The Hissing Feline
The Hissing Feline features cat experts and other cat aficionados who share their knowledge and perspectives about dealing with felines. From strays and ferals to adoption, health, and cat psychology, show topics are intended to give helpful and interesting insight into the world of cats.
The Hissing Feline
How to recognize and address stress in cats and causes of stress
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It doesn’t take long for cat owners to discover that their feline is easily startled by noises inside the home or outside, such as thunder. A cat can also become stressed during a trip to the vet.
Those situations are only a small number of cat stressors. Stress can also bring about long-term problems. How can you recognize a cat is stressed? And what can be done in those situations?
Today's guest on The Hissing Feline is Dr. Grant Jacobson, founder of The Hometown Veterinarian in Marshalltown, Iowa. Dr. Jacobson has thirty years of expertise and shared his knowledge on the podcast.
Dr. Jacobson not only talks about stress, but notes that stress can result in illness and long-term health problems. There are many types of stressors, including environmental causes, bringing another animal into the home, medical conditions, changes in the home, and over-handling.
Moving to a new residence is certainly stressful for humans. Relocating homes can also affect felines. Dr. Jacobson discusses ways to prepare for a move: before, during, after.
How can you recognize that stress and what can be done in those? What can we say on the feline is Dr. Grant Jacobson, founder of the veterinarian Marshalltown, Iowa? Dr. Jacobson has about 30 years of expertise and is here to visit with me about feline stress. Dr. Jacobson, thank you for joining me on today's show to discuss a very important topic.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_03What is the prominence of cat stress?
SPEAKER_00Very common. I mean, we all should know that. But really, they're both a predator and a prey animal. They're constantly looking for things to eat, but they're always constantly avoiding being eaten. Now, having said that, you know, the house cat who has never known danger her entire life still has that built in. So it's in their best interest to actually, you know, be startled easily. The things that we find funny, the old uh, I don't know, the the trend of putting the cucumber and then the cat jumps in the hair.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I've seen that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, it's it's it's playing off of a reflex they have that helps them stay alive. But uh constantly walking around stressed all the time is not good for anyone's long-term health, including including a cat.
SPEAKER_03How often do you deal with those situations or questions? When we were talking uh recently, you said that that seems to be kind of a common uh issue with uh cat parents.
SPEAKER_00So, yeah, I mean I think it's very un unrecognized as well. You know, people kind of laugh about things or like, oh, you know, it's just a cat and such, but uh uh it definitely leads to a lot of of health problems, uh, just as recognized in people when we are stressed all the time, we run into physical disease, so too in the cat. Um, I'd say probably a top one is going to be urinary issues. Uh they often suffer from what we call idiopathic cystitis, meaning they get an inflammation in their bladder that comes up for idiopathic, meaning unknown reasons. Uh but really that's been figured out to be primarily stress-related. Uh so that cat that uh years ago was constantly being diagnosed as a bladder infection. Well, no, it wasn't a bladder infection, it's a physical disease coming about quite often because the cat's stressed all the time.
SPEAKER_03And and that's that's kind of related to stress in humans, too. I know there's a lot of correspondence between what animals can feel and what humans can feel. And I know with high blood pressure, that's a really bad thing on the kidneys. And so stress is something that can also affect a cat.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, definitely so. And actually, high blood pressure is recognized very often in cats.
SPEAKER_03Uh let's talk a bit about types of stress because I know there's there's a lot of things that can happen. And uh in doing some reading about cat stress, I I've run across a lot of things. Are there some common things? Uh I know that there's there can be environmental causes, things around the cat. Um you know, bring another animal into a home. What what types of things can owners uh will owners experience as far as cat stress?
SPEAKER_00First, I mean I will have to say, I mean, medical stress is certainly out there. If an animal is sick, if they're in pain for some reason, that's going to create a lot of stress. So, you know, I I would caution um you know, hey, if my cat is acting very stressed or something wrong, you know, see a veterinarian. Let's let's make sure it's not some um medical issue that's causing it. But having said that, um environmental is very common. Um again, as I said, they're both predator and prey animals, so they have these instincts, they want to feel secure because they want to watch things. Um whether this indoor house cat fully recognizes that I'm actually hunting for something, or I just know that I want to be looking and keeping an eye out on everything, they still have that. They want to they want to be able to see they like um vertical uh areas, uh so something that they can get up that's high and looking down and keeping an eye on things yet feeling secure. Um you know, they they may not know that they're trying to avoid an owl coming and grabbing them, but they're they have that built into them. Um litter box setup is often a very big stress thing. It's gonna, you know, I guess I would say environmental or social, however you want to call it. Um cats by nature are not really social animals per se. I mean they will have their own social group. Um but we used to say, let's say that have at least one litter box per cat plus one. Well, that's maybe not so accurate as we understand things more. Um probably a more proper recommendation is one litter box per cat social group plus one. Uh for those of us that have way too many cats, I mean we probably all know what cats hang out with each other and what ones don't. So when we're talking a cat social group, you know, maybe it was you adopted a cat and she was pregnant, surprised, and had a bunch of kittens and kept a kitten or two. Um well the group is probably a social group. They all sleep with each other, they groom each other, um, they're constantly by each other. Um, you adopted another cat from a shelter, and while maybe they kind of get along with each other, that cat tends to sleep somewhere else, and that's okay. You don't want to force it on them. But just like people, I mean, we kind of have those that we like to hang around with more than others. Um, we're maybe not overly fighting each other all the time if we're not in our own group, but still it creates a lot of stress of, you know, say, hey, you know, this this person that I don't know all that well, but yet I'm supposed to go to the bathroom with that. You know, it's it's just not something that that really works that well. Um socially, you can have the cats that just don't like each other. Um, you know, whether you call it a dominance thing or sometimes I think some of them just don't like each other. Um, but uh that where you have situations where one cat can feel trapped. Um so again, like litter box is a big problem or lack of using it. But it may be the case where um the litter box is in a side room. You know, we often don't want a litter box right out where we are all the time. But what that might create is one cat tends to like to lounge in the doorway to that room and the other cat doesn't want to have to go past that guy to get into the room or out of the room because um he's worried about getting attacked. So those are are common. And then sometimes we cause stress on our cats. Um certainly like overhandling can be a thing. Um, especially if you look at like with little kids. Um many cats aren't really into being, you know, hugged tightly and carried around and pounced on and things like that. I mean, certainly there's those outliers that do like that kind of thing. Um but we can sometimes push them too far without actually recognizing what we're doing. Um and changes in routine. Cats hate that. Um they are very routine-oriented animals. I tend to recommend having specific feeding times for cats, for example. Um somehow when the time change happens, they know that uh they were supposed to be fed early or they don't recognize clocks, and so they they know it was time to be fed. Um, and why didn't I take care of it at that time? Uh so just changes in what they're used to is is something they don't like. And often even just bringing in a new furniture item. I mean, you're gonna have all the cats suddenly check out whatever this new thing is, and then they might have that one guy and then it's yeah, yeah, yeah. They may be curious, but then you have some cats that tend to be a lot more timid by nature, and that can kind of freak them out too. So um going slow about things can often help.
SPEAKER_03Right. Uh when we had we had a uh tabby that we got when she was just a little feral kitten. And uh when she was 15, we were thinking we could have another cat in the house. We always wanted a cat around the house. We love cats. And so we went to our uh local uh shelter and we adopted a very nice calico cat. But uh Stadie, who was our tabby cat that we have so long, uh he was not used to having another animal around the house. I can imagine that a lot of people go through that. They're thinking, oh, it'd be nice to bring a kitten or uh maybe a two-year-old cat into the house. That was really a stressor for Stadie, and we did a lot of reading and trying things to introduce them without really introducing them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And that's pretty common. Um, you know, many times I hear that. I mean, we're talking cats, but I mean dogs as well, is like, oh hey, my old cat or my old dog is really gonna love it if I bring in a kitten or a puppy. Um I mean, my observation through the years, just by default setting, adult cats, they don't like kittens. Um it's you know, I think it's that young upstart coming in here, and no, you are you're obnoxious, you're pouncing on me, you're doing all these things that I hate, leave me alone. And uh they'll whap them on the head a few times and then kidding suddenly gets the message to tone it down or they don't. Um, but uh yeah, it it it definitely can cause cause some stresses in 'em. Um again, I mean, uh again, way too many cats uh I've had through the years. Um but we used to kind of joke. I had one, his name was Archie, and we call him Uncle Archie, 'cause he was like the one if there was a kitten come in for whatever reason, he liked it. I mean, he'd be over there and he'd be trying to play with the kitten and he'd be, you know, I guess I'd say mothering the kitten, and you know, for him, it was a good thing. Uh the others, you know, no way, get that thing out of here, we don't want it. So um there are certainly individual cats that are quick to meet other cats. I guess they're the extroverts of the cat world. Um, but the again the more default setting is something's new, somebody's new, new is scary. Um, I don't like you.
SPEAKER_03I understand that cats are good about hiding how they feel. And so medical conditions, I'm thinking, are are gotta be right up there with stressors.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Um, so again, when I mention, you know, both predator and prey animal, we go more on the prey animal side of things. If they're outfending for themselves, it's the sick one uh that gets singled out and and uh eaten. So I mean every instinct in their body is to hide whatever is making them not feel good. Um so yeah, you need to be fairly astute. Sometimes they show us fairly obvious signs. Um but for example, um I I was repairing a very terrible fracture on a pelvis on a kitty cat yesterday, and honestly, you wouldn't really have known that she was in that bad a shape when uh first coming in to look at her. Um she hides it very well, um, sits there purring all the time, which in reality is often felt to be a cat's way of um hiding stress or comforting themselves. Um but if you're trained in in in doing it, I mean there are signs that we can look at. Um there's actually a um oh, there's there's several systems out there, but basically um a way of scoring facial expressions on cats. Um to the point there's actually an app you can get that uh is apparently pretty good um that has looked and and manages and measures these things and can determine, like, you know, okay, is this a cat that is stressed? We're trying to figure out, you know, are they painful? Um you know, so for example, based on what I do and say this example Kitty, I'm talking about, um once she's out of surgery on today, I was evaluating her in terms of, you know, are we doing okay with our pain relief and getting her home and things like that? And you know, I'm just looking at her resting and her facial expression and her reactions um to decide, you know, okay, is this a cat that is sitting there quiet um because she's sitting there quiet? Is this a cat that's sitting there quiet because she is hurting? Um fortunately in my example, she's she's feeling pretty good today. Um drugs sometimes can be a good thing. Um but uh that is a means of not just guessing, like, oh, do I think they're s uncomfortable or are they not? So um the the C-line facial scoring actually works and works pretty good.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's very interesting. Uh we had a our our calico had she would go downstairs in our basement and kind of sleep down there all day or hide or something like that. And we thought, well, this doesn't like her because normally she's very affectionate. So we took her to our local vet and they did a test and she had a uh urinary tract infection. But out outside of uh something like that, we would we would have never known because we she got really quiet when she started to act her mannerisms are a little different. Are there things like that that uh that people can tell if the cat seems to be stressed?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Um well when I mentioned the you know the the facial scoring things like we use. Um a lot of us, you know, if we're around a cat all the time, many times you can just kinda see it in their face. Um like you know, he just kind of sitting there and looks sad. I mean, compared to the way, you know, the cat would be engaging all the time, uh, things like that. But other very common things are the cat becoming reclusive, hiding, um, not coming out to eat when normally they would. Um, but uh there is that odd outliner where liar where uh it's maybe that cat that, you know, you know, he's not around much, but then is actually maybe overly engaged, you know. Just things that can be a change in their typical behavior. As I said before, they're very, very routine oriented. Um so if that routine changes without a reason that we can perceive, you know, it may mean there's something wrong.
SPEAKER_03I'm Clark Greer, and you're listening to the Hissing Feline podcast. After the break, veterinarian Dr. Grant Jacobson will talk about cat stress and movie. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER_02Hi everybody, my name is Jerry Dean Farmley, and I'm the author of the Press. I have to buy off the website.
SPEAKER_03Welcome back to the line podcast. I'm your host for our group. My guest today is Dr. Grant Jacobson of the hometown veterinarian in Market Town, Iowa. We're talking about threatening moving to a new residence, which I think we've probably done too many times, my wife and I moving around. But it's clearly stressful for humans because you've got to pack and do all this stuff. How does relocating affect felines?
SPEAKER_00Very traumatically in most cases. Um you may have that, I guess I'd say, odd cat that likes change and enjoys car rides and things like that, but uh that would be the true unicorn cat out there. Uh most cats, not so much. They love their routine, they love their surroundings, they don't want anything to change. Change is scary, change is bad, change might mean something is going to eat me. So um it is definitely a very stressful thing for for cats.
SPEAKER_03So, what are the best ways to prepare for a move? I know there's things to do before as well as during, like on the location, and it probably depends on how far away you're moving. If you're moving in the same state, there's obviously gonna be less of a road trip, but we've moved long distance uh with our cats, and we had our old cat was a great traveler, but not every cat is that way. What what should people do to prepare for relocating?
SPEAKER_00I mean, some of it is gonna come down to the cat, like you mentioned, yours was a great traveler. Well, that's gonna be a cat that's used to that sort of thing. Um, you know, I'm gonna go with the assumption um that you have a cat that uh once twice a year gets put in a box, brought into a veterinarian, gets poked with some needles, and has a, you know, otherwise miserable experience with the whole thing. Um those guys, yeah, there's nothing about it they're going to enjoy. Um the cat that maybe does, you know, likes going for rising cars. Um well this is gonna be different. He's suddenly not getting back home, he's getting to someplace that is new, and then of course new can be scary. So things to I guess to prep for, uh one is really gonna be that carrier. Um how are we making things better for the cat during the car ride? Because again, I'm gonna go with the assumption the cat hates it. Um getting them used to a carrier is something that is pretty important and and really can make life much easier, whether it's a move or a trip to the veterinarian. So making that carrier something that isn't suddenly a item that appears right before bad things happen. Um there's a number of manufacturers um that have figured that out, you know, cats hate carriers. So how about we make carriers that double as a cat bed? Um something along that line. Um sometimes as well, using the carrier is it's just where you put the cat's food. Um that works pretty well too. If that's the normal for him, is to walk in there and eat his breakfast and eat his supper there and then walk out. Um that helps a lot too, but just things that we can do so the carrier isn't such a scary thing. Um I'm a big fan of the pheromones. Those that are unfamiliar with it, it's not the same thing, but think of a scent. Um animals recognize those very well. As people, I think we've kinda not so much. Um, but uh if you see a cat like lifting his lip up, um that's sensing a pheromone. Um cats rubbing their face against a wall, they're actually smearing a pheromone on that wall. Um cats spray marking, that's a pheromone. Um that's a fairly aggressive pheromone that usually a tomcat's gonna use to say, This is my territory, stay away, or I will come back after you. Um that's not so much something we like happening in our house. Um but much more socially acceptable for a cat to rub his face against, you know, the couch, the corner in the of the wall, sometimes us. Um that's more of what we would consider a happy cat pheromone. It's kind of inviting, it's saying, Hey, I'm friendly, there's good things here. It's like a greeting. Um if you watch and there's multiple cats, the next cat will come along and rub its face right with that other cat. And it was kind of like saying, Hey, you're here and you're happy, I'm here, I'm happy, we're all happy, it's great. Um, well, companies have put that in a bottle. Uh so there are pheromones that are slow released in like a plug-in style, um, sprays, even wipes. Um, but definitely using those in a carrier is very helpful uh because it puts it in the cat's mind as, hey, other cats say this is a happy place. Maybe I think it's okay. So that helps a lot. Um not a lot we can do as far as it's a new location that we're moving to. Things are going to be different. That's a given. But what can we do to make things as familiar to that cat as possible? Again, I would uh hit the place with pheromones before the cat ever gets there. Uh that's gonna help a lot. Um starting out in a more confined space, don't just get to the new big house and turn the cat loose. They're usually gonna run in a panic and try to find somewhere to hide. Keep the area small, so let the cat explore that area on their own terms. Have some familiar things there for them. Um, if your cat normally has a favorite cat tree or cat little tidy hole or whatever, make sure that is nearby. Anything we can do that is this is actually more like home and the things I like as opposed to scary and terrible. Um many of us know what our cat is like when we take it in a car. Um many cats haven't. Um, I might suggest even a few trial runs, you know, just to drive around town um sometimes to see, like, okay, is my cat going to be okay in the car, or is my cat going to go absolutely berserk here? You know, just you kind of want to know because where I can come in is there sometimes our medicines that we can give them that can take that edge off so they aren't in the panic mode, um, help um you know on a short term, um, particularly maybe a longer trip, but even sometimes those short trips because um you maybe just moved five minutes across town, but again, that's a big trauma for the cat. So um definitely involving the veterinarian is a wise thing to do.
SPEAKER_03So so that would be like a maybe a pre-move vet visit. Uh we did this when we moved once. We took our older cat in just to get everything checked, and then finding a vet in a new area that we can connect right away.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think yes, definitely an important thing to do because again, you know, we can discuss these things and some strategies of what might help make everything uh go a lot more smoothly for that cat as it moves, but also pick up if there's any health problems going on. Um where was earlier, you know, mentioned you know, high blood pressure, kidney problems, various things like that. I mean, if we discover that the cat is sick, even a minor illness, you know, what do you think? You know, kind of for us as people, one of the worst things is to go on a trip somewhere and get sick while you're away from home. Absolutely multiply that, you know, if you're a cat. Um, but also cats, again, being so good at hiding illnesses, there could be something seriously going on in there, and you know, that extra stress could be that tipping point. So for those reasons, it's a good idea to check things over, see, you know, we can offer advice of, you know, and I get that a lot. Hey, is there something you can do my cat to make it sleep the whole weight? No, we can't really do that. But there are things that we can do to help take that edge off. And a lot of times uh many of us know veterinarians. Um, if you're going to a different city, sometimes it could be like, hey, I have a classmate in that city, or you know, so it doesn't hurt uh because you do want to have a veterinarian lined up on the other end of that move. You know, I many times have people talk about like, well, we'll find, you know, we're gonna have to find a vet when we get there. You know, boy, it'd be a lot better if you'd at least uh made a some initial arrangements for thought of things because you know what if something happens on that trip? You know, you get there and you notice my kitty doesn't seem to be feeling good after this big, you know, trying in the middle of the night to look up names is probably not the best point to be doing it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, good point. We've been kind of talking about stressors and those types of things throughout the show today. Do you have a recommendation when to visit a veterinarian due to a cat seeming to have ongoing stress?
SPEAKER_00I would say the sooner the better, honestly. I mean, if you're noticing things that just don't seem right, again, as I mentioned, you know, these guys are masters at hiding illness. Um but likewise, you know, if it is just the cat that is freaked out because there's a Tomcat outside that he sees through the window, I mean, the longer that kind of thing is going on and on and on, um, those stresses can lead to actual physical illness too. So, um, but I will say in the example that I just gave, you know, you hit the point of this cat sees that Tomcat, it escalates to this Tomcat is you know spray marking your front door. Um, but what you're seeing is your own cat is peeing in front of that door or spraying it. Um you can get to the point where the cat feeling that it's defending itself turns into a habit. So whatever was creating that stress to begin with is long gone. But some of these, especially urinary issues, I feel become a habit for the cat, and they keep returning to that problem. And unfortunately, you know, there's many a cat that uh not using the litter box has been a death sentence.
SPEAKER_03I've been visiting today with Dr. Grant Jacobson, founder of the Hometown Veterinarian in Marshalltown, Iowa. Doctor, thank you for sharing your expertise today about cat stressors, how to look for stress, and addressing that problem.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thanks for having me on. Um, hopefully uh giving some insight for people to uh to gain some knowledge. I will throw a plug for the uh Feline Medical Association. I've been a member of that um since I was in veterinary college, and uh it's a fantastic place to find a lot of resources uh for just anything cat. Um, but uh particularly you'll find a lot on stress in there and easing that.
SPEAKER_03Yes, that's a that's an excellent uh example. And uh just appreciate all the resources that people can have to check on what is happening with their cat, and maybe that will lead them to uh better areas to uh dig deeper if they're having ongoing problems. The Histing Feed Live podcast to share the program with another catalog, stop I guess next week for another episode of the Histing Feed Live podcast.
