Feline Behavior
July 29th, 2011
Feline Anxiety and Stress
Cats want to do today what they did yesterday and plan to do tomorrow what they did today. Cats in particular, it seems do not want to have anything to do with change in their environment or even any type of confusion. When their normal surroundings are piled high with everything that was once in another room, they sometimes decide to spray on those things to lower their sweet little feline anxiety/anxiety levels.
Cats like to know when and were their human mom and dad are coming and going, so they can adjust their schedules accordingly. If you or your partner takes a new job with late night hours, or work real early in the morning, this can drastically change your household routine and lifestyle and your cat may develop feline anxiety/stress because of it.
Feline anxiety and stress seems to be worse in indoor cats, presumably as a result of their smaller living space. In single cat households, the presence of neighbor’s cats in built up areas may act as a stress factor. Cat Toys will teach you how to take care of your cat’s exercise needs which is important for many reasons including relieving stress.
When the feline anxiety and stress level continually increases, at some point there will be a behavioral response from that cat. Once the cat has shown a behavioral response, the stress response starts to decline. Stress responses occur in response to both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ changes in the cat’s environment. As a cat owner, you should know that urine marking (as one possible behavioral response) is highly motivated and that this is just a normal behavior that can be brought on by feline anxiety and stress. It should be noted that it is not unusual for a cat to have a medical problem when the behavior history says that it is only a behavioral problem. For instance, blood tests may be necessary to determine if a medical problem, such as kidney disease, is contributing to the spraying.
Other signs of feline anxiety and stress you may see are excessive grooming or biting at the tail or back. Control is best achieved by decreasing the motivation to perform the behavior. The cat environment of today has been changed considerably over the many years since they have been domesticated and they have adapted by changing a great deal of their instinctive behavior. It should be noted that wild cats avoid humans totally, and that true wild cats cannot be tamed just by raising them in a human household.
There are many causes of feline anxiety and stress and it varies from cat to cat. If you observe your cat closely and try to keep changes in their life and surroundings to a minimum, there should not be a problem.
NOTE: This article is for information only. See your veterinarian for medical advice.
About the Author
We plan to post articles that are informative and helpful to other cat lovers. Having been “owned” by cats for years, we know they can be demanding, but also be very entertaining and fun.
Best House Cat Care
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feline behavior
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