Why Is My Cat Shaking – (Medical & Behavioral Issues)

why is my cat shaking

Most people prefer cats and dogs when it comes to petting happy-go-lucky animals. These wonderful creatures make sure that you find a new family member in them. Besides, they show love and affection towards you in innocent hidden ways. Many people cannot manage dogs, so they pet cats and take care of them, considering them part of their family.

If you have a cat, you must know your affection towards your cute cat makes you do anything for its health and more prolonged survival. Being a responsible cat owner, you always try your best to watch your cat’s routine behavior. Whenever you observe any unusual changes, you take them to the vet without any delay.

If your healthy cat has started shaking/trembling suddenly very often, understandably, it is problematic for a careful owner. However, fear not! This article discusses the reasons why your cat is shaking or shivering unusually and frequently.

Causes of cat’s shaking/shivering/trembling behavior

Before moving on to the reasons for why your cat is shaking in a manner that is not standard, you must understand what does trembling precisely means. Typically, you might notice your cat shivering or shaking itself slightly while sleeping. The shivering your cat expresses during sleep is mainly due to vivid dreams, whether pleasant or horrible. However, it is normal, and you should not get worried.

Your cat might also express a sudden shake in its body if it rains around since cats dislike water. However, it is also standard. Trembling becomes severe and scary when you observe your cat’s muscles contract and relax quite quickly and rapidly. Moreover, severe trembling makes it difficult for your cat to behave normally and may irritate it to a great extent.

If your cat is shaking/shivering heavily and continuously, either it is going through medical problems or suffering from behavioral health issues.

Medical problem

Let’s have a light on the medical reasons for why your cat is shaking;

Low blood glucose levels

Glucose is one of the significant sources of energy provision in an animal’s body. If the blood glucose levels decline, it can result in severe consequences. Low blood glucose levels also refer as ‘hypoglycemia.’ Being a responsible cat owner, you have to make sure that your cat eats every meal on time and enjoys it.

If you observe that your cat is losing appetite for any reason, it would surely get lethargic due to declining blood glucose levels. In addition, the less energetic condition of your cat leads to tremors and shivering, which can further lead to worse conditions if you do not attempt to normalize the blood sugar levels.

Suppose your cat has not eaten for a day or two and is now trembling. Please do not wait for anything. It would be best if you administer honey or maple syrup right away to your cat to increase the blood sugar levels.

Increased body temperature – fever

Fever or increased body temperature is a defense mechanism of an animal’s body. If your cat catches any viral or bacterial illness, it will result in infections that further lead to fever (more than 102.5 degrees F.) When your cat is suffering from elevated body temperature, it might tremble and shake unusually.

To avoid any severe consequences, you must note down your cat’s body temperature with a thermometer and inform the vet immediately so they can begin the treatment plan for your cat. Please note that these tremors result from high body temperature. Therefore, once your cat’s fever resolves, it would not shiver or shake!

Decreased body temperature – hypothermia

The standard temperature of a cat’s body is about 100.5 to 102.5 degrees F. You may notice your cat, especially a newborn kitty shivering a lot, which might make you worried. Maintaining average body temperatures in all weathers is a blessing for adult cats. However, kittens do not have the luxury.

Kittens cannot regulate their body temperatures, and you may observe them trembling out of low body temperature in cold weather. But, we assume, you would not want to see your young kitty shaking quite often when winters are around. Therefore, try warming it with blankets and a hot environment.

Any injury

One of your utmost duties is to stay vigilant towards your cat’s activities as a cat owner. For example, if you take your cat for outside walks and playtime, please keep an eye on it to avoid getting involved in any fights or accidents that may cause injuries. Nonetheless, if your cat still meets an accident that results in an injury, especially over the head, you would see it trembling a lot.

Reduced blood flow – shock

Medically, the term ‘shock’ refers to a condition when the overall blood flow to different body organs reduces. As a result, the blood supply to various organs, especially the critical organs like the heart and brain, may show deteriorating signs secondary to decreased oxygen supply.

Whenever the brain suffers from the unavailability of oxygen, it results in tremors.

If your cat has undergone any injury that might have affected its brain, it may lead to shock, which is one of the main reasons your cat is shaking. To prevent shock-induced tremors from worsening, it would be best to comfort your cat by warming it up with blankets.

Seizures – uncontrolled shaking and twitching

Seizures are a completely different form of shaking and trembling. If you see your cat shaking to its greatest extent with all of its muscles jerking, then your cat is probably having an episode of seizure. These scary seizures may occur following the ingestion of toxins or any accidental brain injury.

Behavioral Problems

Let’s have a detailed look at behavioral health issues of your cat leading to shivering;

Anxious behavior

As your cat grows old, it develops social maturity and creates behavioral health issues related to psychology. Anxiety is one of the significant problems that your cat might suffer from without you having a clue about its invisible illness. Anxiety usually results from unknown factors that might trigger your cat.

Most of the older cats suffer from separation anxiety, which refers to a condition when your cat starts feeling lonely and anxious if you have left it home alone quite often. As a result, you will see your nervous cat urinating, defecating, trembling, and shaking quite often and unusually.

Fright and fear

As mentioned earlier, anxiety occurs due to unknown triggering factors. On the contrary, fear always occurs due to horrible past experiences, whether with a person, other animals, or other traumatic events. You have to be very careful if your cat starts shaking when a specific person shows up at your home or when you take it outside, and any particular animal comes around.

Another form of fear – phobias

If your cat has developed extreme fear about a specific event, then it refers to a Phobia. For example, your cat might become scared of anything like fireworks, lightning, thunderstorms, or heavy construction work going on outside your place. You will see that whenever fireworks or any similar event happens, your cat starts shaking heavily immediately.

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In conclusion

Nobody can question your love and affection towards your cat. We believe that you always want to see your cat happy and healthy. However, despite everything you do for your cat, it might suffer from unusual behaviors like shivering or shaking. You do not have to worry if your car is shaking all of a sudden since, in this article, we have covered significant reasons for your cat’s tremors.

Hopefully, it will prove helpful!

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