Could Stress Be The Cause Of Your Cats Strange Behavior?

Has your cat recently started to act a little strange? Perhaps it has started to act a little aggressively towards you or other family members? Or maybe it has become fearful of something or someone for no apparent reason? Whatever the strange behavior, it is important to get to the bottom of it before it develops any further.

What most cat owners don't know is that the sudden changes in their cats behavior could be a result of stress. If you are like most cat owners and are not sure how to help your feline friend then here is a little helpful advice.

Understanding Cats Under Stress

Cats just like many other beings are vulnerable to stressful situations. Any event that comes on suddenly changing your cats environment or someone new joining the household can cause serious stress to your cat. Some cats take on the change with little or no behaviorial issues at all, however most cats do not react this way. Most cats feel threatened and display these insecurities by being aggressive, or withdrawn. No matter how minor the change could be, most likely your cat is going to feel stressed out and react to it. Some of the changes that stress out your cat include: Moving, and not only moving to a different house, but also just moving furniture around in your home. (Especially if its their cat stuff you're moving.) Another stressful event is when a new member joins the family whether it be a new person moving in or a new pet.

However, it may not always be a change in your cat's environment that brings out stress related problems. It could be that your cat has an illness that you are unaware of. It is always worth visiting your vet if its behavior does change and there have been no obvious changes in or around your home that could be the cause.

Now that you have identified the reasoning for your cats behavior, you are now ready to deal with it.

How to Deal with Feline Stress

Depending on what the stressor is, going to directly influence the action you will be taking. However, no matter what the stressor is, patience will be the key to overcoming it. Let's say you've just moved homes. The action here would be to give your cat it's own 'room'. Their 'room' is going to be their safe place. You will only expose them to their room at first. After, you will gradually be introducing the rest of the house. You will have to leave their room available for them, so when they get overwhelmed or scared at any point they can run back and destress in their room, and if they know this is their safe place, they will be doing this automatically.

However, sometimes patience alone will not help. In these cases, it might be a good idea to purchase commercial products to help. Rescue Remedies can help to calm your cat and one particularly good one includes Bach Flower Essence. Helpful in both animals and humans, you should place 2-3 drops of the remedy into your cat's drinking water. This should provide quick relief for your pet once it has drank it. However, not all cats will drink water with the remedy in it because the alcohol content can be too much. If this is the case, then you can always place the remedy behind the cat's ears.

When dealing with your cats behavioral problems, first know that stress is a contibuting factor. So, if your cat is displaying any strange behaviors notice the recent changes or people that could be stressing out your cat.