Pawsability article from PerthLife Magazine September 2005

Cats are curious creatures – I’m sure we’ll all agree.  But why do they suddenly change to have problematic behaviours, when they have been perfectly happy and cuddly up til now? Maybe they won’t come into the house – maybe they won’t go out of the house – or they’ve started to have “toileting mistakes” indoors – or they wake you up at 4 in the morning – or they’ve started snarling at you?

I’ve had quite a few similar phone calls over the last few weeks, and perhaps you might think that the reasons for the problems must be quite different – well, in a way, they are. But the fundamental underlying problem is still the same (probably!) Something in the cat’s life has altered, and they are simply unable to cope with the change.

Whilst we might not realise it, or think about it, our pets can all experience difficulties in coping with life. The problem is that they don’t have the brain power to rationalise what’s just happened, and maybe although they seemed fine to our eyes, they were not as emotionally “normal” as they could be, in the first place.

So, usually, with these sudden changes, we need to critically analyse what’s changed or what happened to cause this additional stress. It could be a change in family circumstances which lead us to giving the cat less attention; or it could be that a new cat has moved into the neighbourhood and is prowling about outside during the night; or perhaps you can identify a very specific incident, such as a fight outside or where one of you accidentally stood on their tail?

What we need to do in these circumstances, is provide the cat with something to help calm them – usually Feliway – and then either to review and return to your previous behaviour with them or to set up a carefully devised management plan where you can give the cat the opportunity to realise that things aren’t so bad.

Ofcourse, there is one other serious consideration. If your pet has a sudden behaviour or mood change, it could well be that there is something clinically wrong – even something as straightforward as an abscess, which is causing pain or discomfort. So, it is always worthwhile taking your pet to the vet, discussing the situation with them and getting them checked over. And then, if your vet can’t determine any medical reason for the problem, they can refer you to a qualified behaviourist.

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