My mother's cat, Meela, is about 15 years old and has always had a problem with anxiety drooling while travelling or at the vet. I personally feel it's because she's quite skittish and shy anyway, and has a habit of hiding whenever a door is opened, thus the added stress of travelling and being somewhere unfamiliar causes this response. My own two cats are much more outgoing and never have a problem, despite the fact that I don't have a car and have to take them by bus or taxi. In fact, my 7 month old kitten seems to love visits to the vet, and rolls all over the table while we're there, purring like a chainsaw.
Anyway, I've been trying to think of advice I can give my mother to make Meela more at ease when travelling. She is quite old now, and has problems with her teeth and gums, so visits to the vet are unfortunately quite frequent. Additionally, my mother has to move from Germany to France this year because of work, and I dread to think how Meela will handle it. Any idea what could help calm her? My mother always puts something Meela's been sleeping on in the carry box to make it more comfortable and smell of home, but it has no effect whatsoever. I expect there will always be some drooling as a sort of automatic reaction, but it's heartbreaking to see her in such a state.
I'm also not sure why she's so skittish and shy. We bought her as a kitten from a farmer in Scotland, she's never been badly treated or roughly handled by anyone we know, and my mother's house appears to me a perfectly calm and relaxed environment. And yet when I was last there, she'd run away and hide under the sofa if anyone (even my mother or her partner) opened a door or walked through the house. After 3 minutes or so, she'd come out and curl up next to you, but even if you called her name gently to make her pause, she would just stop for a moment, look at you, then going back to finding a hiding place. If this was a recent thing, I'd say frequently moving house has made her feel uncomfortable in her own home, but she was like this even before she was ever moved. As a kitten, she was quite lively, but all my memories of her as an adult was this skittish, nervous little cat that always seemed to be running away. Any ideas on why this might be?
Anyway, I've been trying to think of advice I can give my mother to make Meela more at ease when travelling. She is quite old now, and has problems with her teeth and gums, so visits to the vet are unfortunately quite frequent. Additionally, my mother has to move from Germany to France this year because of work, and I dread to think how Meela will handle it. Any idea what could help calm her? My mother always puts something Meela's been sleeping on in the carry box to make it more comfortable and smell of home, but it has no effect whatsoever. I expect there will always be some drooling as a sort of automatic reaction, but it's heartbreaking to see her in such a state.
I'm also not sure why she's so skittish and shy. We bought her as a kitten from a farmer in Scotland, she's never been badly treated or roughly handled by anyone we know, and my mother's house appears to me a perfectly calm and relaxed environment. And yet when I was last there, she'd run away and hide under the sofa if anyone (even my mother or her partner) opened a door or walked through the house. After 3 minutes or so, she'd come out and curl up next to you, but even if you called her name gently to make her pause, she would just stop for a moment, look at you, then going back to finding a hiding place. If this was a recent thing, I'd say frequently moving house has made her feel uncomfortable in her own home, but she was like this even before she was ever moved. As a kitten, she was quite lively, but all my memories of her as an adult was this skittish, nervous little cat that always seemed to be running away. Any ideas on why this might be?
