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Cats have a unique and special behavior. It is usually a tremendously territorial animal that tends to socialize correctly with other members of its species. Apart from their natural behavioral tendency, to understand pathological behavior, we must first understand how they are in their normal state and define anxiety itself.
However, in some cases we detect behaviors that we wrongly define as anxiety, a health problem that can be dangerous for our cats and very uncomfortable for their owners. At PeritoAnimal we explain what the anxiety symptoms in cats and what we can do to help them.
If you believe that your cat has the first symptoms of anxiety in cats, don't hesitate to go to a veterinarian who can help you discover the causes that can cause it.
What is anxiety?
There are two very important notions in defining anxiety:
- Anxiety is an adaptive disease. It is nothing more than a pathological aggravation of the state of alert necessary when adapting to a new environment.
- Anxiety can disrupt self-control.
That said, we can define anxiety as a state of anguish without a precise cause, as opposed to fear or dread where it is directed towards a particular object or person. To understand it better we can give the example of fear of thunder as opposed to anxiety in storms or before them.
The causes of anxiety in cats are always associated first with their ecology and then with their relationship with other living beings without discriminating against species. To finish with the definitions, you should know that in veterinary medicine we are based on the following definition:
"Anxiety is a reactional state in which the probability of getting emotional reactions analogous to fear increases in response to any variation in inner or outer fear. There is a disorganization of self-controls and a loss of adaptive abilities to any variation in fear. fear.’
See more information about separation anxiety in cats in this PeritoAnimal article.
Anxiety Symptoms in Cats
To detect symptoms, we should think of 2 large groups:
- Organic or physical symptoms
- mental symptoms
Inside of physical symptoms we may see tachycardia (increased heart rate) or tachypnea (increased breathing) with murmurs. It often occurs during the veterinary consultation but it is uncommon in cats, it is more common in dogs. In addition, we may see loose stools or diarrhea, dilated pupils, sweat on the foot pads (which can be seen when walking).
When we talk about mental symptoms we can mix them up or confuse them with behaviors that we might think are normal in our cat. Very low food intake is common in chronic anxieties (as in an overpopulation of animals in confined spaces) as well as the lack of proper hygiene, so typical of domestic cats.
Another symptom more common in dogs than in cats is excessive licking of some of their paws without an apparent cause. sleep alterations such as hypervigilance due to the arrival of a new member, marking territory in cats that did not do it before or in excessive form and very aggressive behavior without apparent cause and daily are some of the symptoms that we can find in our animals.
Treatment to explore to combat anxiety
As we always advise in PeritoAnimal, in the presence of these symptoms or one that calls our attention, consult with the veterinarian so that we can perform the differential diagnosis and can isolate anxiety with a higher percentage of certainty than our own intuition.
It is highly recommended to use intelligence toys, especially those that are food dispensers, so that our cat can divert his anxiety with activities that boost his intelligence and make him feel useful. At massages and caresses they are also a wonderful way to help you release tension from your body.
On the other hand, therapies with Bach Flowers and Homeopathy are highly recommended in these cases. Reiki sessions for animals can also be useful, especially in homes where many animals live and the coexistence is sometimes harsh.
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.