Signs Your Cat Is Dying

Cats hide it. A dog who feels terrible lies in the middle of the kitchen so you'll notice; a cat who feels terrible goes under the bed. So by the time you're sure, the cat has usually been sick for a while, and the question you're typing at midnight is whether this is that. Here's what veterinarians say to watch for, the questions your vet will ask you, what euthanasia is like for a cat, and how to make the decision without waiting for a sign a cat will never give you.

PetMD's veterinary guide splits them into what the cat does and what the body does.^[1]

What the cat does: hides or withdraws, is less alert, moves less, sleeps differently, cries out more than before, turns aggressive when touched, stops grooming, stops eating, and gets clumsy.^[1] The grooming is the one people miss. A cat that has always been clean and now has a greasy, matted coat is telling you it no longer has the energy for the thing it did every day of its life.

What the body does: weight loss, lethargy, sunken eyes, breathing trouble, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, and a low body temperature, which you feel as cold ears and paws.^[1]

Any one of these can be an illness a vet can treat. Several at once, over a few days, in an old or already sick cat, is the pattern this page is about.

Cornell's Feline Health Center lists the questions a veterinarian asks a family deciding about an old or sick cat, and they're worth answering for yourself before you call.^[2]

• Is she eating?
• Does she respond to you and to her surroundings?
• Does she cry a lot? What is she doing when she cries?
• Is she staying in her familiar places, or has she moved?
• Is she using her litter box, or is she soiling the spot where she sleeps?

Cornell's guidance is that there are no strict rules: the decision is made together by you and the vet, around the cat's quality of life and whether treatment can still relieve pain and improve it.^[2] Write your answers down. A cat that has moved from the sunny chair to the back of the closet and is sleeping where she wets is answering the question for you.

Breathing, first and always. The quality of life scale vets use opens with it: trouble breathing outweighs all other concerns.^[5] Ohio State's veterinary hospital tells families that unrelenting pain or extreme difficulty breathing mean very poor quality of life regardless of anything else.^[4] A cat breathing with its mouth open, a cat that hasn't eaten or drunk in a day, a cat that can't stand, or a cat crying in a way you haven't heard before: call the vet today, or the emergency clinic tonight.

Cornell describes it in a few sentences. Some vets give a mild sedative first. The injection is an overdose of an anesthetic that quickly slows the heartbeat and stops it, and in virtually all cases the cat loses consciousness and drifts away within seconds.^[3] You can hold her. It can happen at home; many vets offer it, and the cost of each option is in when to put your pet down.

Cornell also lists what to ask the vet first, and the answers tell you where you are: Can you tell me if my cat is suffering? What treatments are available, and what would they cost? What might treatment accomplish: a cure, pain relief, or more time? What care would I need to provide at home? And the questions to ask yourself: what is my cat's quality of life, and with treatment would it get better or worse?^[3]

Not by waiting for the cat to tell you. Ohio State's hospice program calls "I'll just know" a myth, and adds the sentence that matters most: many families say they waited too long, and families rarely say they decided too soon.^[4] Its four ways to get an honest read work as well for a cat as for a dog.^[4]

• Look at video of the cat from before the illness, next to the cat in front of you.
• List three to five things she loves: the windowsill at 4 p.m., the crinkle ball, your lap. When she's consistently unable to enjoy them, it's time to talk about euthanasia.
• Mark good and bad days on a calendar. When the bad days outnumber the good, it's time to consider it.
• Score a quality of life scale on a fixed schedule, each person in the house separately, and ask someone who sees her less often than you do.

The scale is the HHHHHMM scale: hurt, hunger, hydration, hygiene, happiness, mobility, and more good days than bad, 0 to 10 each, with a total over 35 reading as acceptable quality of life to continue care.^[5] The free quality of life scale tool scores it and prints a week sheet for the vet. For a cat, a 10 on happiness is the cat that still jumps up, eats, and finds you.

Call the vet with what you've seen. In the meantime, the hospice adjustments PetMD's guide lists are small and they help: raised food and water bowls so she doesn't have to bend, a litter box with a low entry, and whatever pain medication the vet prescribes.^[1]

Beyond that: a warm room and a blanket, because a dying cat runs cold. Water and the box within a few steps of where she's chosen to be, even if that's the closet. Quiet, and no new people. Sit with her. Don't make her come to you.

What to do when your pet dies covers the first hour, the body, every option, and the prices, and the pet cremation cost estimator gives you the ranges before anyone hands you a form. When you can, the pet obituary writes her down. And if you want to say all of this out loud to someone who won't say it was just a cat, Cornell's veterinary college runs a Pet Loss Support Hotline at 607-218-7457, staffed by veterinary students trained by grief counselors.^[6] The full list is in pet loss hotlines.

This page is death education, not veterinary advice. A cat breathing with its mouth open, in pain, or not eating or drinking needs a veterinarian today. For our full citation list and how we check our facts, see our Sources and Methodology.