How Do I Know If My Cat Is Stressed Out?

On this episode of the Pet Question of the Day, Stephanie shares the signs you may see if your cat is anxious or stressed out and what you can do to help.

How do I know if my Cat is Anxious? There are definite signs your cat will give you that shows they are feeling stressed out or anxious in their environment at home. Some of the top ones involve issues like peeing outside their litter box, or hiding from you, responding aggressively to you, scratching things they shouldn’t or normally wouldn’t, or fighting with other members of the household. There are many reasons why your cat may be suddenly acting out of turn but one thing we do know is that it is rarely, if ever out of spite. When a pet owner thinks their cat has responded out of spite or to be ugly, this is a form of anthropomorphism where we apply human characteristics to an animal. We do it to objects all the time, but we shouldn’t to our furbabies when something is going wrong.

Usually when a cat is displaying the kinds of behavior above the best thing to do is assess the environment and get them checked out by their veterinarian. Think about any changes you might have had in your home recently? Have you moved, or has someone moved in or out? Have you added new furniture or taken a piece out? Have you changed foods on your kitty? Do you have a different type of litter or a whole new litter box? Do you notice if your cat is also acting differently like they just don’t feel good? Signs of that include lethargy, vomiting, hair pulling, over grooming, hiding or fighting just to name a few. Or they are fearful of something. Perhaps there was an emotional trauma you are unaware of or it takes time to figure out.

The key is knowing that your cat is trying to TELL You something, to communicate to you that something is different, or something is wrong. They live their lives in our homes 24/7/365 so they KNOW when something has changed. Getting a health check up is key just so you can safely rule out any illness or health issues. These can range from a urinary tract infection or a problem with a tooth! There are a lot of logical reasons why your cat may be suddenly acting stressed or fearful or anxious. We recommend taking a notepad and jotting down anything you might think that is different in the prior month and also as you change things.

If your cat is fully healthy, it may be behavioral, and those issues are solvable. Sometimes we figure it out by trial of elimination. The notes help as they establish a baseline for what we know was pleasant versus the issues at hand. Give them more love, try some calming diffusers like the feliways, see if that helps to reduce the stress level. Try calming music for them or more play to work out excess energy. Definitely get them checked out. It may just save their life because you were able to get in front of an illness before it became life-threatening.

Tune into the Furbabies Podcast YouTube Channel at http://FurbabiesPodcast.tv.

Got a question or suggestion for Stephanie and the show? Book a call with Steph at TalkWithStephanieGoodman.com