Delaney Broad
Anxiety is an issue that cats experience, similar to humans. If you’ve ever felt nervous about something and couldn’t explain why—that may be anxiety. This same exact feeling can happen in your cat as well. Feline anxiety can manifest in their physical nature and/or their behaviors.
Feline anxiety or bad behavior?
Many symptoms of cat anxiety can be easily written off as bad behavior. This is why many people do not recognize their cat’s psychological issues. Many times, pet owners do not know that their cat feels anxiety, nor take it seriously. It is the same shared experience.
These behaviors can be shown through actions such as scratching at the furniture, hiding, eating things that are not food, or newfound aggression with others (cats, dogs, children). The cat can also have bodily reactions to stress such as balding, vomiting, and urinating places other than the litter box.
These symptoms are just the beginning. Here is a comprehensive list of feline behavioral issues.[SL1] [SL2] If your cat is starting to develop these behaviors, but has not done any of this before, it could mean that they are dealing with anxiety.
Factors that cause cat stress
Cats are sensitive creatures and can be affected by a variety of things. All cats react to things differently, so what causes issues for one cat may not bother another. Cats are fickle things as many already know.
Routine Changes
Some main causes of cat anxiety come from changes in daily routine. Cats live a very structured life in most households. They really do follow the people in their house’s schedules. If you wake up at a certain time and eat breakfast at a certain time, your cat becomes accustomed to following your schedule. This is especially important if you feed your cat around your mealtimes. If your start time at work changes just by 30 minutes and you decide to eat breakfast 30 minutes earlier, you’re probably feeding your cat earlier too. This action could throw off your cat because of their adjustment to your schedule and cause them to be anxious.
New Environments
Changes in the cat’s environment are a majority factor that affects cat anxiety. This doesn’t have to mean moving from one house to another. While a big change like that would generally bother a cat, the cause does not have to be so major. Moving around the layout of various rooms in a house could be enough to set off some cat’s anxiety as well.
Background Trauma
Cat’s anxieties can also develop from experiences, just like people’s do. If a cat has had some sort of background trauma in their life, they could be anxious around things that other cats aren’t. This becomes a bigger factor with shelter and rescue pets. If not a lot is known about their life before they came to the shelter, it could be hard to understand the animals anxieties around specific things.
Other Animals
Introducing new pets into a household can be a major stressor for animals already there. This is generally because the animals are already in their own routine and adding someone else could disrupt this. Animals are also territorial and adding someone else into their space could make the animal feel threatened. Many times, bringing a new cat into a home where there already is one can make the senior cat feel threatened. This problem does not have to specifically be introducing another cat. Dogs and other large animals can also cause these issues. These causes can make your animals feel anxious. This can sometimes be avoided by properly and slowly introducing new animals into the environment. There is plenty of advice going around on the best tips on how to introduce cats.
Separation Anxiety
While many cats can experience normal anxiety, some also deal with separation anxiety. This is typically common amongst cats who have been rehomed many times. You can normally tell if a cat has separation anxiety if they will follow their owner around the house constantly. If every time you change rooms, the cat follows you, you may be dealing with a pet with separation anxiety.
Two cats are not alike
Cats are very complex animals, and each has their own personality. What may make one cat anxious does not necessarily affect others in the same way. If there are many cats in one household, you may think that each thing would bother them all the same, but that is not always the case. Each cat reacts to stressors differently and presents their anxieties in a variety of ways.
The effectiveness of treatments can also vary between cats. Certain treatments can cause more positive effects in one cat over another. It may be necessary to have different treatments for each cat in the household.
CBD treatments
There are a variety of options on the market for treating your cat’s anxieties. These can range from toys to wall plug ins to medications. What works for one cat may not work for another, so don’t get discouraged if not everything works for each pet.
A new and popular method for treating anxiety is CBD oil. This works for people and pets alike. Many people have an assumption that CBD oil could get you and your pet high, but this is not true. CBD is separate from the THC element of the plant and this allows people to experience the healing benefits of the product without getting high.
For many people the question “does this actually work?” is very prominent. Many people look to it as a miracle medicine that can fix any known ailment, but that is not necessarily true. CBD is proven to work best for a few things including sleeping disorders, pain, and anxiety. So while these products are everywhere, they may not work for everything you need.
Dangerous for Animals
The CBD market is not strongly regulated and can have some products that aren’t safe for pets. Certain CBD products can contain heavy metals which are very dangerous for cats. To avoid this issue, it is important to check that the item is specifically made for pets. You can also check the ingredients to see if there are any concerns. There are a variety of concerns around pets safety, but doing the research can help keep your pet safe.
It is important to take notice of your cats’ behavior when you begin a variety of treatments. Be sure to see if your cats anxious behaves your get better when they are using the CBD treatment. If they are not helping, be sure to try one of the other options.
Best for your pet
Your cat can get anxious just like you. Just as you take care of yourself, you can take care of your cat too. There are a variety of options on how you can take care of your pet, but the most important part is to be aware of how your cat is acting and feeling. Check out the wide variety of stress toys available on the market for your cat that feature CBD oil. The Humane Society has a variety of new toys for cat stress that feature CBD. So, check out these toys and help your furry friend feel like themselves again.
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The Broad Strokes of Delaney 