How to tell if your cat is sick or in pain

As pet parents, it can be perplexing to try to interpret whether kitty is not feeling well. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Cats are not likely to vocalize (meow, whimper, etc.) when they are in pain unless you are making direct contact with a wound or broken bone. In the wild, an animal who is obviously hurt or weakened is easy prey, so (unfortunately for the human-pet relationship) it is instinctual for cats to try to hide any disadvantage.

Rather than give a vocal cue that she is hurt or ill, your kitty is more likely to withdraw. Isolating or hiding can be cues that something is wrong, if the behaviors are out of character.

2. Watch your kitty's sense of balance. Normally agile, if your cat's sense of balance is not up to its usual standard, pay attention.

3. Listlessness can be another cue that something is wrong. Try engaging kitty in his favorite kind of play. If he is half-hearted or easily tired, it may be a sign.

4. Some cats will purr if excessively frightened or in pain. It seems to be a self-soothing mechanism when in distress. If you know that all is not well, yet your cat is purring, this may be the cause.

Any time you are worried about your kitty's health, bring her to the veterinarian you trust!

What to do about scratching and biting

First, start by clipping kitty's nails. You can buy clippers made for cats at your local pet store (don't use human nail clippers--they will cause splintering). Be very careful when clipping--look closely at your cat's nails and find the pink vein that runs through the lower half of the nail. Make sure you are clipping ABOVE the vein--actually clipping the vein will be very painful for your kitty and cause bleeding.

Next, it's important to disengage from the cat the minute she bites or starts using her claws on you. When she uses her nails on you, say "No!" firmly and walk away--ignore her. She will slowly learn that using her nails means the end of attention.

Also, examine the ways she is being played with. Does she get over-stimulated? She might be overwhelmed by the play and be scratching as a defense response, even though you don't mean her any harm. Watch to see what she does right before she scratches...do her ears go back? Does she pause? Does she wiggle around? Once you know the warning signs, back off before she feels the need to scratch.

Lastly, does she have places in the house she is allowed to scratch? A scratching post? Scratching pad? If not, keep trying until you hit on something she enjoys scratching, and is allowed to scratch. Cats need to scratch to shed the outer shucks of their nails.

Thinking like a cat: Petting & grooming

A big part of connection with our kitties is knowing how they think. For example, I've come across some pet owners who haven't yet developed a "petting rapport" with their cats. No matter where they stroke their kitty, it seems to irritate rather than soothe. So how do you create or improve your "petting connection" with your cat?

Think about a cat's earliest experiences with contact--it came in the form of being groomed by his mamma. Most cats love quick, firm strokes all over their body, which remind them of their mother's tongue cleaning them. My little calico, Emily, loves it when I use a jagged motion down her back with my nails. My long-haired Nebelung, Vespers, likes it when I gently pull on tufts of his thick coat--it feels like mamma's tongue lifting his fur with her licks.

If you have a hard time brushing your long-haired cat, it may be because you are using long strokes that feel foreign to her. Instead, try using very short brush strokes all over her body with a slicker brush (a brush with dozens of very thin wire bristles). Likely you will hear her start purring as she is taken back to her experiences of being cared for as a kitten.

Now let's talk about your kitty's favorite spots to be rubbed or scratched. Again, begin by thinking like a cat...in the wild, a cat marks its territory and its cat-friends with its scent. A kitty's pheremones are concentrated around his lips, cheeks, neck and tail. This is why you may often see your cat rubbing her face on your carpet or door frames. And, since you are undoubtedly her property as well, she wants to smell her familiar scent on you!

Most cats love being rubbed about the neck and cheeks. Some love it when you draw a line with your finger on the fur above their upper lip, nose to ear. Whenever I stroke my kitties' backs, the pressure of my hand gets firmer as I reach the place their back meets their tails. You can tell kitty loves his when she lifts her rear to make the pressure even firmer.