Do cats have a universal body language of pain? And can we humans recognize the mostly silent expressions of distress in a species notorious for concealing pain? These are some of the questions answered by a top team of international experts who came up with a list of 25 signs that your cat is hurting and needs help.
You may already know some of these feline pain signals: a cat that sits in a hunched posture or that persistently licks one spot on its body is probably hurting. But not everyone knows these three signs that a cat is in acute pain: dilated pupils, panting and uncontrolled blinking, all of which are identified in the study authored by Isabella Merola and Daniel S. Mills from the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom. The researchers compiled a cross-checked a list of 91 behavioral signs of pain in cats, and narrowed the list down to 25. The article, “Behavioural Signs of Pain in Cats: An Expert Consensus,” was published February 24 in the scientific journal PLOS One and involved clinicians with specialties in internal medicine, anaesthesiology, cancer, dentistry, behavior and neurology. Here are the signs:
- Dilated pupils
- Hunched posture
- Uncontrolled blinking
- Trembling
- Excessive licking of one spot on body
- Avoids bright light
- Hides
- Stops grooming or seldom grooms
- Reluctant to move
- Stops jumping
- Plays less or won’t play
- Lowered head
- Shifts weight
- Furrowed brow
- Low-grade tail twitching
- Lack of appetite
- Gulps food
- Makes odd noises while eating
- Eats using one side of mouth
- Salivates or drools
- Vomits
- Strains when urinating
- Respiratory distress
- Teeth grinding
- Tension around eyes or muzzle
One of the goals of this study was to educate both veterinarians and cat owners to be more alert for behavioral indications of pain in felines, in the hopes that early detection could lead to faster diagnosis. “Both owners and veterinarians are clearly able to recognize many behavioral changes in cats which relate to pain,” said Mills, a professor of Veterinary Behavioral Medicine at the University of Lincoln’s School of Life Sciences. “However, owners may not always recognize the clinical relevance of what they see. They may view the changes as an inevitable part of natural ageing and not report them to the vet as a concern, or at least not until the behaviors become quite severe.”
Please send me the 25 signs that a cat is in pain. I went to trouble clicking on this article that seemed to promise information and it gave me 1 sign and then just repeated that there are 25 signs. It’s time consuming clicking on these articles and uses up my data really fast.
I agree with her. Jeez, why not just bullet-point these signs? What a waste of a good article…
Read the entire article. How hard is that? Most are in the text of the piece and it also gives a link to the original scientific article. It’s not a very long article. I’m sure you can handle. it.
Hi:
You make a good point. I decided to write a paragraph explaining the signs rather than listing them. All the signs are included. I did not think of the data issue. So you are helping me do a better job. Thanks for the suggestion. I got the message!
The signs are as follows:
Panting, respiratory distress, uncontrolled blinking, dilated pupils, vomiting, vocal distress, reluctance to move, poor or no grooming, stops playing or jumping, loss of appetite, stops eating a favorite food, makes growling or other sounds while eating, gulps food, eats out of one side of its mouth, ends yawn with growling noise, sits in hunched posture, low-grade tail flicking, avoids light, hides, lowered head, furrowed brow, strains while urinating, drooling or salivating, tension around muzzle, tension around eyes.
You are right. Thanks for the input. I changed it to make it easier: Here they are:
Dilated pupils
Hunched posture
Uncontrolled blinking
Trembling
Excessive licking of one spot on body
Avoids bright light
Hides
Stops grooming or seldom grooms
Reluctant to move
Stops jumping
Plays less or won’t play
Lowered head
Shifts weight
Furrowed brow
Low-grade tail twitching
Lack of appetite
Gulps food
Makes odd noises while eating
Eats using one side of mouth
Salivates or drools
Vomits
Strains when urinating
Respiratory distress
Teeth grinding
Tension around eyes or muzzle