It doesn’t happen all the time but before he jumps up to his two main places where he sleeps, he growls. He growls as he prepares to jump. In other words he makes this vocalisation when his hind legs are tensed and slightly contracted and he is leaning back looking up at the target above.
It has just dawned on me this morning what might be happening. I would like some input, if possible. I think he may have a bit of arthritis and when he puts pressure on the joints of his hind legs in preparation to jump he feels a twinge of pain which is vocalised in a growl just as a human would make a similar sound if she were to suffer a short-sharp pain.
I don’t know his age but is not young (he is a rescue cat). He’s probably about 13 years of age at a guess. On occasions, he has been overweight but not by much. It’s been a bit of a struggle to keep his weight off. This is because he is more static because of his age and because moving is harder for him. The extra weight on occasions would have added to the difficulty of moving particularly when you combine that with only having 3 legs.
It may be the case that in compensating for only having three legs, he has put extra pressure on his rear legs. He has certainly modified the way he jumps down. When he jumps down he twists in the air landing on three legs simultaneously. The stump of his right leg also contacts the ground when he jumps down. Because it is difficult for him to jump down, even from a relatively small height, I sometimes carry him to the kitchen to feed him. Anyway, it gives me a chance to cuddle and kiss him, which he enjoys.
Anyway, back to the growling. I think in this instance growling is vocalising the sensation of pain. I have not done any research before writing this short post but it makes sense to me. When he growls, it is exactly the same as if he was growling at another cat which made me initially think he was involved in some sort of territorial problem but none existed.
I then noticed that he only did it when about to jump up; hence my assessment. What do you think?
P.S. I have a pain in my left shoulder. Any ideas? 😉
I will call the vet today to see if another course of antibiotics might help it may require another visit.
Thanks DW for this advice. I wondered how old he was but knew was around 12+ and now that there are signs of old age he is at least 13 I think. He could well be 15+. He has a changed appearance. He looks older to when I first adopted him which is now 5 years ago and I can hardly believe it is 5 years since my mother died.