Feline anxiety

Feline anxiety is a pattern of fear-related behavior in cats that persists beyond a brief startle and affects how the animal eats, sleeps, eliminates or interacts.

Cats express anxiety differently from dogs and often subtly: hiding, reduced grooming or overgrooming that causes bald patches, urinating outside the litter box, aggression toward people or other cats, loss of appetite, excessive vocalization and a crouched posture with dilated pupils. Common triggers include new pets or people, moving, changes in routine, conflict in multi-cat homes and inadequate hiding or perching spaces. Chronic stress in cats is also linked to lower urinary tract disease.

A veterinarian first excludes medical causes such as pain, hyperthyroidism or urinary disease, then evaluates the home environment and behavior history, sometimes with referral to a veterinary behaviorist. Environmental enrichment and behavior modification are the foundation of care, with medication in some cases. Direct controlled evidence on cannabidiol in cats with anxiety is currently sparse.