Can Pets Help Your Next Migraine Episode? Maybe
What does a cat have to do with migraines? I’ll get to that in a minute.
First, let me tell you Bubba’s story, or at least what I know about Bubba’s story. Bubba and I met in the summer of 2022 at a cat shelter. Details of his past are sketchy. The shelter said he was a 3-year-old male who was surrendered because his owner was placed in a nursing home. A lot of cats seemed to share this path to the shelter, so I was skeptical of the information. Not that it mattered a great deal. All I knew for sure was that this big orange tabby named Bubba gave me hugs every time I entered the small windowless room he shared with four other male cats. No doubt he hugged everyone who entered his room during his lengthy stay at the shelter. Bubba was desperate to get out of there. This big orange hugger needed me. I took him straight to the vet who determined he was 5 or 6 years old and needed medicine for a gum infection and conjunctivitis.
When I took him home, he was uneasy for days. He was afraid to look out the windows and was overstimulated by everything, constantly pacing around with wide eyes and a rapidly flipping tail. I kept the draperies closed for several days until he settled down. I tell you this, so you understand that whatever trauma Bubba experienced in his past has been impactful to him. No longer desperate to change his circumstances, Bubba stopped the hugging and replaced it with aggressively licking my face. He also started biting my hands when I pet him too much and biting my legs when he wanted to play. I don’t mean tiny, little love bites. Blood was occasionally involved. Bubba has big emotions.
One day, I was lying on the couch in pain during the attack stage of a typical migraine episode and Bubba calmly walked across me, laid down beside my leg, and went to sleep. He wasn’t agitated or aggressive. I like to think the big orange hugger who needed me had figured out that I needed him, too.
I posted Bubba’s picture on my migraine Facebook group and asked if anyone else found their pets to be extra attentive when a migraine episode hit. The responses came in for days as migraine warriors shared their pet stories with me. There were similar tales of behaviorally challenged animals calmly resting with them during an episode. Many found the support to be the most soothing part of recovery. Some even had pets who alerted them when an attack was coming. One woman’s cats were supportive to the point her neurologist wrote a note making them official support animals. She gave the doctor’s note to her landlord and no longer has to pay extra rent for her cats. I don’t know if this is a law or just a landlord doing the right thing, but it’s certainly worth checking out if you are a migraine warrior who is a renter.
The comments ranged from heartwarming to an occasional funny story or picture. One woman’s cat wasn’t attentive during an episode except to hang out in the bathroom with her when she was in the vomiting stage of her migraine attack. She guessed the cat thought she had a hairball problem. Empathy is comforting. As for Bubba and me, we’ve learned what the other needs. I know how to give him space when he’s overstimulated, and he’s learned he doesn’t have to bite my leg to get attention. It’s taken about 6 months for Bubba to understand he is home. Through migraines and big emotions, I have him, and he has me.
Do your pets help you cope with the pain of migraine?
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Originally published at WebMD.com on 5-29-23.
