Could Your Home Be Stressing Out Your Cat?
Discover five simple yet powerful adjustments you can make to create a more peaceful, enriching environment that truly caters to your cat’s unique needs and instincts.
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STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Top tips for cat owners include viewing your environment through your cat’s eyes and offering as much fresh food as your kitty will eat (and you can afford)
- Other tips include learning to make bone broth, which has many applications in households with cats; getting your cat moving; and minimizing all forms of chemicals your feline family member is exposed to
No. 1 — View the World as Your Cat Does
Think about the world from your cat’s perspective, apply that perspective to the environment you offer her in your home, and then make necessary adjustments to decrease her stress and increase her joy.
Often we get so busy with our own lives that we lose awareness of what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes (or paws), including loved ones we share our home with. Sometimes it’s easy to tell there’s something wrong with a feline housemate due to a change in her behavior, for example, lack of grooming, hiding, or more or fewer vocalizations.
But what about when your cat is acting normally? Do you ever try to view her world through her eyes during those times? It’s an exercise worth doing. Some questions to ask yourself:
- How clean and comfortable is her cat bed or wherever she hangs out most of the time?
- How strong is the smell of household cleaners after a thorough housecleaning? What does kitty’s nose tell her when you spray perfume, or scented room or upholstery deodorizers around the house?
- What condition is her bathroom (litterbox) in? Is it in a low-traffic area? Is it clean?
- What is there for her to do all day? Can she look out the window and feel the sun on her face?
- Does she really enjoy her food? Is she bored eating the same food all the time?
This exercise has been extremely helpful in getting cat parents to really think in terms of how their kitty feels about sharing an environment that has been designed and personalized for humans.
Many of us assume our pets automatically and easily adjust to our individual lifestyles. We don’t regularly check in with them and make sure they’re okay, or consider the possibility that the environment or lifestyle we’re offering them might be negatively impacting them.
No. 2 — Sneak Fresh Food Into Your Cat’s Diet
If you have a kitty who’s addicted to kibble, try replacing 5 pieces of dry food a day with 1/16th teaspoon of fresh food. While it’s true getting a kibble-addicted cat off junk food can be tricky, it’s not impossible. Start by calculating how many calories your cat needs per day using the following formula:
First, convert your cat’s weight to kilograms by dividing her weight in pounds by 2.2. Let’s say she weighs 15 pounds:
Next, multiply your cat's weight in kilograms by 30 and then add 70 to that result:
Now multiply that result by 0.8:
To maintain your cat’s weight at 15 pounds, she should be fed 220 calories per day. If she needs to lose a few pounds, substitute her ideal weight for her current weight in the formula.
Next, measure out an amount of food equal to the daily calories she needs, then remove 5 or 6 pieces of kibble and replace it with fresh food. After a few days, remove an additional 5 pieces of kibble and add another 1/16th to 1/18th teaspoon of fresh food.
Over time (sometimes months) you can slowly wean your addicted kitty to a much healthier addiction: species appropriate food! You can also add bone broth to the dry food to decrease the pleasurable crunch. (Who obsesses about soggy potato chips? No one!) The moisture is not only good for her, but it makes it harder for her to avoid the fresh food mixed in with the kibble.
If you can’t afford to feed an entirely fresh food diet, replace as much processed food with fresh food as possible given your budget. And it’s extremely important to feed a diet that is nutritionally complete whether you make the food at home or buy a commercially frozen fresh food diet.
You can find out if a cat food recipe is complete and balanced by asking the person or company who created it to send you the nutritional analysis of the food. Companies that care about long term nutritional adequacy are proud to share their analyses results with you.
If they haven’t analyzed their recipe or food, it means they’re guessing at nutritional adequacy. Sadly, many commercially available raw foods aren’t appropriately evaluated to assure minimum nutrient requirements are met, and this will cause health problems over time.
No. 3 — Learn How to Make Bone Broth
Not only is bone broth a fabulous way to wean cats off dry food, but it’s a great way to keep older kitties eating and hydrated. It can also make medications delivered by syringe much more palatable to kitties. Bone broth is also an excellent topper (regardless of what your cat is eating) if you’re looking for a delicious way to increase nutritional density.
No. 4 — Get Your Cat Moving
A few suggestions:
- Make sure your cat has things to climb on, like a multi-level cat tree or tower.
- Invest in a laser toy, either an inexpensive one, or something a bit more sophisticated.
- Choose toys and activities that appeal to your cat's hunting instinct.
- Don't overlook old standbys, like dragging a piece of string across the floor in view of your cat. Ping-pong balls are another oldie but goodie, along with bits of paper rolled into balls, and any light object that can be made to move fast and in unexpected ways.
- Consider walking your cat in nice weather using a harness. This gets him out into the fresh air, stimulates his senses and gets his paws in direct contact with the ground. An alternative is a safe, fully enclosed porch or patio (a “catio”) that prevents your cat from getting out and other animals from getting in.
- Also consider using food as “movement motivation” with tools such as indoor hunting feeder mice.
No. 5 — Minimize Your Use of All Chemicals
Cats are exquisitely sensitive creatures. They’re sensitive to noise, chemicals, medications, pollutants, air quality — the list is endless.
If you have an outdoor cat and you live in Wisconsin, during the summer months she may be at risk for fleas and ticks, but even then, what’s the worst-case scenario? She may get tapeworms from fleas, but thankfully, our feline friends are highly resistant to heartworm and other tick-borne diseases that plague even the healthiest of canines.
Indoor housecats not exposed to other animals don’t need monthly pesticide application (fleas come from other animals) or annual vaccines (infectious diseases come from other animals). Vaccines don’t magically wear off after 365 days — most last a lifetime.
When it comes to the kitty in your life, reducing unnecessary veterinary chemical exposure is as important as reducing household and food chemical exposure.
