Is My Cat in Pain? The Hidden Signs Cats Hide and How to Spot Them

Dogs tend to announce pain. Cats tend to bury it. That difference isn't personality — it's evolution. A wild cat that visibly limps or cries out is advertising weakness to predators and rivals, so the instinct to mask pain and carry on as normal runs deep even in a cat that has never left a sofa. The result is that most owners only recognise pain in their cat once it's severe, obvious, or has been going on far longer than it should have. Learning the quieter signals — the ones vets are trained to look for — is the single most useful skill a cat owner can pick up.

Why Cats Are So Good at Hiding It

In the wild, a cat is both predator and prey. Showing pain invites challenge from rivals and marks an animal as easy prey to anything bigger. That survival logic hasn't switched off just because the modern housecat's biggest daily risk is missing a meal by twenty minutes. Cats also lack the exaggerated, attention-seeking pain responses dogs have been selectively bred to display over thousands of years of living closely with people who reward a visible cry for help. The practical upshot: a cat that is limping, screaming, or refusing to move at all is already in significant pain — the goal is to catch the much larger number of cats whose pain never gets that loud.

The Face Says More Than the Body: The Feline Grimace Scale

Veterinary researchers at the Université de Montréal developed a validated tool called the Feline Grimace Scale specifically because cats' faces change in consistent, measurable ways when they're in acute pain — even when the rest of the body looks completely normal. It scores five facial features:

• Ear position: pulled apart, flattened, or rotated outward rather than upright and forward.
• Orbital tightening: a squinted, narrowed eye rather than a normal open one.
• Muzzle tension: a rounded, tense muzzle instead of the relaxed, elliptical shape of a comfortable cat.
• Whisker position: whiskers pushed forward and away from the face, or clumped together, rather than hanging loosely.
• Head position: held below the shoulder line rather than up and alert.

Each feature is scored, and the combined result gives a genuinely useful read on acute pain — the kind that follows surgery, an injury, a wound, or an illness like pancreatitis. It isn't designed for the slow-building, chronic pain of arthritis, which shows up in behaviour more than in the face (more on that below). There's a free app and reference charts at felinegrimacescale.com if you want to practise scoring your own cat's expression during a normal, comfortable moment, so you have a baseline to compare against later.

A rundown of the subtle behavioural and physical signals cats show when something hurts.

Behaviour Changes That Matter More Than Any Single Symptom

Facial cues matter most for sudden, acute pain. For everyday life, behaviour is usually the earlier and more reliable signal, because it's built on something only you have: knowledge of what's normal for your specific cat. Watch for:

• Reduced activity and reluctance to jump. A cat that used to leap onto the counter or windowsill without a second thought and now hesitates, takes a lower route, or stops jumping altogether is very often telling you a joint or muscle hurts.
• Hiding more, or hiding somewhere new. Retreating under the bed, behind furniture, or to an unusual spot — and avoiding contact even with familiar people — is one of the most consistent signs of feline discomfort.
• Grooming changes in either direction. A scruffy, greasy, unkempt coat can mean a cat is too uncomfortable to groom normally. Conversely, obsessive licking or chewing at one specific area often points straight at the source of pain.
• Appetite and litter box changes. Eating less, eating more slowly, or approaching the bowl and then walking away can reflect mouth or abdominal pain. Straining, crying out, or avoiding the litter box altogether needs same-day attention — it can signal a urinary blockage, which is an emergency in cats, particularly males.
• A change in how your cat wants to be touched. A previously affectionate cat that flinches, growls, or bites when picked up, stroked along the back, or handled around a specific area is very often guarding a painful spot.
• Changes in vocalisation. Either a sudden increase in yowling and crying, or a cat that goes uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn, can both be pain-related — there's no single "sounds right" pattern to expect.
• Posture. A hunched back, a lowered head carried below the shoulders, or a cat that tucks itself into a tight, still ball rather than a relaxed curl is adopting a classic pain posture.

Chronic Pain Looks Different From Acute Pain

The signs above cover pain generally, but the slow, grinding pain of a condition like osteoarthritis — which affects an estimated 9 in 10 cats over the age of 10 — rarely produces a dramatic moment. Instead it erodes small daily habits over months: skipping the top of the cat tree, sleeping in lower, easier-to-reach spots, missing the litter box because stepping over a high side has become painful, or simply seeming "a bit slower" in a way that's easy to write off as normal ageing. Because there's no single obvious trigger, chronic pain is the type owners most often miss entirely, and it's exactly the kind of pain that responds well to modern treatment once it's actually recognised.

A closer look at how chronic pain presents differently from an acute injury — and how it's managed long-term.

What to Do If You Suspect Your Cat Is in Pain

• Book a vet visit rather than waiting to "see if it gets better." Cats are so good at masking pain that by the time it's unmistakable, it has usually been present for a while.
• Note down what changed and when. "Stopped jumping onto the bed about three weeks ago" is far more useful to a vet than "seems a bit off," and it helps distinguish a new problem from a gradual one.
• Never give human painkillers. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is highly toxic to cats even in small amounts, and ibuprofen and other NSAIDs sold for people are also unsafe — cats metabolise these drugs very differently from humans and dogs. Pain relief always has to come from your vet.
• Treat any sudden inability to use the litter box, especially straining with little or no urine, as an emergency. This is one of the few pain presentations in cats that can be life-threatening within hours.

The Bottom Line

A cat that cries out is easy to help. A cat that quietly stops jumping onto the windowsill, grooms a little less, or goes still and withdrawn for a few days is the one that needs an owner who's paying attention. Learn your own cat's normal — their usual jump height, appetite, favourite sleeping spots, and tolerance for being touched — and treat any lasting change in that baseline as a reason to get checked, not a reason to wait and see. Cats can't tell you it hurts. Noticing is the whole job.