Content
- Depression symptoms in cats
- Causes of depression in cats
- Treatment of depression in cats
- Severe cases of depression in cats
Is your cat depressed? Did you stop eating? The moment we observe that our pet is sad and unwilling to play, it is normal for him to worry, however this may be due to alien and unknown causes.
The most important part of this process is to follow some basic rules to solve this problem. For this, it is important to identify the causes and act on them.
In this article by Animal Expert we give you the answers to what, if your cat is depressed, know what to do. Don't despair and keep reading!
Depression symptoms in cats
Cats, like people, are social animals susceptible to emotional problems. For this reason, knowing our cat's personality is essential so that we can quickly detect an alteration in its psychological state.
Still, it is sometimes difficult to detect the sadness in our dear facts, as they are very peaceful animals. It may also happen that we have recently adopted you and are not familiar with your daily routine. If you detected any of the following symptoms, it could be that your cat is suffering from depression or is simply sad for some reason.
- Apathy
- inactivity
- Lack of appetite
- little affection
- scared attitude
- Character changes
- prolonged sleep
- no fun
Although these symptoms can be indicators of depression in cats, they can also alert you to the presence of some disease, for this reason, if you see your cat without eating or with a very different attitude from usual, we recommend that you go to the veterinarian so that rule out a possible illness. Do not forget that the specialist is the only person truly capable of diagnosing depression or investigating a possible problem in your health.
Causes of depression in cats
There are many causes that can cause sadness or depression in your pet, but to detect the exact cause we must review some significant factors that may have triggered this emotional problem. Below we explain the usual causes of depression in cats:
- Change of residence or family: Some people claim that cats are independent and solitary animals, but that's not really the case. Cats are sociable animals and are very affected when there is a change of residence or they move away from their loved ones.
- The loneliness: Although their character is not comparable to that of dogs, cats suffer when they spend long periods of time alone. In these cases, it is ideal to offer intelligence toys and even think about adopting a partner. Affection and affection are important for the cat.
- Bad relationship with another household member: A prolonged or recent enmity can make our cat suspicious, isolated and unwilling to spend time with us.
- the arrival of a baby: The arrival of a baby is a reason for happiness, but it is not always like that for everyone. If you have neglected your cat's attention or have not adequately prepared it for its arrival, your cat may feel sad and neglected.
- Adoption of a dog or cat: The "competition" for food, for the best place on the couch or for your pets can cause sadness and severe depression in your cat. With the arrival of a new member, it is very important to keep paying attention to our feline.
- Disease: As I said at the beginning of the article, a disease can radically change the character of our cat, making it apathetic, unwilling to eat and sad. Going to the vet is essential whenever we detect an anomaly.
- stress and anxiety: Scolding, punishment, mistreatment and even the lack of some of the freedoms of animal welfare can lead to high levels of stress and anxiety. It is important to offer our pet the best care so that they feel happy to be by our side.
- traumatic shock: An aggression or a terrible experience can make our cat suffer from depression and sadness. In these cases, the ideal is to turn to a specialist to offer us personalized guidelines for the specific case.
Each of these reasons may or may not affect our pet and only if we know it well, we will be able to determine which factors have altered the safety and tranquility of the cat. If these causes seriously affect the cat's psychology, they can be the cause of discouragement, apathy and even high levels of stress.
Treatment of depression in cats
Depression directly affects the mental health of any animal. Anyone: a cat, dog or human only need support and affection to overcome their pain and forget all traces of said depression. Don't believe a cat is antisocial, on the contrary! It is an affectionate animal that needs to feel that it belongs to a family nucleus. At PeritoAnimal we give you some advice to resolve depression gradually:
- Talk to him: Although I don't understand you, a sweet and affectionate tone will awaken in your cat the feeling of affection. Avoid scolding and punishing them and provide the best care.
- It is important that you spend time with your cat: Skin-to-skin contact stimulates her sensitivity and fosters a better relationship between you.
- So that the contact between you is gratifying for the cat, do caresses and massages relaxing and soothing, although it sounds funny or absurd, it is a good therapy to improve your quality of life.
- Spend at least 30 minutes a day playing with your cat. Make a toy out of a feather, a toy mouse, or a ball. Any option is good whenever the two participated in the game. Do not take the toys away from him if he has them in his mouth, pick them up when he leaves them to keep him active. Discover some proposals on toys for cats.
- Look for a suitable distraction for those times when the cat is alone. You'll find on the market several amazing intelligence games that will make your cat spend hours to find the solution, the most popular is undoubtedly Kong for cats.
- make her feel useful: If your cat hunts a cockroach or brings a dead bird, congratulate him! We know it's not at all pleasant (it's more likely to make you want to throw up) but even so, you should accept it for what it is: a gift.
- Increase your cat's contact with the sun and nature. Receiving sun rays is very beneficial for the cat's mood and regeneration.
- If your cat has lost someone, whether it's a family member or another pet, you can try to alleviate the pain if they are sociable. Adopt a new pet so they can have each other's company and have a best friend by their side.
- Encourage the cat with catnip, although this should be done with caution. Some cats get extremely excited.
These are just a few of the causes that can trigger depression in a cat, but there are many more. Paying attention to our pet and offering it the best care are the most effective tools to overcome this problem.
Severe cases of depression in cats
If you have chosen the advice mentioned above for at least a week and do not see a significant improvement in your cat's behavior you should resort to an expert.
The veterinarian can recommend the use of medications, since on the market we find variants dedicated exclusively to animals. However, these types of drugs can have serious consequences, creating addicted animals or animals that need treatment for life. Alternative therapies such as homeopathy can also help.
You have the power to choose what kind of treatment your cat will receive, however, you must strictly follow the professional's advice to prevent the problem from lingering over time. Don't forget that the more ingrained the behavior in the cat, the more difficult it will be to treat.
This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.