The cat eats and his body twitches. Why are my cat's back legs shaking?

9263Administration

1

If the owner notices that the cat’s paws are shaking, then it is necessary to urgently visit a veterinarian. This phenomenon should not be ignored. It also happens that a cat’s hind legs are shaking, but the front legs are not affected by the disorder. The tremors in the hind limbs that your cat suffers from will not go away on their own. If you start a violation, then there is a danger that gradually the paws, which at first only shake, will begin to fail, and the cat will simply end up half paralyzed, forced to lie down all the time. No owner would want such an outcome, and therefore, naturally, will make every effort to restore the normal state of the pet. It is important to know that when the paws shake, the trembling in them is not a cramp.

When asked why the owner sometimes notices tremors in the limbs of a kitten or an adult pet, the answer can be completely different, since the reasons range from harmless to pathological.

© shutterstock

How to treat tremors and seizures in cats

When trying to figure out how to cure tremors in a cat, the animal owner often acts by analogy with human diseases. This is the wrong way, because... The organisms of cats and humans are structured differently. Sometimes the owner, without realizing this, begins self-treatment. At the same time, he wastes time: the effect of therapy is not achieved, the signs of the disease are sometimes erased, but the disease itself progresses.

You need to understand that tremor in a cat can be treated only after the cause is determined. Without examination, laboratory and instrumental studies, an accurate diagnosis cannot be made.

Further prognosis depends on the type of pathology. Sometimes a course of vitamins is enough to completely restore the conduction of nerve impulses. However, the disease often cannot be treated. Each specific case requires separate consideration.

The author of the publication is veterinarian Irina Barabash. She began her career as the chief veterinarian of a collective farm, and since 1998 she has been working as a veterinarian and toxicologist chemist at the regional laboratory of veterinary medicine. He combines his main work with writing publications on specialized topics.

Strange behavior of a pet is always alarming. For example, a cat is trembling for no apparent reason .

An attentive owner will always notice if something is wrong with his pet.
In fact, trembling in cats
is not always a sign of illness and is not entirely without cause.

Very often the cat trembles all over

from overexcitement. The impetus for such excitement can be a game, hunting or sexual instincts - a bird outside the window, a potential partner or enemy, the desire to deftly catch a toy - and now the animal’s muscles cramp from pent-up tension.

If the cat's paws are shaking

in a dream - an uncomfortable position, excitement in a dream, however, if the same symptom is constantly present, we can talk about neurological causes.
The cat is shaking as if he is cold
- this can actually happen if the animal is cold - for example, after bathing.
For no apparent reason, the cat hid under the sofa and is trembling
. Probably, something scared him in your absence, or it was the result of a blow, a bruise - an unsuccessful jump from a closet, for example.

Before drawing any conclusions, you need to observe your pet - at what moments does the cat tremble?

what is the tremor interval, intensity, how the animal tolerates it. The noticed symptoms will be the starting point for the doctor when making a diagnosis if the cat’s trembling is caused by a disease.

Why is the kitten trembling?!

Young kitten trembling

(if we exclude health pathologies) during puberty, a male cat during estrus and rutting.
In this case, it is better to sterilize the animal that is not intended for breeding. To understand why a kitten is trembling
, you need to observe him, finding out the cause-and-effect relationship of the tremor.

The reason why the cat is shaking,

There may be vitamin deficiency, often a deficiency of B vitamins. It is replenished with nutritional supplements or injections.
But not everything is so rosy. Tremor in cats can be a symptom of an underlying disease. Diseases that cause trembling in cats
:

  • weakness, pain;
  • TBI or its consequences;
  • genetic developmental defects (vestibular apparatus disorders, cerebellar anomalies, etc.);
  • neurological causes (degenerative and neuromuscular pathologies);
  • problems with metabolic processes in the body;
  • spinal injuries (possibly hidden, compression);
  • poisoning in a cat;
  • overheating (heat stroke), etc.

So as not to be tormented by speculation about why the cat is trembling

, a full diagnostic examination should be carried out.

In order not to further injure a frightened or sick animal, it is worth inviting a specialist to your home. Examination, simple tests, necessary primary care - this is what can be done at home.

Having discovered a tremor in a small pet, any concerned owner wants to know why the kitten is trembling. Perhaps the tiny creature is in danger and requires urgent medical attention. It must be said that such fears are not always unfounded. Although in most cases, kittens tremble for trivial, easily removable reasons.

When to contact a veterinarian

The veterinarian will examine the animal and prescribe the necessary tests. As a result, it may turn out that the pet has diseased kidneys. Along with trembling, the pet becomes more aggressive and its behavior changes.

There is another reason why trembling may begin. And she's pretty serious. This is rhinotracheitis. This disease can affect both an adult animal and a kitten. It can develop in representatives of any breed. With this disease, the pet's respiratory system is affected.

In order to identify a disease in your pet as early as possible and begin to treat it, it is better to show it to the veterinarian as soon as you become suspicious and concerned. If your suspicions are not confirmed, you can calm down, and if they are confirmed, you will have a better chance that your pet will recover faster, and this will not affect his health.

A particularly observant owner will always be able to identify any changes that happen to his mustachioed pet. How to react to them?

The owner’s first thought will be to contact a veterinarian for an examination and determine the cause of the disease. But is it always necessary to seek qualified help? Frightening symptoms may not mean that the cat has any disease.

READ Cat behavior before giving birth: signs you can't miss. Behavior of a cat before giving birth What a cat looks like before giving birth

If the owner, after analyzing his pet’s trembling on his own, does not find an explanation for it, he will have to immediately contact a specialist at the nearest veterinary clinic. As the animal begins to tremble, its behavior may change; overnight, a beloved cat may become aggressive. In addition to the reasons described above that cause tremors in a cat in a lying position, there are many other less harmless reasons that cause tremors.

These include:

  • The cat has helminths.
  • Lack of vitamins in the cat's body (especially calcium and vitamin B).
  • Diseases of internal organs (in particular the kidneys - the presence of urolithiasis in the animal).

The veterinarian will send the animal along with the owner to undergo all the necessary tests and an ultrasound of the internal organs, and then give recommendations on the necessary treatment.

Physiological factors

If the baby is only a few days old and his mother is away somewhere, the baby's trembling may indicate that he is cold. You need to wrap him in something warm until the cat returns. Hypothermia is a common cause of kitten tremors even at an older age.

Once the animal warms up, it will stop trembling. It is not recommended to allow situations in which a kitten, especially a very small one, would be very cold. Your pet may catch a cold because its immunity is not yet strong.

Quite often, owners notice trembling in kittens at the age of seven to eight months. This may indicate the onset of puberty in both females and males. The phenomenon is completely normal. If the animal is not sterilized, it will most likely tremble every time it experiences sexual desire.

Babies are so cute when they sleep, but sometimes the trembling of a kitten's body during sleep causes great concern for the owner. Veterinarians say there is no need to worry. If your baby's paw, head, tail, or whole body twitch periodically, it means he is dreaming about something emotional. Or he moves from the superficial phase of sleep to the deep one.

Causes of trembling in a cat

The cat was simply frozen. It would seem that cats can really suffer from the cold, since they can be outside even in the winter? However, in fact, cold is the worst enemy for all living organisms. An animal that has become hypothermic can not only catch a cold, but also become seriously ill.

A problem of this nature can be solved in the following way:

  • Do not let the animal go outside in winter.
  • Buy clothes for cats in specialized stores, or make them yourself.

If a cat, coming from the street, lies down on the floor, on the sofa, or somewhere else, and at the same time trembles strongly, he is simply very cold during a walk. It is also worth keeping an eye on the animal and during this very walk, it may begin to shake while still on the street.

The cat became scared. The person who believes that cats are the most fearless animals is deeply mistaken. They may show this with all their imperturbable appearance, attacking the feet of their owners, damaging the owner’s property, however, in the very depths of their souls, these animals are very vulnerable and timid creatures: you can scare a cat as easily as possible.

Due to experiencing severe fright, or a stressful situation, which, for example, may be associated with a change of residence, a change in food, or the appearance of a stranger in the house (in fact, there are a huge number of reasons). In this case, a nervous shock may occur in the cat’s body, the result of which will be trembling or nervous chills.

The cat begins to literally shake with fear. What to do in this case? It would be most advisable to try to eliminate the cause in the form of that same provoking factor. The owner will have to try to calm his beloved pet, stroke it, caress it. Every person knows that fear and stress can be eliminated through the use of positive emotions.

If such a cat's tremors are ignored, in the future such an action may lead to a change in the cat's behavior, which may result in habits that irritate the owner.

The cat experiences joy and positive emotions. The pet may tremble while lying down from an excess of positive emotions. The mustachioed man could miss him very much during the whole day of absence of the owner of the house. And when the owner comes home, the cat rushes to climb onto his lap and settle down there comfortably in a ball or stretched out to his full cat height.

Trembling when lying down in this case means exclusively a test of pleasure from the fact that its owner is near him

The cat lies down on the floor after eating and begins to tremble. Veterinarians say that a full stomach can bring a cat to this state; the animal’s muscles simply contract.

The cat is experiencing sexual arousal. When an animal is in such a state, it may experience a tremor of the whole body, which in turn is due to the fact that the cat’s senses are very heightened at a given moment in time and its excitement reaches its extreme measure. In the event that the owner does not intend to breed cats, the correct way to get rid of tremors of this nature will be castration of the mustachioed one.

If the cat owner has determined that the cat has any of these reasons, then there is no need to worry in this case: the cat will calm down and the trembling will go away by itself.

Pathological causes

In some cases, kittens begin to tremble due to pathological processes occurring in the body. Among the most common are the following

:

These are the main reasons why a kitten may be shaking. If the baby feels generally fine, and there are no other alarming symptoms, and the tremor goes away as quickly as it started, there is no need to worry too much, but it is worth watching the animal.

In cases where additional signs are present, the kitten looks sick or tired, you need to show it to a specialist. Timely identification of the cause can save your pet's life.

Cats tremble when they are very stressed. Trembling can be either a natural manifestation of the body to certain external factors or a symptom of a serious illness.

The animal got scared

The second simplest explanation for trembling in an animal is intense fear. Such a tremor is invisible to the eye, but is felt as a small vibration in the pet’s body if you place your palm on it. In this case, it is worth finding out why the cat had this reaction. The reasons may be different:

READ A restless cat meows after giving birth: bleeding on the second day, what to do

  • a change of scenery;
  • the appearance of a new person in the house;
  • presence of a foreign animal nearby;
  • new item;
  • unfamiliar smell.

Why is the cat shaking?

There are many reasons why cats tremble. This may be a manifestation of fear, the influence of cold, an uncomfortable body position.

Puberty in cats is one of the most common causes. After sterilization, the trembling stops. In cats, this phenomenon can occur before estrus. If symptoms persist after surgery, be sure to contact your veterinarian.

A lack of vitamin B can also cause tremors in your pet. In this case, buy brewer's yeast for your cat. They are sold at any pet store.

Don't worry if your cat twitches in his sleep - this is a normal phenomenon that occurs during sleep.

What to do?

The following recommendations must be strictly followed.

  1. Provide your pet with comfortable conditions, peace and warmth.
  2. Do not leave the cat alone during recovery from anesthesia and for the first time after.
  3. If you find that your cat is trembling, then you need to pay attention to the frequency and intensity of this symptom.
  4. If you observe unwanted symptoms for a long time, be sure to visit your veterinarian! Only with a visual examination can a diagnosis be made and appropriate treatment prescribed.
  5. If for some reason this cannot be done, then you need to contact the veterinarian by phone and get a consultation, describing all the symptoms present.
  6. Strictly follow all the veterinarian's recommendations and do not deviate from the prescribed treatment.
  7. Do not self-medicate under any circumstances and do not allow the condition in which the animal is to take its course! Negligence can cost your pet's life.

If your cat's paws are shaking, then first of all you need to find out the cause of this condition. A veterinarian will help you do this. So, if there is a deficiency of calcium or vitamin B, then their reserves will need to be replenished with the help of special preparations. In the case of a serious illness, of course, it needs to be treated (again, only after consulting a veterinarian).

Rating
( 1 rating, average 5 out of 5 )
Did you like the article? Share with friends: