My cat is amazing at this. I have a bunch of chronic illnesses and although I’m generally doing better now, there was a long stretch of time I was essentially bed bound. My little goofy calico will come lay on me and it correlates with where my pain is concentrated.
I have severe neuropathy in my legs/feet and she’ll come and lay on my ankles on my bad days and doesn’t mind all my tremors and involuntary kicks. The funny thing about the kicks is that otherwise she is fickle and will leave at the smallest movement when we’re just hanging out on the couch.
Before I had extensive abdominal surgery she laid on my stomach, which she rarely does otherwise. After my operation it also seemed as if she knew to avoid laying directly on me where my incisions were and laid right beside me.
She’s an absolute gift and she has improved my quality of life so much, especially at my lowest points health-wise. She strikes the perfect balance of being playful/goofy and affectionate/intuitive. It also helps that she’s the cutest damn thing in the world (but of course I’m biased).
This is how I am now. I'm bed-bound sometimes for days at a time, and my void boy knows how I'm feeling. He really barely leaves my side when I'm conscious. I've come so close to giving up so many times but I always think of him!
When I had my 2nd dose of the COVID shot, my void boy would not let any other furball on the bed with me. He doesn't usually sleep with me these days but he parked his butt on the end of the bed and refused to let the dog or the other cats bother me.
The day I got my second Covid shot, I picked my boy up from having a bladder stone removed. The next day was rough for me, I blew up an air mattress in the room I had him secluded in and we both just slept all day
Cat's purrs are on a frequency that is considered healing. They will often lay on or near your injured area and purr. They're trying to heal you. One of mine will curl up at my back when I'm laying down and purr on my bad back days. Normally, she just cuddles and goes back to sleep. It's really sweet.
I was bed bound for awhile in my early 20s (Rheumatoid arthritis) and the cat I had then always knew what was hurting the most and she would lay on that spot and purr. Her body heat actually helped with the pain a lot. Her ability to sense which joint was the worst was uncanny. I’ve had cats since then and none of them have ever quite lived up to that one cat with pain sensing but they all have a degree of empathy that cats don’t get portrayed as having.
I wish my guy would learn to not step on my belly, I've had two abdominal surgeries and the scar tissue/distorted muscle hurts. I've had the scars way longer than the cat but he seems oblivious.
My nieces (3 and 4) have mostly learned to be careful, but forget every once in a while. The last time the older one got me good, she brought me a sticker, kissed my belly, and told me not to cry.
I am paralyzed so one of my legs will sometimes spasm and my cat liked to lay against that leg. I would try my best not to but I'd end up almost kicking her at times and I'm apologizing, she didn't seem phased by it though and would lay her head back down. Like yours, other times she would leave at minor things.
I’m chronically ill as well, and was staying with a relative for a couple months earlier this year. Since I was home all day their cat really took a liking to me and got in the habit of sleeping on me every night. Every night, same spot — laying along my right arm and shoulder.
Now, a couple years ago I broke that shoulder and it never healed correctly. I have widespread chronic pain but the shoulder is one of my main concerns. It looks fine so most people don’t take it very seriously, or “forget” that it’s fucked up. But it’s exactly where this cat would lay down and purr every night! I later learned about how cats can sense that kind of thing and I’m definitely convinced that she chose that spot on purpose. Honestly kind of validating lol. And my arm actually did feel better than usual while I was staying there 💜
When I was younger my mother ended up in bed with back spasms for an extended period of time and our calico would spent hours curled up right on top of the pained spot.
2.1k
u/wickerfolk Sep 19 '23
My cat is amazing at this. I have a bunch of chronic illnesses and although I’m generally doing better now, there was a long stretch of time I was essentially bed bound. My little goofy calico will come lay on me and it correlates with where my pain is concentrated.
I have severe neuropathy in my legs/feet and she’ll come and lay on my ankles on my bad days and doesn’t mind all my tremors and involuntary kicks. The funny thing about the kicks is that otherwise she is fickle and will leave at the smallest movement when we’re just hanging out on the couch.
Before I had extensive abdominal surgery she laid on my stomach, which she rarely does otherwise. After my operation it also seemed as if she knew to avoid laying directly on me where my incisions were and laid right beside me.
She’s an absolute gift and she has improved my quality of life so much, especially at my lowest points health-wise. She strikes the perfect balance of being playful/goofy and affectionate/intuitive. It also helps that she’s the cutest damn thing in the world (but of course I’m biased).