Feline Anxiety Disorders Study Guide

Overview and Clinical Importance

Feline anxiety disorders represent a significant and often underdiagnosed category of behavioral conditions in cats. These disorders encompass a spectrum from adaptive (normal) fear responses to maladaptive anxiety states that interfere with quality of life. Understanding feline anxiety is crucial for the NAVLE because anxieties and fears play a large role in common feline behavior problems, including inappropriate elimination, aggression, and self-directed behaviors such as psychogenic alopecia.

The interaction between emotions and stress is complex but clinically pertinent given the physical and emotional consequences of stress in cats. Chronic stress has been definitively linked to feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC), upper respiratory infections (feline herpesvirus reactivation), dermatologic conditions, gastrointestinal disorders, and behavioral problems. Surveys indicate that intercat tension affects between 62-88% of multiple-cat households, making anxiety-related presentations extremely common in feline practice.

Pathophysiology of Feline Anxiety

The Stress Response System

When a cat perceives a threat, two major stress response systems are activated: the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) axis and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. These systems work in concert to prepare the body for fight, flight, or freeze responses.