Cat Pharyngitis: Symptoms
📝 Summary
Early signs of cat pharyngitis mainly appear as slow eating, which may progress to increasing difficulty swallowing or a complete loss of appetite. Affected cats also frequently gulp, drool, and have a swollen, painful throat, and they flinch when the throat is touched. In severe cases they stop eating and refuse even water.
1 What Are the Symptoms of Cat Pharyngitis?
1. When a cat has acute pharyngitis, its body temperature rises and it may develop a fever. The cat usually becomes lethargic and tends to hide in quiet, secluded spots to sleep.
2. Because the throat is swollen, swallowing becomes painful. While the cat’s overall condition may not yet have deteriorated, its appetite often remains, but you will notice it takes much longer to finish each mouthful — a sign of painful, difficult swallowing. As the disease progresses, the cat will refuse to eat.
3. A cat with pharyngitis may show common oral symptoms such as drooling and vomiting. Owners should stay alert and identify the underlying cause of these signs.
4. The cat may also sneeze and have a runny nose, much like a cold, along with unusual behaviors — for instance, frequently licking its nose and lips the way dogs do, which healthy cats rarely do.
5. The swollen throat also causes heavy panting, short and rapid breathing, and difficulty breathing.
6. In severe cases, touching the cat’s chin and throat reveals noticeable swelling caused by inflamed pharyngeal and lower-jaw lymph nodes.
2 How to Confirm Pharyngitis
Beyond the symptoms above, other methods can help diagnose pharyngitis. In a cat that is vomiting, pressing on the throat will make the vomiting worse. Opening the mouth shows congested pharyngeal mucosa with discharge and oral or pharyngeal ulcers. If the problem is caused by a swallowed foreign object, examining the throat or taking an X-ray can locate it.
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