How to manage stressed-out cat in time of COVID-19

Q: We’ve been following our community’s guidelines and staying isolated from everyone during this pandemic. We had to leave our house only once so far and that was to go to the vet’s. Our cat has been having urinary tract issues, peeing everywhere in tiny little drops. She’s never done this before. Our veterinarian says it’s stress-related. What stress? We’re home more than ever and she loves being with us!

A: Ah, the age-old issue of stress in cats … It’s an issue of basic biology more than social conditioning. While cats love their human-centric homes, they’re only domesticated to a certain extent. Any change in their environment is likely to be “stressful.”

Enter COVID-19 and the shelter-in-place orders we’re currently observing. Cats aren’t necessarily satisfied with this new world order. Your comings and goings are part of their daily routine, an ordered existence you’ve suddenly abandoned in favor of full-time domesticity.

Apart from the changein-routine issue, concerns over territoriality figure prominently in their brains. Even as they’re enjoying your presence, the fact that they’re being territorially restricted is discomfiting.

Think about it: Your kids are all over the sofa (where she likes to sleep in the morning), opening and closing the fridge all day means she can’t basking in the warm air that comes from under there. Think about it from her point of view: She can’t help feeling crowded.

Most owners never notice that their cats are stressed. After all, cats hide it very well. When they suffer from certain stress-related diseases, however, their outward signs of illness may unmask their emotional discomfort.

Vomiting more frequently, blood in stool, urinating in tiny volumes (straining to urinate) with or without visible blood in the urine, excessive grooming, and crusty or angry-looking skin lesions are just a few examples of stress-related signs of disease. All can be resolved to some extent with the help of your veterinarian.

So what’s a sensitive cat owner to do?

Accepting that your cat has her own private needs is the first step. To that end, consider giving her the room she requires by adding cat shelves, a cat tree, or a room of her own. Consider, also, adding a stress-relieving pheromone diffuser to your household (Feliway) or applying a wearable Feline Thundershirt (some cats love these swaddling wraps).