How to Keep Your Cat Anxiety Free!
Cat Stress and Anxiety is always the cause of behavior issues. We must address the stress before beginning cat behavior correction.
by Linda Hall and Rita Reimers, Cat Behavior Experts
We get requests for many types of kitty issues and behaviors. We see plenty of litter box avoidance, fighting between kitties, aggression, scratching, and many other challenges.
One of the things we’ve discovered, however, is that every one of these kitties has one thing in common… Anxiety. We must address the stress and anxiety first, before we can begin behavior correction to solve the problem.
Causes of Anxiety and Stress in Cats
There are many things that can cause anxiety in cats. They all boil down into these 4 general categories:
- Natural Instincts: In nature, cats are both predator and prey, right in the middle of the food chain. They are always on alert for their next meal, or on the look-out for someone who is going to harm them. This instinct is alive in all of our precious kitties, but on different levels, much like humans. Some people are easy going, nothing ruffles their feathers. Others see problems everywhere and deal with extreme anxiety. Our cats are no different. If your cat startles at every sound and needs to check out every movement, he is probably dealing with a naturally higher anxiety level.
- Change: Oh, this is a big one! In a cat’s purrr-fect world, nothing would ever change. They would ask that no one be added to nor leave the household. OH, and you can’t move! EVER! Never buy new furniture or rearrange the existing furniture. No one gets sad or angry. Of course that isn’t reasonable, but we can help make adjusting easier on your cat during these times, and try to minimize too much change at once.
New Beings: Cats don’t see species. They have categories. Are you prey, predator, or a nice being I can play with? It takes cats time to watch and decide in which category they go. The fear of a possible predator is very real to a cat. We know cats are territorial and tend to guard their resources closely. A new human, a new kitty or neighborhood cats in your yard can cause your cat to stress! In addition to being on guard against predators, they have to be concerned about their resources, like their food, toys and humans. Remember, YOU are their resource, too.
- Illness: When your cat feels sick, it’s stressful for the, and for you. Chronic pain can cause cat stress. Over 90% of cats over age 12 have arthritis, causing pain and inflammation we are often unaware exists.
Can Anxiety in Cats be Managed?
It’s important to remember that your cat isn’t “naughty.” If you get upset with kitty, it won’t help. In fact, it can make things even worse. We need to be patient while we identify the source of the stress for your cat. Once you find the source, you need to determine what you can do to minimize or resolve this stressor.
A vet check up is always a good idea. If there is pain or illness, your veterinarian can treat it to give kitty some pain relief. This should greatly reduce that stress!
If you need help to discover the problem that has led to your cat’s anxiety, please consider booking a cat behavior session, so we can create a plan of action for you.
We have helped many kitties and cat parents to reduce their problems, relieve stress, and become happy again.
My son moved back home and with him came his little dog. We had to put up barriers to keep the dog out of the living room, however, our cat can easily jump the barrier for access to the room where he enjoys sitting in the large bay window. We thought the two were getting along but the chihuahua attacks the cat randomly. I wish he would retaliate just once to put the dog in it’s place but he just runs away. My real issue is that our cat has been slowly licking the fur off his legs. There aren’t any raw spots at this point, but I fear that will eventually happen. What can we rub on his legs to keep him from licking and biting? We tried coconut oil but he just licks it off.
Hi Tony,
Licking the fur off is a definite sign of anxiety, as you are aware. Linda also has a chihuahua with her 12 cats; all it took was one swat from the cat for her dog to learn who was and wasn’t receptive to play.
Barring that, getting the cat into a calmer state is what we need here. One all-natural remedy we like is called Convivial House Cat: https://www.catfaeries.com/chc.html
As for healing the current “hot spots” your cat has, a topical ointment works best. Ask your veterinarian for a recommendation for an effect yet cat-safe ointment. I hesitate to recommend anything here since I am not a veterinarian, and you’d also need to treat any current infections as well, if any.
Keep us posted! We can help things get better between the cat and dog with a session if you’d like to do one.
Rita
I have 2 cats that are aggressive and behavioral. The female cat attacks the male cat because he uses to attack her when she went into heat early ( they’re both fixed). The male cat is peeing in one spot in the house. I put a plant there so he can’t do that but I fear he’ll just go elsewhere. Also, he wakes me up at night wanting in/out. Is this something that can be fixed?
It definitely can be fixed!
Good plan putting the pot there. We’d love to do a session with you if you are interested. We’d have to get some info on where he is peeing but it may be anxiety/ self soothing.
We can make a plan for calming the anxiety, re introducing them to change their opinions, and set up a routine so you won’t continue dealing with your late night alarm! 😉 A 60 minute session would be my suggestion. Keep us posted!
I have a ten month old kitten who was diagnosed with FIP. Fortunately, we have been successful in treatment. However, the TX was 12 weeks of injections which were painful for him, and stressed me. Before he got sick, he was a very loving kitty. Since TX, he now bites me on my feet, face, neck, and arm. He actually draws blood. He also lunges at me. How can I stop this behavior? I am considering rehoming him, but it is heartbreaking to even think about it.
Hi Kay,
First, let me say how happy I am that your kitty has beaten FIP! WOW, that is wonderful.
As for his biting you, it could be that he developed some reluctance to cuddling due to getting those injections. If a cat is anticipating that some bad might happen if he is handled by humans, he will be in guard and may bite. That is his natural “fight or fight” that every cat has to fear and anxiety.
Try associating a special word with cuddling or petting. Once he hears that word often enough when experiencing small positive experienced with you, he will relax more because he will know good things come along with that word. Be sure to give him a special treat for “good” behavior when he is with you without biting.
If he does bite, say NO BITE or some phrase like that, put him on the floor and walk away. He will soon learn that he does not get attention when he bites.
Should you need a hand developing these new routines, you can always book a behavior session with us.
Rita