Although it is hard to believe but cats can be stressed also like human beings and they need an avenue to de-stress themselves to return to their normal routine and to feel good.
What are the causes of cat stress?
Like human beings, there are things and events which serve as stressors for cats such as:
- Traveling
- House relocation
- Visiting the veterinarian
- Presence of other cats within their territory
- Scary noises
- New pet in the house
- Strong scents
- Fleas
- Loss of companion
Like humans, cats also show signs of stress like scratching on the furniture, their tails become full, persistent urinating in places other than their litter box, loss of appetite, overeating, irritability, persistent meowing, bedding, eating of plants, unusual behavior, frantic running around and biting. If your cat shows these symptoms, then you should de-stress your pet immediately because like humans, stress is harmful to their health also.
Some pet owners bring their pets immediately to the veterinarian due to fear that something bad will happen to their beloved pets. Nevertheless, there are other ways that you can de-stress your cats without bringing them to the veterinarian. Some pet owners fear that stress in cats will cause detrimental health effects like hair loss, urinary problems and eating disorders. Before you initiate a move to de-stress your pet, you should evaluate the stressors first.
Ways to de-stress your pet cats:
- If the stressor is other pets in the house, then you should keep the cat away from other pets or cats.
- Avoid feeding or doing immediate fix when your cat is violent or stressed because it reinforces their bad behavior. However, you can give them reward for their good behavior.
- When stressed, you can speak to them in calm voice and avoid yelling at them because it will make them more stressed.
- You can give your cat her favorite cat food to calm her down. You can also massage her to relax her and to help her to sleep.
- You can provide a hiding place for your cat to give him some privacy when relaxing and resting. Bear in mind that cats too need to cool their anger down before they can interact and can socialize with other cats and other people. You can either give her a cat box or a quite room which serves as their resting haven.
- If your pet is stressed with loud noises, you can turn off loud music and put on soothing music to calm her down.
- You can give your cat her favorite toys to play, to distract her or to give her exercise.
By following these simple tricks, you can de-stress and can relax your stressed cats in no time.
