Signs of head trauma in cats how to#

Aggressive behavior when you attempt to pick them up or touch them ( biting, hissing, or scratching).Not responding to stroking or vocal greetings as they normally would.Tense or crouching (they might look hunched or rigid).Restlessness (they might be fidgeting more).Excessive vocalization (frequent meows, crying, growling, or groaning).These can include (according to the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale): Therefore, it is useful to know some behavior changes that might indicate your cat is in pain. Not only that, but cats struggle to communicate their pain to us in a way we’d understand. It can be very difficult to determine if your cat is in pain sometimes because cats are very good at masking pain.

Signs of head trauma in cats how to#

This area of the literature in cat health is lacking, but there are definitely causes of headaches that vets do know occur in cats and how we can treat them best.Īlso Read: What Can You Give A Cat For Pain? 6 Vet-Recommended Options How To Recognize Your Cat Is in PainĬats naturally hide their pain, so recognizing the signs takes a little practice. Like humans, when cats experience headaches, they might also experience cluster headaches or tension headaches.

There are many possible causes of secondary headaches, however, and they certainly have been proven to cause significant pain. It is very difficult to prove that cats get benign primary headaches and there have been very few studies to look at this, so it is impossible to say how often they occur. Secondary headaches are caused by a more severe underlying disease that might cause more severe or recurring headaches. Primary headaches are considered the benign, “harmless” headaches that humans might get, which with a few painkillers will resolve swiftly. It’s impossible to say if cats get typical “harmless” headaches (called primary headaches) like humans do.