Seeing your kitty shake with tremors can be a really weird and frightening experience for any cat owner. It usually starts by affecting a random part of the body and can happen at any stage of your cat’s life – it’s that unpredictable. If you’re extremely worried upon spotting this behavior or your kitty and want to understand more, read on!
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Reasons Why My Kitten Could Be Trembling:
The good news is that the condition does have traceable causes, such as the following:
Ataxia
Ataxia develops as a result of prenatal exposure to the panleukopenia virus and/or other toxins. These commonly affect the cerebellum part of the brain which is supposed to give your cat a sense of direction and stability. The malfunction of the cerebellum then leads to an unsteady gait and, tremors.
Hypoglycemia
Trembling or shivering could be a symptom of hypoglycaemia, which is a low blood sugar condition caused by hunger. Obviously feeding your cat is the simplest way to banish this condition and get rid of the trembling sensation at the same time.
You can also boost your cat’s sugar levels by administering a few drops of honey or maple syrup every six hours from the commencement of the shaking. And if all that doesn’t work then you might want to take your kitten into the vet for a checkup as the trembling might be a sign of a more serious underlying cause.
Digestive Problems
Digestive issues may also be accompanied by trembling along with other symptoms like retching, diarrhea and constipation. Your kitten’s low blood glucose level could be the main cause for this.
Hypothermia
Being in the cold can be quite dangerous for kittens especially newborns, as they’re still unable to maintain a healthy body temperature. To be on the safe side, you should keep your kitten wrapped in a blanket around a warm and cosy environment to avoid hypothermia induced shivering, up until they’re old enough to regulate their own temperature. Especially if you live in a wintry environment.
Hyperthermia
If your cat is getting the chills and has a high temperature in addition to having tremors, then he may have hyperthermia or fever. This is usually caused by viruses and illnesses that are going around.
If you do suspect a fever, check your kitty’s temperature with a thermometer, which is good to have in your cat’s first aid kit at all times.
Psychological Issues
Your kitten may be shaking as a result of experiencing some kind of stress or trauma. Much the same as us trembling in fear if we are afraid of something!
Seizures
Seizures usually start out with shaking or tremors and main causes include fever, heat strokes, allergies, epilepsy or food poisoning.
Shock
Traumatized kittens often shake or shiver out of shock. This may be caused by involvement in an accident or some other traumatic incident.
Managing The Condition
In most cases, making lifestyle changes along with therapy is the only treatment needed to alleviate shaking. However, surgery may be needed in more severe cases involving diseases like ataxia mentioned above.
Most likely your vet will prescribe movement regulating medication to treat the symptoms.
What You Can Do
Thankfully you can manage the condition by taking a few cautionary measures as follows:
- Avoid excess exhilaration
- Keep exercise light and low impact
- Monitor your cat on an ongoing basis and;
- Be sure to alert your vet if the symptoms continue despite the treatment
So there you have it. No need to panic or stress if/ when your kitty starts to shake. Just take the right steps to determine the cause, see your vet if you need to start a treatment, and your kitty will be leading a normal life and back to his best in no time.
Please take kitten to the vet asap.
My cats kitten has been shaking too, but the cat hasn’t been able to walk yet. It just shakes. My mom thinks it is Hypolglycemia, but iim not sure. I’m very concerned though.