Cats are naturally sensitive, reactive creatures, and stress can hit them hard. Reducing stress in cats is crucial and begins with understanding the causes and recognizing the signs.
Why stress relief is important for cats
Stress can lead to physical, mental, and behavioral problems in cats. Unwanted behaviors are among the top reasons cats are surrendered to shelters and euthanized. And because cats hide illness and pain so well, many health conditions (caused or exacerbated by stress) can remain undetected until they become advanced.
Preventing and reducing stress will help prevent unwanted behavior and serious illnesses. It can also strengthen the human-animal bond.
Types of stress
There are two types of stress felines experience in response to either real or perceived threats: acute and chronic.
Acute stress is sudden and can result from situations such as:
- Travel
- Veterinary clinic visits or hospitalization
- Restraint/handling
- Confinement
- Introduction to a new environment
- Introduction of new animals or people into the cat’s environment
Chronic stress is prolonged, happening over weeks, months, or longer. Many experiences can contribute to chronic stress, and the major stressors include:
- Changes in routine or lack of predictability
- Long-term shelter/boarding
- Chronic disease
- Living with other cats or dogs
- Inter-cat conflict—bullying or blocking access to resources like litter boxes and rest areas
- Poor human-cat relationship—punishment for unwanted behavior or lack of socialization
- Limited play
- Limited opportunities to display natural behavior
How stress affects cats
Acute and chronic stress affect cats in different ways.
Acute stress triggers high cortisol levels. This affects the pituitary gland and hypothalamus—responsible for system functions including metabolism, immune function, and brain activity. Adaptation to or removal of the stressor decreases the response.
With chronic fear and anxiety, damage is long-lasting and can lead to serious physical and mental health issues. Neurotransmitters responsible for the fight or flight response become exhausted and decline in function. This causes the regions of the brain responsible for emotions and memory to become dysfunctional.
This results in mental and behavioral disorders including:
- Depression
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
- Increased risk or severity of cognitive dysfunction (senility) in aging cats
Chronic stress can also increase risk of cats contracting certain diseases including:
- Upper respiratory infections resulting from feline herpesvirus
- Feline hyperesthesia syndrome (FHS)—painful, uncontrollable sensitivity to touch
- Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP)—often deadly condition resulting from coronavirus
- Feline Idiopathic Cystitis (FIC)—painful bladder inflammation
Signs of stress in cats
Signs of stress can vary depending on the individual cat and what type of stress they experience.
Signs of acute stress include:
- Hissing/growling/vocalizing
- Incontinence
- Hiding/escaping
- Anxious body posture—crouching, tucked tail, arched back, bushy tail
- Flattened, lowered ears
- Wide-open eyes
- Trembling
- Aggression
Signs of chronic stress include:
- Depression
- Reduced activity/play
- Vomiting
- Excessive vocalization
- Inappropriate elimination (house soiling)
- Pretending to sleep
- Aggression
- Over-grooming
- Self-mutilation such as tail-biting
- Excessive hiding
Ways to reduce stress
The good news is there are many ways to reduce and prevent feline stress, most of which are simple. It all comes down to providing a safe, consistent, and enriching environment:
- Train cats to tolerate their carrier —reduces travel and clinic-visit stress
- In multi-cat households, separate resources (litter, food, water, rest areas)
- Fight boredom with daily playtimes
- Play stalking games with various toys, hide treats around the house, use food puzzles—promotes natural hunting/foraging behaviors
- Provide scratchers and places to climb, perch, and safely hide—promotes natural behaviors and sense of security
- Provide easily accessible litter boxes—ideally one box per cat plus one additional
- Provide quality nutrition, based on life stage and health conditions, fed at routine times
- Keep cats in good health (with veterinary visits, vaccines, parasite prevention, dental cleanings)—reduces risk of disease and increases pleasure in eating, playing, and moving
- Use catnip and silver vine occasionally on scratchers, in toys, or alone
- Use synthetic pheromone products such as Feliway—may reduce inter-cat aggression and improve interactions with dogs in residence
- Interact positively with your cat by talking to them and petting them (avoid forced petting/handling)
- Avoid punishment for behavior
For most felines, some stress is inevitable. By preventing as much stress as possible and reducing severity of stress, owners can improve cats’ quality of life, keep immunity strong, and reduce risk of long-term mental and physical complications.
References
Addie D, Belák S, Boucraut-Baralon C, et al. Feline infectious peritonitis: ABCD Guidelines on Prevention and Management. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. 2009;11(7):594-604. doi:10.1016/j.jfms.2009.05.008
Amat M, Camps T, Manteca X. Stress in owned cats: behavioural changes and welfare implications. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. 2015;18(8):577-586. doi:10.1177/1098612×15590867
Nagasawa T, Kimura Y, Masuda K, Uchiyama H. Physiological Assessment of the health and welfare of Domestic Cats—An exploration of factors affecting urinary cortisol and oxytocin. Animals. 2022;12(23):3330. doi:10.3390/ani12233330
Sandia Animal Clinic. Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD). https://www.sandiaanimalclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/FLUTD-ibrary.pdf
Zhang L, Bian Z, Liu Q, Deng B. Dealing with stress in cats: What is new about the Olfactory strategy? Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2022;9. doi:10.3389/fvets.2022.928943