CatAnxiety2
1. Condition Diagnosis Social Anxiety [pets_name] has been diagnosed with social fear, anxiety and/or stress. Fear, anxiety, and stress are often referred to as FAS. While each of these states of emotion have their own definitions, what is most important to recognize is that FAS is detrimental to your cat’s health and quality of life. When your cat is stressed, whether hiding, hissing, or urinating outside of the litter box, there is a storm of neurochemicals in the brain and body causing changes from nose to tail. When a cat experiences a stressful situation on a regular basis (e.g., a new cat to the household or a dirty litter box) they can develop chronic stress. This can lead to suppression of the immune system, gastrointestinal issues, and urinary tract disease. This is why the primary treatment goal is lowering your cat’s stress. What stresses an individual cat is unique. It is influenced by each individual’s life experiences, particularly between 2-9 weeks of age, environment, and genetic make up. Anything from an experience, environment, person, another animal, or even inanimate objects like a new piece of furniture can be a stressor. For your cat, social interactions with people or other animals are stressors. Sometimes these stressful interactions are with animals outside and across barriers (windows, doors) such as outside cats or wild animals. If only there were a magic pill that eliminated all stress! We would all be taking that pill. Even though there isn’t one magic cure for what your cat is feeling and doing, there are real treatments that can help your cat live a happier life. 2. Medical Treatment Plan [order.medication] 3.Behavioral Modification Behavioral and Environmental Modification Plan At Dutch, our goal is to deliver long-term happiness to all pet parents and their pets. Medications are only part of the solution for long term mental happiness. To create lasting change, enhancing the world around your cat will give them, and you, the tools and confidence to live their best life. Pay close attention to the Optimizing the Environment recommendations. These help you build a strong relationship with your cat and can help quickly reduce stress. Those should be implemented first. Sometimes, it can take up to 2 weeks for a cat to adjust to changes in their environment. For that reason, give each recommendation about 2 weeks before determining effectiveness, while also implementing no more than 3 recommendations in any given week. This will help ensure that your cat isn’t overwhelmed. Some of the recommendations below may be familiar to you. We encourage you to try each recommendation even if you have tried it previously. This may be the first time that your cat has a complete treatment plan combining neurochemical modulation (supplements, medications) with environmental management and behavioral treatment. Each part of the plan affects the success of the other parts of the plan. Approaches that weren’t effective before may be effective now, so give them a try! Foundation Building: Avoid use of punishment (squirt bottles, loud noises, physically moving/handling/tapping/swatting/spanking, tossing items at your cat). Do not force the cat to interact with people or the things that scare it, instead separate your cat from the people who cause the previously noted behavior signs by creating a sanctuary space. For children - separate from the child if there is any history of aggression such as hissing, swatting, biting toward any person, not just children. Avoid triggers Social stress (intraspecies-people, dogs): When introducing a new dog to a resident cat, keep the dog on leash with the cat when they have access to each other at first. Restricting a new dog’s access to the environment is often easier than restricting a resident cat’s access. Pair positive things like play, treats with the appearance of a new pet or person. Refer to positive reinforcement professional for re-introduction plan for your cat. Training - see book resources Social anxiety (intercat, new cat): Separate cats completely when they cannot be monitored- this means they should not be able to see, hear or interact with each other. Paws underneath the door can be a sign of continued stress. Create sanctuary space for both cats: Sanctuary spaces/safe havens have everything a cat needs in them. With the advent of microchip activated cat doors, you can readily create cat-specific sanctuary spaces in multi cat households. Refer to a positive reinforcement professional for re-introduction. Training - see book resources Redirect with toys when one cat appears to be stalking another or focused on another Optimizing the Environment - Lounging, Perching and Hiding Hiding and resting places are essential for cats. Each cat in your household should have a place in each room for rest or to hide, where they can get away from the family and the other cats in your household. A resting place can be as simple as access to the top of an armoire, the upper shelves on bookcases, or a closet. Paper bags and boxes can also be used. Some cats particularly like cat beds, others do not. Cat hiding and resting places, and cat trees and condos specifically designed for this purpose, can be purchased at local stores or online. Many of the cat trees have built-in scratching posts. Encourage your cat to frequent these places by leaving special food treats, catnip, and novel toys there often. Add a cat bed or hammock near a window so that your cat can view some of the outside while you are gone. Care should be taken to ensure this does not cause additional stress for your cat. (For example, if they now have a better view of the neighborhood cats who upset them.) Add cat-safe grasses and plants to your home for your cat to eat. Some examples are: Wheat grass Spider plants Catnip Silver vine Clover Cat thyme Always ensure safety and avoidance of stressors such as children. Food for Fun & Enrichment Feed your cat 1/2 of their food out of food toys to keep your cat happy and occupied. You can find them online and can put their cat treats, cat food, catnip, or silver vine in to toys. Provide multiple kinds of feeding enrichments and rotate them in order to keep your cat’s interest. Containers with holes in them can be pawed and nosed to dispense food. Take a cardboard box, plastic bottle, toilet paper roll, or pvc pipe and cut holes in the sides. If needed, tape the ends closed. Make the holes big so that it is easy for your cat to get the food out. When the cat is used to playing with it, you can add small balls to make it more difficult to get the food out, or make new toys with smaller holes. Some cats like to find food in small spaces. Put kibble or treats in paper bags, empty tissue boxes, or cardboard boxes. The number of treat boxes around the home should be adjusted depending on the number of cats that you have (like the number of litterboxes, have as many boxes as there are cats, plus one more is another good rule of thumb). Scatter treats or kibble around the house so that your cat can hunt for them. Toss kibble across the floor so that your cat can chase after it. Toss them one at a time. Increase the number and type of toys available to your cat. The Importance of Toys Always monitor your kitty when playing with toys for safety. Rotate your cat’s toys by putting some of them away each day. Give them different toys each day. Keep each set out of rotation for 5 days. Always leave some toys out for your cat to play with even as you rotate their favorites. Schedule play time for your cat each day. Ideally, these times would be just before they usually get aggressive and/or playful. This is often first thing in the morning and late evening (around twilight) as this is when cats ‘hunt’. Appropriate toys do not encourage play near or with your hands. Toys which are attached to a string on a dowel/stick can be good for interactive play. The dowel and string help to keep your hands/arms out of reach. Make sure you use toys which have long enough dowels so that your cat is unlikely to hurt you. Laser toys can be a good choice, but they also have the potential to frustrate your cat. Always give your cat “something to attack” at the end of any play session with the laser pointer such as another toy, or a small pile of food. 4. Further Reading Recommended Resources Online Resources: FearFreeHappyHomes.com - “Our mission is to prevent and alleviate fear, anxiety, and stress in pets by inspiring and educating the people who care for them.” Indoor Cat Initiative at The Ohio State University Books Decoding Your Cat: The Ultimate Experts Explain Common Cat Behaviors and Reveal How to Prevent or Change Unwanted Ones by American College of Veterinary Behaviorists The Trainable Cat: A Practical Guide to Making Life Happier for You and Your Cat by John Bradshaw and Sarah Ellis Your home, their territory : creating the right habitat for your indoor cats by Tony Buffington
