How to Help Separation Anxiety in Cats

Did you know that separation anxiety can affect cats?

Massive publicity about a new pharmacological medication treatment for separation anxiety in dogs (Clomicalm, Novartis Animal Health) has clued most pet owners in on the existence and nature of separation anxiety in that species.

In addition, many parents have heard of separation anxiety that affects some sensitive children going to school for the first time. But what most people don’t know is that separation anxiety can affect cats too.

Cats with separation anxiety don’t howl and bay like dogs and they don’t chew on doors and windowsills in frantic attempts to escape. Their misery is far less obvious, and it sometimes takes a sleuth of an owner to appreciate what is going on.

Causes of Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety in any species implies a lack of confidence and an over-dependence on others. It is likely that genetic factors play a role in increasing susceptibility to separation anxiety, though environmental factors are ultimately responsible for its expression.

Genetic factors include emotional sensitivity and a predisposition toward anxiety. Certain oriental breeds, such as Siamese and Burmese, may be more prone to show signs of separation anxiety in cats than breeds with more robust temperaments, like Maine Coons.

Environmental factors often involve improper bonding experiences when cats are young. Orphaned kittens, early weaned kittens, and pet store bought kittens are probably at the greatest risk of developing this stressful condition. Combine the sensitive personality with inappropriate early lifetime experiences and you have a recipe for disaster.

Separation Anxiety in Cats: Signs and Symptoms

• Over-attachment to the owner (like following a person from room to room around the house).
• Distress as the owner prepares to depart (so-called pre-departure anxiety). This can take many forms, but some of the more common presentations are meowing, sulking, apparent depression, slinking away, and hiding.
• Vocalization (crying, moaning, meowing) right after the owner has left.
• Anorexia – The affected cat is often too anxious to eat when left alone.
• Inappropriate elimination – Often in the form of urine marking, though fecal marking may also occur. Deposits of urine or feces are often near to the door from which the owner has departed or are on that person’s clothing, bed sheets, or other personal effects.
• Vomiting – Only in the owner’s absence.
• Excessive self-grooming - This starts as a displacement behavior but can progress to compulsive self-grooming if left unchecked. In the latter scenario, excessive self-grooming doesn’t just occur when the owner is away but will also be expressed in the owner’s presence.
• Destructive behavior – Rare, but some cats may claw and scratch door edges, presumably in an attempt to escape from their solitary confinement.
• Exuberant greeting behavior – As if greeting a long-lost friend that they did not expect to see ever again.

Treatment of Separation Anxiety in Cats

Behavioral: In dogs, it is possible to train independence, though this is much trickier in cats. Enriching your cat’s “home alone” environment may help. This can be achieved by:

• Providing climbing frames positioned to give your cat a good view of the outside world.
• Offering an assortment of mobile toys, perhaps enhanced with catnip or hunting lures.
• Putting the day’s ration of kibble in a puzzle toy before leaving the house.
• Leaving the radio on. The “white noise” effect of the radio drowns out the otherwise perturbing sound of silence.

Medical: If behavior modification by independence training and environmental enrichment do not work, it may be necessary to resort to anti-anxiety medication. Medications that might help include:

• Clomicalm (clomipramine)– Although only licensed for use in dogs, it can be used in cats under proper veterinary guidance and may be helpful in feline separation anxiety.
• Prozac (fluoxetine) – A human medication that should only be used under veterinary guidance.
• Buspar (buspirone) – A human anxiety-reducing drug that may well help some cats with separation anxiety (only use under veterinary guidance).

Should Cat Owners Be Worried About Destructive Behavior?

Although owners of dogs with separation anxiety are often concerned about household damage and excessive barking, cat owners don’t need to worry about such concerns.

Cats are usually not as destructive as dogs in the way they express separation anxiety, and the problem may even get overlooked. However, the emotional aspects of separation anxiety still exist. Severely affected cats find themselves in an insufferable predicament when their owner leaves and may experience almost uncontainable anxiety.

While cats occasionally express their suffering overtly in ways that their owner finds unacceptable, for example, by urine marking or hair-pulling [“psychogenic alopecia”], less obvious forms of the condition should be recognized and treated for humanitarian reasons.