Does your cat seem nervous? Does she hide to the side of a room, or jump when they see you? Maybe she disappears when friends come over, or maybe you just don’t see her for hours at a time? Cats are famously secluded and individual creatures, so this behavior might seem entirely normal, but being a frightened kitty cat is not the same as being a solitary feline. Cats can suffer from anxiety and this is often shown through scared and nervous behaviors, so what can you do if you have a sweet, little scaredy cat?

Stress responses in Cats

Before you know what to do with your fearful feline, it is useful to know the symptoms of anxiety in cats. Some cats exhibit obvious physical, medical issues and may be genuinely ill when they are anxious, while others only exhibit symptoms in their behavior. If any of these descriptions sound like your cat, it is worth investigating if they are suffering from anxiety:

  • Hiding: Hiding is one of the cat’s stress responses. When cats experience sudden noises or other stimuli, they may become frightened, nervous, and choose to hide.
  • Melancholia：Cat stress reaction is characterized by depression, loss of appetite, soft stool or diarrhea, easy to induce gastrointestinal infection, possibly infected with cat plague and other virulent viruses.
  • Fried fur: Fried fur is a self-protective response of the cat’s body, which scares and threatens the other person by raising its hair.
  • diarrhea：The main manifestation of cat stress response is diarrhea, which is because stress will cause the cat’s resistance to decline, which will lead to gastrointestinal infection, resulting in diarrhea and other symptoms.
  • Excessive licking：One of the manifestations of cat stress response is excessive licking of fur, cats will use their tongue to lick the rest of the body wet, to express their relaxation and comfort.
  • Breathing difficulties: When cats suffer from sudden situations, such as injury, shock, etc., the body will produce a stress response, resulting in faster and deeper breathing to increase oxygen inhalation. In this case, it may cause suffocation and needs to be dealt with promptly.
  • Shivering: A cat is so frightened that it can shake all over. This is a sign of stress in cats and can also lead to respiratory infections.
  • Depression: The stress response of cats is mainly depression, and they may show symptoms such as refusing to eat, anxiety, and abnormal behavior.

Here are some tips to sooth your cat’s anxiety and turn them into the confident kitty they deserve to be! 

Making Your Cat Confident

So what do you do if your cat is terrified? What can you do to make them happier and more comfortable at home? Here are five of our best and most useful tips if you want to boost your cat’s confidence around the home.

The Environment

As you might have guessed, you need to make your home a peaceful and quiet place for your cat. It is a bad idea to socialise with friends in the same room that your cat sleeps. After all, would you feel comfortable if a group of strangers came into your bedroom and started making a lot of noise?

Your Behaviour

First of all, you need to know what not to do. Going up to an anxious pet to stroke them might be one of the worst things you can do. Fight that urge to approach your pet when they are anxious as they will probably just lash out in panic. Instead, if your cat is hiding, sit calmly in the room doing something quiet, like reading, and wait for them to come to you. The most you should do is talk to them in a happy and reassuring voice. Let their curiosity guide and calm them; when they are ready, they will come to say hi.

Once they have come to you, you can try petting them. Be gentle and calm, you don’t want to frighten them all over again. If this is a success, you might want to try playing with them to take their mind off their anxieties. Make sure you are only rewarding positive behavior. You don’t want to play with them while they are behaving anxiously and unintentionally reinforce the anxious behavior.

Controlled socialization is also essential for kittens to teach them to be less anxious. Have friends with cats come over, but don’t overstimulate them. Start with one friend, then a friend with a cat, then a few more friends, and you might even want to try a couple of cats if getting your cat used to other cats is important to you. Take these social sessions slow. Let her observe you all from a perch while you ignore her, and then when she feels less threatened, she will come to investigate.

Lastly, routine and consistency are key for anxious kitties. Play with them often and keep to a strict schedule. This doesn’t just mean you should feed them at the same time every day, but you should also consider how your routine affects your cat. Try to leave for work, watch TV and have your own dinner at a similar time every day. Your cat watches you more than your probably realize, so make life as reassuring as possible for them.