder, a heart, etc. ...and these organs are almost identical to ours in function and malfunction. However, I strongly recommend that you read this entire article for more information about what is "normal" and "not normal" for cats! Introduction to Cat Anatomy and Feline MedicationsDon't stop reading! I know the word "anatomy" strikes fear in many pre-med or pre-vet students hearts and may in you also. However, the anatomy that you need to learn about your cat is very simple. In fact, you probably know most of it already, but may not be aware that you know it. Many of my clients over the past 20 years have been surprised to learn that cats can get just about every disease that affects people. It's true, and it really shouldn't be surprising if you know or learn that cats have essentially the same organs that you and I have. If they have the same organs that we do, then it's just another simple step to realizing that those organs can malfunction the same way ours do. For example, people develop diabetes because there is a problem with their pancreas. Cats have a pancreas, so naturally they can develop cat diabetes, too. People become hyperthyroid because they have a thyroid gland and it malfunctions, producing excess thyroid hormone. Hyperthyroidism in cats is one of the common cat illnesses as well, because they, too, have thyroid glands that can malfunction. And the same goes for kidneys in cats too. Feline kidney disease and kidney failure are just as possible, and can even present with similar symptoms as renal problems in humans.
Fortunately, there are ailments that effect cats that do not have equivalent counterparts in humans, such as cat hairballs. Can you imagine coughing up one of those things??? And there are many other cat illnesses, such as the ability of cats to acquire heartworm disease or feline FIP or their need for cat flea treatment, which can be harder to recognize easily because we don’t have a human comparison. The similarities between human and cat anatomy include both internal and external components and often times even include similar illness symptoms. To learn what you need to know to access your cat's health at home, it's easiest to address these various components of cat health and cat health problems separately. Before talking about the symptoms of cat illnesses, I have to emphasize how very important it is to know one very serious fact about treating cat illnesses and the use of feline medications. While the feline medications that are needed to treat a sick cat are often the exact same medications that we take, some human medications or even old-fashioned cat remedies are very dangerous. You can kill your precious feline friend if you give your cat any medication without the direction of your veterinarian! Please keep this in mind as you examine your cat for symptoms of cat illnesses and monitor his overall health. Just because cats can be affected with many of the same diseases as you and I, does not mean that cats can be treated with the same medications or at the same dosages as you and I. As one quick example, medications that are used frequently for human pain such as Tylenol or Advil or aspirin CANNOT be given for cat pain. These medications can kill your kitty quickly! External Cat AnatomyIf you look at your cat from head to tail, you'll see
(1) Ears(2) Eyes (3) Nose (4) Mouth and Chin (5) Neck (6) Fur (7) Skin (8) 4 Legs The front two cat legs are very much like our arms while the back two are very much like our legs. They have the same bones and same joints, including shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. Our hands are their paws --- even our fingers have the equivalent in cats with three bones and a nail projecting from the distal most bone. (9) Back, Chest area, and Lower abdominal area (10) Anus and Rectum (11) Penis or Vagina, both with a urethra through which urine is excreted (12) Tail Examining Your Cat ExternallyI have a system I have used in my practice for 20 years that will make your cat health evaluation at home easy and quite simple. Examine the following parts of your cat's body by always starting at the head and continuing down the cat's body to the tip of the tail. If you do it the same way every time you examine your cat, it will become like second nature. The most important thing to know is how all the parts of a "normal" cat's body look. You need to know what’s normal obviously before you can know that something is abnormal. Once you know normal, anything different is worth questioning your vet about.From head to tail tip, look at the following.
(1) Ears Look at your cat’s face straight-on and compare the two ears. Are they both standing up and uniform in size and shape? Now, look inside each one under good lighting conditions. Are they the same inside? Are they pink? Do they smell? (They shouldn’t.) Are they perfectly free of wax or other debris? (They should be. Most of the time, healthy cats have incredibly clean ears.) To check your cat’s hearing, stand behind the cat, making sure that he absolutely can’t see you and clap loudly. He should turn around or jump or at the very least, flick his ears quite obviously. The cornea is the clear “covering” of the eye that you really shouldn't see at all as you are looking at the pupils. Is it cloudy instead? Are there blood vessels obvious on the cornea? (There shouldn’t be.)
If you shine a bright light in one eye, do the pupils in both eyes get smaller and are they the same size? When you take the bright light away, do they both get larger and, again, are they the same size? If you move your finger back and forth to the left and right does your cat follow your finger with both eyes? How about up and down? If you throw a cotton ball a small distance away, does your cat see the cotton ball? 
Are the inner corners of the eyes clean? Is there any discharge coming from the eyes? Is the cat squinting? Do the eyelids look at all swollen? Is the “3rd eyelid” visible? (It shouldn’t be!) It is very possible for a cat to lose its sight and the owner not know. I have had several clients come in with their cat and tell me that he sees just fine because he makes his way around the house and never bumps into anything. Yet, when I check the cat’s eyes and vision, he is completely blind. How is that possible? Cats are able to so quickly adapt and find their way around familiar surroundings, that as long as nothing is out of place in the house, you may never know they’re blind. To make sure your cat can see, you can use the cotton ball trick. You also should place a chair or other object in the middle of the room, call your cat to come to you and see if he goes easily around the chair or bumps into it. If any of the above factors seem a bit off to you, reading more about cat eye health and cat eye infections and other cat illnesses would be recommended. 
(3) Nose Looking at your cat’s face again, are the nostrils the same size? Are they free of discharge or debris? Is there any swelling of the nose? Does your cat breathe quietly or can you hear noise when he breathes? Is your cat's nose pink? (4) Mouth If your cat lets you open his mouth easily, try to get a peek at his tongue as well. Are there ulcers? Is it a healthy, normal pink color? Is the thickness uniform or is any part of the tongue harder and thicker than the rest? (5) Chin 
Rub your hand along the bony ridges of the chin and note whether they feel the same and there’s no prominent hard thickness on one side that’s not on the other. Cat cancer of the jawbone is possible, and easy to miss when your cat is showing no other signs of cat illnesses.Does the skin covering the jawbone feel smooth and free of bumps? If there are bumps, your kitty may have feline acne and need to see the vet. (6) Neck (7) Cat Fur and Skin Is the fur soft and shiny and not too oily or not too dry? Is the skin flaky or are you seeing signs of feline dandruff, particularly in front of the tail? Is there evidence of matted cat fur anywhere on the body? "Dandruff" can be a sign of many different underlying cat illnesses or can be caused by inadequate grooming. Both dandruff and mats need attention and can be uncomfortable for your kitty. (8) Legs 
Also, check that your kitty can jump up and down from the sofa or bed as usual and climb stairs if he has been climbing stairs. Because cats have joints, just as you and I do, arthritis and other joint or bone cat health problems are just as possible. Definitely check each of the 4 paws if your cat will let you. The pads of your cat’s feet should be pink (unless your kitty’s pads are black genetically). If your cat is not declawed, make sure the nails are not so long that they’re starting to curl under and grow into the pads. If that happens, a nasty abscess and infection can occur. If your cat IS declawed, check that there is no regrowth of the claws. It can happen and can be very painful and need vet attention. The paws should be uniform in size. (9) Back, chest, and abdominal areas Especially check the nipples in the skin of your cat’s abdomen. Remember males have them as well and while it’s rare, males can get cat mammary cancer, too. Make sure they are all similar in size, shape and color, including the area of skin around each one. (11) Tail Ok, you got all that? Don't panic. It's not as much as it seems and it's not difficult. With a little practice and simply changing your thinking a bit so that you instinctively look at your cat like this all the time, you'll notice changes more quickly and help your kitty be healthy and comfortable and avoid serous cat illnesses and maybe even save his life. Internal Cat AnatomyKnowing what is going on inside your cat may sound much more difficult than checking your cat externally. Of course, we all know that the internal organs can't be seen or directly examined. However, in some ways, it’s much easier to examine your cat internally.While you can’t actually do an internal exam or see x-rays or ultrasound images of your cat, you can get a wealth of information from the small number of things you can determine. There are certain feline illnesses symptoms that are easy to recognize just by watching your cat go through his daily routine. As I mentioned earlier, cats have internal organs similar to our own. Among the most important internal organs of cats are 
(1) Brain(2) Heart (3) Kidneys (4) Thyroid Glands (5) Urinary Bladder (6) Gall Bladder (7) Liver (8) Uterus or Testicles if the cat is unaltered (9) Lungs (10) Pancreas (11) Spleen (12) Stomach (13) Intestines (small and large) Can't imagine examining any of these organs because you won't have an x-ray or ultrasound to see? You don't need to. You just need to understand how your cat's organs are supposed to function in the absence of symptoms of cat illnesses. Your at-home evaluation of these internal organs will be performed by monitoring your cat for the visible symptoms of malfunction of these organs, which can indicate a number of cat illnesses. What are the most common symptoms of cat illnesses?They actually are simple and very easy to remember. There's only five things to watch for and they are all right in front of you.Here's a hint: what five things are the main things your cat does? You simply ask yourself the following questions each day. It's worth repeating those 5 things one more time. Appetite, Thirst, Urination, Bowel Movements, Activity Level. Pay close attention to those bodily functions of your cat. Your observations are free and your vet bill cheaper when disease is diagnosed and treated early, but the value when your observations save your cat's life.....PRICELESS! Is your cat showing one of the signs of cat illnesses? The following is an index of common cat health problems by symptom and provides links to frequently asked questions to help you determine the severity of your cat's symptoms. ConclusionTo summarize, cat illnesses are just like human illnesses, and symptoms of cat illnesses are therefore similar to the symptoms exhibited by people under the same conditions. The important thing is that you learn what cat illnesses symptoms are and how to recognize them. Also, feline medications are often the same as the meds we take, but NEVER give your cat your own medication without consulting your veterinarian.
Several of the major cat illnesses, especially those most commonly seen as elderly cat health problems, can have very similar symptoms. But don't worry. Remember, it isn't your job to diagnose your cat! Your job is to determine if and when your cat needs to be examined by a vet.Your vet will be able to diagnose your cat, if you notice any of the symptoms of cat illnesses, by conducting a thorough exam and usually running some blood work. And, because cats have the same organs we do, similar technology to human diagnostic medicine, such as x-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs, and urinalysis, are available for cats as well, and may be needed to diagnose certain cat illnesses based on the symptoms you've observed. Please remember that your cat's chances of being helped are much greater AND your expenses much less if you go to the vet at the first sign of something unusual. There’s much more to learn about the individual conditions and diseases your kitty can face, but if you learn the feline illnesses symptoms to watch for in order to detect cat illnesses early, you AND your cat are way ahead of the game. I would much rather practice preventative medicine or diagnose sick cat symptoms while the condition is still early and treatable rather than finding it's too late. I know you want that for your cat also.
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If you see severely swollen, red inflamed gingiva or large chunks of tartar on the teeth (as in the picture to the left) or notice that your feline has bad breath, it is time to get to the vet. 
Check every inch of your cat’s body looking for hair loss or irritated skin and feel for lumps and bumps and scaly areas. Every cat owner should own a flea comb and comb through the fur in several different places on the body, checking for fleas or for black “flea dirt”.
(10)Urogenital and Anal Regions
