Behaviour and training | PETS
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Separation anxiety
can be a problem
for some cats.even the most doting cat owner can miss the
signs of anxiety. These include avoiding eye
contact, biting, holding their ears in a fl at or
lowered position, freezing or walking slowly,
hissing, hypervigilance, licking their lips, pacing,
trembling and even yawning.
Anxiety can also manifest in physiological
conditions such as hair loss from over-grooming,
chronic diarrhoea due to irritable bowel, or blood
in the urine from Feline Lower Urinary Tract
Disease, all of which can be triggered by stress.Mysterious origins
There is no known single cause of or trigger for
feline anxiety. To this day, Jessie Weatherley is still
in the dark about the source of Sophie’s stress.
“She defi nitely has triggers, but even now I
still don’t really know what they are. We think my
mum’s visit was a trigger, even though Mum is a
huge ‘cat lady’, so I’ve no idea why Sophie found
her stressful,” she says. “Mum has stayed since
and there haven’t been any issues. I think it’s hard
to pinpoint the triggers. I was only seeing the
behaviour rather than the cause.”
Whatever the cause, Dr Leigh says she’s seeing
more and more anxious cats. Females tend to
display higher levels of anxiety or fear, but anxiety
doesn’t seem to show any correlation to age until
cats get older, with senior cats aged 11 and older
more likely to be anxious.
“Is this true anxiety or is it cognitive
dysfunction? More research is required,” she says.
The jury is also out on whether single- or multi-
cat households are more likely to have increased
anxiety. Existing research is mixed, though Dr
Leigh says many studies suggest that single-cat
households exhibit more anxiety. She believes a
lack of appropriate mental stimulation may be
contributing to the problem. “Anxiety is a problem
that is becoming more common, particularly as
many people are now keeping cats inside only,”
she says. “It’s a catch 22: keep your cat inside and
it is safe from trauma and disease, and wildlife and
birds are protected, but your
cat may not have its stimulation
needs met appropriately.”Treatment options
A vet who suspects a cat may
have anxiety will perform afull clinical examination to rule out any medical
cause that may be causing comfort or signs of
stress. This will include a full blood count and
chemistry panel, urinalysis and hormone testing.
“The key to diagnosis is in a very thorough
history. Often vets may ask owners to fi ll out a
questionnaire, asking questions such as how
many hours a day the cat spends alone, how much
exercise they receive, how they react with family,
strangers and so on,” says Dr Leigh.
Only when the cat is given a clean bill of
physical health will a diagnosis of mental
health disease be made. “We then look closely
to determine what triggers seem to cause the
onset and use a combination of medication and
behaviour modifi cation to treat,” she says.
That’s the good news; there are myriad
treatment options available to help ease your
kitty’s anxiety. Worryingly, however, as many as
67 per cent of owners of anxious felines don’t
seek veterinary treatment for the problem. “They
don’t do anything about the anxiety because
they believe that either treating the problem is
unnecessary, there is no way to treat the problem,
or the treatments are too expensive,” says Dr Leigh.
Commonly used medications include calming
pheromones such as Feliway, gabapentin, minor
tranquillisers called benzodiazepines, and Selective
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) drugs, more
widely known as antidepressants such as Prozac.
“Feline anxiety can defi nitely be cured, but this
doesn’t mean that your cat might not need life-
long medication,” she says. “Anxiety is a mental
health disease. Like a cat that needs insulin for
diabetes, you can’t just stop medicating the brain
and not expect a relapse. The longer you leave it,
the longer your poor cat suff ers.”
Sophie the Russian Blue occasionally revertsPLF071_pg062-064_Feline Anxiety.indd 63PLF071_pg062-064_Feline Anxiety.indd 63 8/23/2017 9:59:44 AM8/23/2017 9:59:44 AM