Ways To Avoid Stressing Your Cat

Cat’s, like any other pet, can become stressed, which affects their health and interactions with the owner. As such, it is imperative to know the behaviour and nature of your feline friend so that you can try our best to keep him or her happy and calm. 

Understand the Pet’s Behaviour

Chances are you’re aware that cats are most comfortable with the familiar and take time to adjust to new environments, people and things. When you take your cat to the vet, it is usually difficult for them because the car, carrier and vet’s office is new. Here are a few tips to help with the stress in this situation:

-Respect your pet’s need to become familiar with new places, people and things

-Leave the carrier out and open in your house so that they become familiar with it. 

-Take your pet on short car trips to become familiar with it.

-Reward your feline pal with treats to encourage positive behaviour. Visit here for the best wet cat food and treats

The Smell

Your feline friend’s sense of smell is way superior to your’s, and it plays a vital role in social behaviour, food appreciation, sexual activity and communication. Cats also mark their scent by rubbing their bodies on people and objects to establish boundaries. The scent of unfamiliar people, dogs or a mark of another cat can be frightening. In such cases, you’ll want:

-Avoid cleaning the cat’s scent off items and places that are his or hers. 

-Use a synthetic facial pheromone, which mimics a cat’s natural pheromones and gives a calming effect. 

Touch

The feline family is ideally sensitive to touch and use whiskers to get a feel of the environment. Some cats even experience whisker stress and don’t like pressure on them while they drink or eat. When your cat is aroused, it can be very sensitive even to gentle stroking or petting. To help reduce your cat’s stress:

-Only pet the head and neck

-Pay attention to the pet’s body language. If they walk away, do not chase them and attempt to engage. Let them come to you when ready.

-If the cat is experiencing whisker stress, switch to shallow, wide plates or bowls for the pet’s food and water.

Hearing

A cats hearing is about 4 times more sensitive than a human being, and so, they hear higher frequencies than you. However, they have trouble localizing sound very well, and due to the high sensitivity, they perceive loud noises even when you think you’re talking normally. If you’ve paid attention, the sound of other cats, animals, and strange people tends to startle them. In order to help avoid stress in your pet:

-Keep the noises low, particularly when he or she is getting stressed because of an unfamiliar person or environment. 

-Play soothing music in your house if the cat becomes agitated.

-Try and dampen the noise when in the carrier using a towel or something similar. 

-Use a low or soothing voice when talking to the cat to help them remain calm. 

So there you have it, a few ingenious ways of preventing or alleviating stress in your feline friend.