How to Tell if Your Cat is Stressed (And What to Do About It)

[DISCLAIMER: I am in no capacity a veterinarian or a medical professional. The following doesn’t constitute professional advice and is not intended to be used as medical advice. I am not responsible for any harm that comes from using this article as medical advice.]

Stress. It’s sometimes an unavoidable evil in our own lives. Stress over that exam we’re not completely sure we passed. Stress over that work-commute incident that will cut things way too close for comfort. And, unfortunately, stress when trying to figure out how to make the check stretch to cover the necessities. We all face stress in our lives, but did you know that our Chief Stress Reduction Overseers, our feline friends, can get stressed too?

Signs of a Stressed Cat and Why It Matters

While our feline friends can’t speak and tell us outright they are stressed, they still “talk” to us in other ways. But their communication requires more puzzle-solving on our part than speaking plain English. With a little bit of information, we can be well on our way to decoding cat stress signs.

Cats are creatures of habit. They enjoy the routines of their day-to-day life, and that can be a good litmus test. A cat that suddenly has a 180-degree change in behavior can signal the presence of stress. And there can be a number of different things that fall into the broad category of a routine change.

One of these factors is our feline friend’s appetite. Veterinary behaviorists note that some cats can stress-binge eat, while others decide to go on hunger strikes. Another is the frequency with which you see your kitty. If they seem to be trying to become one with the shadows, then they may be stressed.

A more noticeable change is your feline’s litterbox habits. Stress can move a cat to seek someplace else to use the bathroom, especially if the source of the stress is near the litterbox. Also, if your cuddlebug turns into a boxer with bloodlust, it is less of a vindictive move and more of a scream in cat language of something wrong. Stress can put cats more in the fight-or-flight mode than normal.

So why is it important for us to stay on the lookout for stress in our felines? While it is conducive to keeping a happy cat, there is also a medical incentive. Stress can exacerbate existing medical conditions and cause new ones to develop. Some of these medical issues are feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC), starvation or obesity, exacerbated cardiovascular issues such as heart disease and hypertension, along with digestive issues like diarrhea, constipation, and gastric ulcers. However, as cat owners, we aren’t trapped in letting stress run our cats’ lives.

Why’s the Cat Stressed?

Just like how a stressed cat’s behavior, being creatures of habit, can clue us in on stress, it can also help us to narrow down the cause of the stress. A cat’s routine centers around their environment. If they have been recently adopted, another animal has been adopted into the household, have to share the house with some human visitors for a while, have to endure their beloved owner away on vacation, or are being tormented by stray cats through the window, they can get stressed. All of these factors are a disruption in their established way of life and could be viewed by them as a potential threat or issue.

Another cause of stress for cats is pain. Many veterinary behaviorists acknowledge that cats have come from a role in which they were both predator and prey. With that mindset, weakness and pain could be dangerous for them in the merciless “wilds” of your home. It doesn’t matter if they are the safest they could ever be; that frame of thinking doesn’t just go away.

In the widely known situation of irony, taking our cats to the place that ensures they are healthy or will recover can be a great source of stress for them. That’s right: the vet. It is another deviation from the normal routine, mixed in with the sounds, sights, and smells of strange animals, that are also stressed and don’t want to be at the vet. The vet administering vaccines and taking their temperature adds to the terrible experience.

Vet Visit or Not?

With all of the multiple different symptoms and the potential serious health issues that can arise due to stress, it is understandable to wonder if the signs of stress always warrant a visit to the vet. However, just like every cold or flu doesn’t need a trip to the doctor, not every moment of stress in our cats is serious enough to need a vet. So how can we know when stress is serious and when it isn’t?

One situation in which the vet would be needed is if our feline friends exhibit a large amount of stress and there is no obvious external reason for the change. Now, if we have a friend staying over for a week or so, take our cat to the vet, or if we change the daily routine in some way, then the stress is understandable. That doesn’t require a vet visit.

However, if everything has been the same as it has always been, even the times when we leave the house and return, then that is a point of concern. Stress usually has a cause. If there isn’t an external cause, then it might be internal. An illness or medical condition might be to blame, and the vet could perform an exam and either rule out a medical issue or provide the needed treatment to reduce stress for our feline friend. Also, extended and chronic stress beyond a normal reaction does warrant contacting the vet since chronic stress is more likely to cause medical complications than short-term, acute stress.

Another situation in which we need veterinary help is regarding our cats’ appetite. Vets give a rule of thumb that around 48 hours of a cat not eating or drinking starts to become a medical situation.

There is another, more pressing matter that shouldn’t be ignored that involves our male cats. If a male cat is struggling to urinate and hasn’t urinated for the day, that can be a medical emergency. While this situation can also occur in female cats, it is a more common situation in male cats. The inability to urinate is a condition that can quickly turn fatal, and it won’t be likely to resolve itself without veterinary intervention. Without treatment, the situation can be fatal.

The situations above, as you may have noticed, are less subtle when it comes to stress. Sudden, inexplicable stress, long-term stress, refusing to eat or drink for around 48 hours, and refusing to urinate are situations that necessitate involving the vet. However, most instances of stress can be handled at home or resolve themselves when the external factor is gone.

While pet care is one part researching how to care for the creature we invited into our home, it isn’t the largest part. The largest part of it is tailoring our care to the individual animal. Your cat will have their own personal opinions and preferences, and what may or may not stress them out could be very different from the “average case”. As a pet owner, you spend the most time with your individual cat, and that means you are the one in the best position to notice specific patterns and personally know if the behaviors of your cat should raise concerns about stress or not.

Sources:

Catster: https://www.catster.com/ask-the-vet/when-to-take-your-cat-to-an-emergency-vet/
Catster: https://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/how-to-tell-cat-is-stressed/
Hepper: https://articles.hepper.com/can-a-cat-die-from-stress/
International Cat Care: https://icatcare.org/articles/feline-idiopathic-cystitis-fic-in-cats
International Cat Care: https://icatcare.org/articles/stress-in-cats