Conclusion: It is difficult to find a clean conclusion from my research on the top 10 domestic cat health problems in 2023. The phrase “health problem” should really refer to diseases suffered by domestic cats. But it can, judging by these lists, mean something wider and even in some instances it refers to a feline/human caregiving condition namely becoming overweight through overfeeding and a lack of exercise.
Some diseases listed such as feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD) cover a multitude of individual diseases as it is an umbrella term. The same goes for “bad teeth” or “oral health”. And as mentioned many sites list symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting. There are a large number of diseases which cause these symptoms. They don’t list the diseases. This is unhelpful. So, I take from this a disappointing conclusion. I’m left a bit confused to be honest.
So perhaps the conclusion is this: you will struggle to find a genuine top 10 most common diseases suffered by domestic cats in 2023 if you search online which was my objective.
And remember the information only comes from English speaking countries in the West! Pretty limited. What about the feline health problems suffered in Asia and South America for instance? When you search in English you get results from the West.
I have published the conclusion first because in the modern era, people want results very quickly. They want to see what are looking for at the top of the page and then if they are interested, they can read about it below that conclusion. It is a speeded-up world.
Introduction
If you ask search engines for the 10 most common cat health problems and you will see wide variations. The results are unhelpfully very inconsistent. Is this because the raw data is inaccurate? It seems to me that we don’t have a unified database where information can be pooled. The public is reliant on individual websites. Where do they get their information from? Insurance businesses will be fairly reliable.
Despite these difficulties you will see certain diseases popping up time and time again but these lists are very general except for diseases such as diabetes which is very specific and which refers to Type II diabetes in my view. I think they should be more precise because Type II diabetes is often caused by obesity as it is for humans. Obesity per se is not a disease but a human behaviour problem.
If you look up this information in a book you see further variation. That’s why I have made 7 lists domestic cat health problems in 2023. It was impossible to make 10 lists as they weren’t available online.
The date is relevant because domestic cat health problems have evolved with the evolution of the human-to-cat relationship. For example, there’s more domestic cat obesity today than there was 20 years ago. This results in more Type II diabetes today than in the past.
For completeness, here is a list from 2006 provided by:
Veterinary Pet Insurance Co.
- Urinary tract infections
- Stomach upsets
- Kidney disease
- Skin allergies
- Respiratory infections
- Diabetes
- Ear infections
- Colitis
- Eye infections
- Wound infections
Insurance data (Bow Wow Meow)
This morning, Bing presents this list as the top search engine result. Incidentally, Bing is going through a transformation because of AI capabilities. The search engines are providing artificial intelligence to answer questions.
- Obesity (comment: in my opinion, obesity is not a cat health problem per se. It is a condition which causes many health problems so I think that this should not be listed!)
- Cancer
- Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)
- Cat fleas
- Heartworm
- Sneezing (this is a symptom of a health condition not a health condition per se. This is another error in my view which tells you quite a lot about the kind of carelessness you meet on the Internet and which Google or Bing finds as a reliable source!)
- Broken bones
- Dental disease (this is normally referred to as poor oral health which covers periodontal disease and disease of the teeth)
- Diarrhoea (this, too, is a symptom of a disease not a disease per se so once again this should not be listed in this particular list those brackets.
- Kidney disease
RSPCA (UK)
They list the most common general problems in cats in descending order in an Infographic as follows. This will be based on their veterinary database.
- Dental (15.1%)
- Trauma (12.9%)
- Skin problems (10.4%)
- Digestive problems (10.0%)
- Parasitic infestation (9.8%)-they don’t specify whether this is a reference to endoparasites or ectoparasites.
- Dental disease (13.9%)
- Flea infestation (8.0%)
- Obesity (6.7%)
- Heart murmur (5.0%)
- Injury (4.6%)
Web MD website
They list the following as the six, health problems in domestic cats. Their article is dated 2022 but it is online right now at 2023. They list 2 symptoms not diseases which surprises me.
- Vomiting (this is a symptom not a disease per se)
- Feline lower urinary tract diseases (FLUTD)
- Cat fleas (this could be described as an ectoparasite infestation)
- Tapeworms
- Diarrhoea (once again this is a symptom of a wide range of diseases)
- Eye problems
ASPCA
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)
- Feline leukaemia virus
- Heartworm
- High-rise syndrome (this is not a health condition obviously but an aspect of domestic cat behaviour and human behavior which can result in injury as they fall off buildings)
- Rabies
- Ringworm
- Upper respiratory infections
- Worms
Pet Care Rx
They list five common Problems and health issues:
- Bladder infection
- Periodontitis (this refers to gum disease and general oral health)
- Overactive thyroid
- Chronic kidney disease
- Upset stomach/vomiting
Petful
- Feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD)
- Bad teeth
- Overactive thyroid glands
- Kidney disease
- Vomiting
- Diabetes mellitus (type II diabetes i.e. sugar diabetes)
- Diarrhoea
- Bladder infections
- Lymphoma/lymphosarcoma
- Snuffles and sneezes (this must be a reference to upper respiratory tract infections for UTIs in short)
Below are some more articles on cat health problems.
