Many people think of a cat’s life as being an easy round of lazing by the fire and chasing the odd bird. The concept of cats being stressed or scared, or suffering from nervous illnesses seems far fetched and most people would dismiss such ideas as nonsense. However, the truth is that a very large proportion of domestic cats do actually suffer from these problems, and the lives of our pet cats are not the tranquil idylls we imagine.
Take Bill for example; he looks like a good, sturdy cat, who should have no trouble looking after himself. Unfortunately, underneath that fierce exterior, is a meek and timid cat, who spends his days hiding in the house, terrified to venture into the garden in case another cat is in the area. This nervousness is not just causing behavioural problems, such as urinating in the house (which cats do in situations like this to try and reinforce their own scent in the house and make it feel safer to them), but it is also causing physical problems. Under the fur, his chin was a mess of scabs and scratches caused by rubbing his chin on the ground and pawing at it with his back legs – a stress-related habit which has intensified over the last few years as more and more cats have moved into his immediate neighbourhood.
Problems like this are not uncommon, although the symptoms can vary a great deal, from facial dermatitis like Bill suffers from, to red-raw gums and even cancer-like plaques on the thighs. The causes of these symptoms are complex, but it is clear that stress (as well as allergies in some cases) is an important factor, and treating the diseases without addressing the underlying causes is often ineffective.
In Bill’s case, we’ve been giving him injections of a long acting steroid on a regular basis for over a year now, and whilst it was very effective to begin with, the benefits from the drug seem to have been decreasing as the months go by. His condition suddenly worsened a few weeks ago, and his face was covering in sores and scabs despite intensive treatment with steroids and antibiotics. His owners even tried anti-bacterial face washes, but nothing seemed to help.
At this point I sat down with Bill’s owners, the Prince’s, and had a long chat about what could be the underlying cause of his sudden deterioration. There was no history of a new baby, or another pet – both of which are common causes of stress in cats, and no change in diet or bedding which could have worsened an allergy problem. Then Mrs Prince mentioned there was a new cat, which had moved in a few doors down the road, and they’d seen him in their garden a few times. Apparently he was particularly vicious, and had chased Bill into their house several times. Given Bill’s nervous temperament, I suspected immediately that this could be the cause of his deterioration, and advised Mr and Mrs Prince on what they should do to help.
Firstly, I suggested some cat-proofing of the garden, to try and prevent this new cat from getting in and threatening Bill’s territory. Then, if this failed, to arm themselves with a water pistol, to shoo the strange cat away if he did make it into the garden. I also suggested a magnetic cat flap, to make sure that only Bill could get into the house, and 
finally, I gave them a plug-in pheromone diffuser to waft comforting smells around the house. These can be highly effective in reducing stress in cats.
After two weeks, the results of this new approach were amazing – as you can see in the photo, his chin looks fine, and under the fur, the skin was almost completely healed. According to Mr and Mrs Prince, the water pistol had worked well, and now the new cat has been scared away, Bill is even beginning to emerge into the garden which he’d never done previously.
This case just goes to show that it’s not necessarily a picnic being a cat – so don’t envy your moggy too much when you next see them sunning themselves on the window ledge – inside they might be as stressed as you!
