Dying Cat Symptoms: Signs That Indicate Your Cat Is Dying
How do you know that your cat is nearing its end-of-life cycle? When the time comes to let your favorite tabby go, how do you identify the dying cat indicators to make its last living days on earth a much better and peaceful experience?
When your cat is dying it shows various signs of ageing as it grows old, loss of weight, loss of appetite, refusal to play, eat or drink. Identifying these signs is what we are going to discuss today. An elderly cat dying goes through this old cat dying process.
- Also Read – Here Is How To Deal With The Loss Of A Pet
Your pet starts to display typical dying cat behavior when its body starts decaying and it begins to shut down. Also, the signs may differentiate for different diseases some common sick cat symptoms as mentioned remains same.
Dying Cat Symptoms: Signs that Point out Your Cat is Dying
#1. Heartbeat
For a normal healthy cat its heart rate ranges from a quick 140 to 220 bpm (beats per minute). As for in a dying cat stages the heart-rate reduces to a fraction of its normal rate. Place your hand on its beating heart and use a stopwatch to count for its heart rate.
#2. Breathing
A healthy cat takes about 20 to 30 breaths per minute, as it starts to approach its end its breathing becomes laboured and erratic, if you see signs of heavy breathing they can be taken as a sign of dying cat. Your cat may also produce dying cat sounds; keep an ear out for any irregular sounds from your pet.
#3. Temperature
When the cat is sick its heart begins to slow down and its body temperature drops from a healthy 102.5 C to below 100 C. You can either take its temperature by placing a thermometer behind its ear or by touching its paw, if they are cold that means body temperature is dropping.
#4. Eating and Drinking
A cat nearing the end of its life cycle loses its appetite or desire to eat or drink. Look into its food and water bowl whether they are always full. It also shows signs of anorexia, sunken eyes and physical weakness. It will also produce less output of waste and darker urine. Around its end, cat loses control of its urinary tracts so you may have to clean up pretty good.
#5. Odor
When a cat begins to die, its body organs shut down making it impossible for the toxins to be ejected from the body, thus they continue to build up in the body making your cat body and breath smell foul. Look for signs of foul smell on your cat and whether it gets worse after some time.
#6. Solitude
Loss of a cat is in itself a terrible ordeal, on top of that to see it hiding under furniture or outdoors breaks your heart. Understanding that it’s normal for a cat and is a cat’s old age dying symptom to find solitude when it’s dying.
#7. Take Your Cat to the Vet
If your cat is showing any signs of distress or irregular behaviour its time you take it to the vet. Many of the signs mentioned above are also shown at the time of chronical cat illnesses which can be cured completely with correct intervention. Don’t assume your cat is about to die just because it has grown old. Consult your vet before making a learned decision.
Wrapping it up
There isn’t any singular way which can recompense for losing a pet but you can make the cat’s dying days as peaceful as they can be. Knowing your cat is going to die saves the unnecessary hassle for its owners and gives the owners a chance to say goodbye to their pet.
You can make sure that the cat is not disturbed or pained at any point. Provide it with a warm and soft bed, warmth for a dying cat is very important as its body temperature has dropped and it needs external heat.
Your cat may have trouble moving so you may have to carry it to its litter box a few times every day. Keep a record of your cat’s pain levels. If your cat is in too much pain owners can consult a vet for pain medication or when its bad days outnumber its good days it’s time to seriously think about releasing it from its misery by performing cat euthanasia.
