How do I know if my cat is stressed?

The most common signs are peeing or pooing outside the litter tray, spraying urine, licking itself until bald patches appear, hiding more than usual, changes in appetite, more aggression and being constantly on alert. Many of them also appear with pain or illness, so the first step is a vet check-up.

What stresses a cat the most?

Changes at home (moving, building work, a baby, another animal), tension with another cat, badly distributed resources (litter tray, food and water together or shared), seeing unfamiliar cats through the window, and being picked up or touched when it does not want to be.

When should I take a stressed cat to the vet?

Whenever the change is recent or getting worse, and the same day if it stops eating for more than 24 hours, goes in and out of the litter tray without peeing or breathes with its mouth open. Those cases are not stress: they are emergencies.

Is your cat stressed?

A stressed cat almost never shows it in an obvious way: it shows it by peeing outside the litter tray, over-grooming or disappearing under the bed. Answer thinking about the last two or three weeks and compare it with how it was before. The test follows the signs set out in the ISFM and AAFP feline behaviour guidelines, and it does not replace a check-up: many of these signs are also signs of pain.

0 of 15 answered

Has any of this happened? (tick all that apply)

If it is scared and hiding → Environmental enrichment → Its body language →

Rule out pain first, then stress

Almost all the signs in this test (peeing outside the litter tray, licking itself bald, hiding, eating less or becoming grumpy) are also the ways a cat shows that something hurts or that it is ill. Cystitis, arthritis, a dental problem or dermatitis can look like a stressed cat, and the other way round: stress makes conditions such as idiopathic cystitis worse. That is why the guidelines of feline vets (ISFM and AAFP) always start with a check-up. If the change is recent or getting worse, the first step is the vet, not the diffuser.

How it is scored

Each answer scores from 0 to 2 points depending on how often the sign appears, and there are fifteen questions, so the maximum is 30. It is not a diagnosis or a validated scale: it is an orderly way of looking at your cat using the signs described by behaviourists and feline behaviour guidelines. What is useful is not so much the number as seeing which questions add up: if almost everything comes from the litter tray and another cat in the house, you already know where to start. And if you tick any of the warning signs, the test result takes second place.

The five pillars of a stress-free environment

The ISFM and AAFP environmental needs guidelines sum them up in five. A safe place, ideally up high, where it can hide and not be disturbed. Key resources (food, water, litter tray, scratching post, resting and play areas) repeated and kept apart from each other, so it does not have to walk past another cat to use them. Opportunities for play that imitate hunting. Handling by people that is predictable and respects when it wants contact and when it does not. And respect for its sense of smell: no strong air fresheners and no washing with bleach the places it has marked with its face.

What does not work

Punishment. Telling off a cat that pees outside the tray, sprays or hisses adds fear to an animal that is already struggling, and it usually makes worse exactly what you want to correct. Forcing contact (pulling it out of its hiding place, picking it up so it gets used to it) does not help either, nor does changing lots of things at once. Facial pheromone diffusers can help some cats during a move, visits or with a new cat, but they do not replace solving the cause. And anxiety medication exists, but the vet decides on it after examining the cat, never you on your own.

When to ask for professional help

If the test comes out high, if the signs last more than two or three weeks despite the changes, or if there is aggression that puts people or other animals at risk, the right step is the vet and, after that, a veterinary behaviourist or a clinical animal behaviourist. Keeping a short diary (what happens, when and where) and a video or two of the behaviour helps enormously at the appointment. And if the cat stops eating for more than a day, is not peeing or breathes with its mouth open, it is not stress: it is an emergency.

An educational tool from Michipedia. It gives estimates, not a diagnosis: for anything to do with your cat’s health, ask your vet.