Stress can do strange things to a cat.
Unfortunately cats are prone to stress, not least when we introduce another fur friend into the family. The symptoms of stress are many and varied; and range from the obvious, such as spraying, to the subtle, such as over-grooming. But one thing’s for sure, as a responsible cat guardian the last thing you want is a distressed fur-baby, so let’s look at how to reduce your cat’s stress.
If you can identify the cause this is helpful. For example, imagine a neighbour’s cat regularly enters the house and eats your cat’s food. This is hugely stressful to the resident cat, but is simply solvable by fitting a microchip activated cat flap. A little lateral thinking is often all it takes to get a happier household.
OK, perhaps the problem isn’t so obvious or your cat has ‘issues’. Here are five practical ways to create a stress-free living space for your cat.
1. Channel Normal Behaviour
Cats become stressed if they can’t do “catty” things. Think of it like this: imagine you’re a book-worm whose novels are confiscated, or a runner who is forbidden to jog. You’d pretty soon feel frustrated, right?
For cats these activities include exercising their claws (scratching), scent marking, climbing, hunting, and hiding. If the cat doesn’t have an outlet for expressing those behaviours she’ll either feel stressed (which could result in cystitis or the cat equivalent of self-harm that is over-grooming) or get into bad habits.
The trick is to provide ample opportunities for the cat to act ‘normal’. This means:
- Clawing: Provide cat scratch posts covered in something the cat likes to scratch. Does she like to scratch carpet or furniture? The former is a horizontal scratcher, the latter a vertical. Orientate the scratch posts to meet this preference. Put scratch posts near her bed (cats like to scratch on waking) and near entrances and exits so she can scent mark with her paws and stake a claim.
Image: Faris Algosaibi via Flickr
- Climbing: Cats live life in an extra dimension – up! Make the home a fun place to be with opportunities to cross a room without her paws touching the ground. This can mean cat ‘shelves’ along the walls, moving furniture, and providing cat platforms. Oh yes, and provide tall cat condos so she can perch on a high platform to watch the world go by. She’ll love you for it.
- Hunting: Cats are predators. Provide an outlet for seeking and stalking behaviour by hiding food around the house, or the opportunity to chase toys.
- Hiding: When not hunting, cats like to sleep or hide. A lack of safe hiding places is definitely a big stress, and even something as simple as a cardboard box in each room can solve a lot of problems.
2. Quality Time Together
Cats may be aloof at times, but they also like to feel loved. For a contented cat be sure to spend some quality one-on-one time every day. She’ll find this hugely reassuring, plus it’s good for you as well!
Play with her, for 5 – 10 minutes at least twice a day. This helps with those hunting, chasing needs, burns energy and is mentally stimulating, all of which is highly therapeutic when it comes to stress relief.
Another great activity is grooming, which she purr-fectly will adore. And don’t write off cat training, as lots of cats lap up the attention and it helps them feel secure.
Image: Felicity Rainnie via Flickr
3. The Cat-Friendly Home
We touched on this in #1 because this is all about making the home a place the cat feels safe, secure, and stimulated. In a multi-cat household this is about each cat having their own space and being able to get away from the others. This means providing cat trees, beds, hiding places, scratch posts, and giving them all individual attention.
Crucially, in a multi-cat household, ensure the cats can avoid confronting one another. This mean making sure there’s more than one way to cross a room, so no one cat can boss it over the others.
4. Cut Inter-Cat Competition
Few things are more stressful to a cat than having to share. Be it a food or water bowl, or a litter box, having to share ramps up the tension.
Make sure each cat has their own resources. In addition, spread the resources around as no cat can be everywhere at once, meaning they can’t lord it over everything at once. Also, cats prefer to drink at a site distant from their food, so put the water bowl on the opposite side of the room to their food.
Litter boxes are an especially sensitive subject. The basics include making sure the tray is clean (who wants to use a dirty toilet?), it’s located in a safe quiet place, and that each cat has their own facilities. Oh yes, and don’t line the trays up next to each other. Put them in different places, just like the food and water bowls, to prevent bullying.
Image: Gustaaf Prins via Flickr
5. A Helping Paw
Some cats are so stressed that you do all that and they still need a helping paw. This might be in the form of pheromones, a nutraceutical, or prescription medication.
- Pheromones: Feliway is a synthetic version of a pheromone (chemical messenger) that cats find reassuring and calming. Spritzing bedding with Feliway or using a plug in diffuser sends out a message that all’s well with the world. We use Feliway regularly in our home and it really does make a difference.
- Nutraceuticals: Products such as Zylkene are a food supplement with a drug like action. Zylkene is derived from a molecule in milk, and acts on the same receptors in the brain as diazepam. This helps calm an anxious cat, especially in high stress situations such as a trip to the cattery.
- Medication: Last but not least, there is a place for using medication in the severely stressed cat. Some cats literally make themselves ill, and develop recurrent bladder problems as a result. The answer for these cats can be to tackle their stress with the help of your vet prescribing a cat-calming medication or anti-depressant.
And finally, reducing stress in your cat is important to keep your cat healthy, and in the process spending time with your cat will lower your blood pressure and improve your wellbeing. Sounds like a win-win situation all round!
Do you have a cat that suffers from stress or anxiety? What steps have you taken to create a stress-free living space? Please share in the comments.
Thank you for this post. I have a cat who is always stressed, we got him about a year ago from my mother in law. I’ve tried a couple of these things, like lots of hiding places, and the feliway plug in, as directed by the vet (we even found a mobile vet that comes to the house for him). But there are a few more things we can try, and definitely will!
My most senior cat didn’t cope well with the addition of our corgi puppies a few years ago. She over groomed herself until her lower belly was nothing but peach fuzz. :/ We ended up making a cat-friendly “apartment” for her on our 2nd floor, where the dogs never go. She moved in for two years. One day, though, without warning, she decided to move back downstairs and has been integrated ever since (and at 16, has all her fur and the energy of a girl five years younger). I’m thankful we had the space to accommodate her needs when she needed some relief. Great tips here!
Stress is such a real issue for cats! I think at some point or another, every cat lover will have to try and calm their cat’s stress. Currently, I have 2 very relaxed cats that adapt pretty well to changing situations. I feel very blessed with that. Cinco was a very high stress kitty. There were a lot of things that would cause anxiety with him. If I was not able to control the things causing his stress, my best bets were giving him space to hide, surrounding him with familiar things, and calming treats.
I think the girls feel more stressed when I’m stressed.
Number 2. I’m surprised at how many people think they can bring a cat into the home and that’s it. No quality time, no games, nothing. So sad. Thanks for this great post.
This is a lot of great information! We lucked into finding a very mellow cat, who doesn’t appear to be very stressed. I’ll keep these things in mind in the unlikely event we get another cat.
Great points. We have plenty of room, inside and outside, and Claire and Momo play with us regularly. Our house is catified, and we are lucky to go well along together. Thus our stress level is rather low. Purrs
Our cats have plenty of room so we don’t have much interaton of a negative nature, and they can go outside. In bad weather most of them seem to want to catch up on naps.
One thing tht should be mentioned is how brutal people are who declaw their cats for damaging furniture. Your sofa is worth much MUCH less than your cat. Do not declaw – look at the alternatives like claw tip protectors or a cheaper sofa! Our buddy City the Kitty is a courageous opponent of declawing, as is my USA suppoted rescue Place for Cats.
Our household is currently pretty stress free. I should probably knock on wood after I say that. I have always found an even number of cats works best. We currently have two cats, but have had three and four. Two and four cats were always less stressful than three cats. Not sure if there is anything scientific about this, but definitely true for us.
Great info and definitely something I can relate to. With three cats, not all see eye to eye and it can be stressful for them sometimes. When we went away on vacation once, we tried pheromones. Also for vet visits, we use that.
Wonderful points. Cats, while sometimes viewed to be more independent than dogs, still need enrichment, care, attention and love. Thank you for helping to remind your readers of ways to make sure this occurs to help reduce their stress.
Those are fantastic ways to help keep your cats stress free. We learned the hard way years ago about the litter box situation. We currently have 3 indoor and 3 outdoor tnr cats who all have their own special sleeping and getaway spots from the dogs.
Enough resources for everyone they don’t have to share is key!
Great tips. Our cat tends to show signs of stress when the Goldens get a little wild. I always make sure she has a safe and quiet place all for herself. Quality time alone with them is great!
Because we travel together and I go on therapy cat visits, my human is constantly monitoring my stress level to make sure she is not throwing too much at me! There’s a balance that needs to be there, and it’s not always easy.
Cosmo hates the dogs, so I make sure he has plenty of places to go to get away from the dogs and I don’t correct him for correcting the dogs. He’s pretty good about letting them know when they get too close without hurting them.
Mostly, Cosmo wants to eat, pet my hand a couple times a day, and be left alone. We’re great roomies.