posted by Marita on Apr 22
Cats are much more independent than dogs and seldom develops separation anxiety, however, it does occur. Separation anxiety in cats are often triggered when the owner is away from the house for extended periods of time, especially if there is a strong bond between owner and cat.
Symptoms would be:
Constant rubbing against you.
Constant meowing unless you pet the cat.
Always wanting to sit on your lap.
Prancing in front of you.
When you go to bed at night the cat would be waiting. It would spend the night on your bed, constantly moving about and snuggling up.
The cat would be very distant to guests and would not like to be touched by them. Would even respond to guests attention by biting and scratching.
When you go away the cat may get into self mutilation activities, like compulsive licking of the same area on the skin, until the hair is gone and the skin raw.
Defecating and urinating in inappropriate places - often on your bed. (Make sure the cat box are kept clean - this may also cause the cat to use other areas as a toilet)
Spraying may occur inside the house.
A cat who tends to bite and scratch when being petted, will become increasingly aggressive.
The best route to take is very similar to desensitizing a dog who suffers from separation anxiety.
Read our article here.
December 15th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Interesting, my roommate had a cat and it would always do those things. I just thought it was hungry but when I found his bowl full, I just disregarded it completely. Learn something new everyday!
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:22 pm
A lot of people believe that crate training pets can be cruel. The thought of crate training is to have your puppy to hear your own commands. That can often be for their own saftey, but typically its useful to test out their own compliance plus behaviour. The first thing in crate training should be to get the ideal spot for your puppies dog crate. Think of the actual thought regarding using a crate would be to provide your pup his or her own space, along with get him or her used to the thought of being away from your family members. However it also need to enable them to view what is going on.