5 Weird Feline Symptoms to Keep an Eye On

We’ve all been there: your feline friend throws up on the carpet and you’re left wondering if it was something they ate or if there’s something more serious going on. Cats always seem so strong until they show symptoms of being sick. You’ll end up spending a little too much time on PetMD trying to figure out what’s going on with them, just like you would with symptoms of your own. The following are symptoms my cat has exhibited just in the past few months of school.

Here are 5 weird symptoms a cat can exhibit:

1. Vomiting

Perhaps your cat ate something that didn’t agree with their stomach or maybe they played too soon after eating. Sometimes if you’ve changed their food, that can be a cause for a case of vomiting. If it happens frequently, it may be cause for you and your cat to schedule a veterinarian visit as there might be something more significant going on.

2. Tear stains

If your cat has a lighter colored coat, it’s more noticeable when they get those dark tear stains under their eyes. A few causes of these tears are ingrown eyelashes, ear/eye infection, stress, exposure to secondhand smoke, and diet. If the stains are stubborn and/or get worse, that could warrant a vet visit as something more serious could be going on (i.e. glaucoma, or an inverted eyelid).

3. Hoarse meow

Another common “ailment,” a hoarse voice can still cause worry to any cat parent, especially to those who haven’t experienced that before. This symptom can be caused by prolonged meowing–maybe your cat was in distress or had been using their voice a lot– or sickness. More serious conditions this could be signalling are an upper respiratory infection, or even hyperthyroidism.

4. Skin abrasions

Over the last year, my cat has been getting scabs under her pelt. They would come and go, but there were no changes that could have caused such a thing. Her food hadn’t changed recently, nor was she exposed to any new shampoos, carpet cleaners (since she likes to roll on the floor) or medications. Scabs around your cat’s neck and tail can be indicative of a flea bite allergy and scabs on their skin in general can mean they are allergic to a food or have been scratching excessively. While the scabs can be a minor thing (i.e. over grooming), I took her to the veterinarian just to be sure, and it turned out that sure enough she was allergic to something she’d come in contact with and was put on a medication for a period.

5. Sneezing blood

This is the last symptom being covered as it is the strangest one I’ve encountered since owning cats. Of course if blood is being dispelled from your cat in any way, you’re going to worry. Turns out that sneezing blood needs to be brought up to your veterinarian if it happens relatively often. Otherwise, it could be a warning scene that your cat is having a dental issue, it’s nasal passages are raw, or could be caused by the presence of pollen, dust or mold.

These are all things I’ve had first-hand experience with while caring for my cat. If you think even for a moment that something more serious is going on when your cat exhibits any of these symptoms, then by all means take them to the vet! Then you can be sure nothing is wrong, or maybe you might learn something new about your cat; maybe it has an obscure allergy or something.
Has your cat ever done something strange that made you worry for their health? Let us know in the comments!