Cats With Anxiety

I believe my cat suffers from anxiety, our vet has also agreed with this and that it is due to him not being outside. He is an indoor cat and has been his whole life. He was declawed (was not under our control) but the peeing on things and screaming didnt start until probably 2 or 3 years after he would have been declawed.

I just want my babies stress to go down :'( any suggestions?

I would start with Feliway plugins.  They are made like the air-freshener plugins, so they are easy to use.  They are (to me at least) pricey, but worth it.

I just got through typing this on another thread....also try Composure liquid---I used it to help get my old guy to stop pulling his hair out during the introduction of a new cat.  It calmed him immensely.

You can get either at a pet store like Petco (where I went) or off of Amazon (where I got the Composure Max liquid supplement).

I agree with @hbunny  to try Feliway.  You can also get calming cat drops and treats that contain valerian.  Valerian can work wonders in both people and cats, it has a sedative, calming action and is perfectly natural and safe.  But you need to address his social and environmental issues if you want to remove the triggers causing his stress.  

If all else fails and really nothing else works there's always prescription medications. My kitty has horrible anxiety and the only thing that worked for her was Prozac (I got it from the vet) she hasn't innopriate eliminated since!

As he's declawed, the inappropriate peeing could well be because it hurts to use the litterbox. Litterbox issues are incredibly common in declawed cats. The crying could be pain related too, so do discuss that with your vet, and get his paws thoroughly checked for problems (declawed cats often end up with lifelong pain as a result of the operation).

In terms of stress, as this behaviour started a couple of years after the declawing, take a look at what's going on outside your home. If there are new cats in there area, it's possible that they're intimidating your boy from outside...maybe even marking the outside of your house. A blacklight is an easy way to check for this. If your guy is peeing near windows and external doors, the be sure to check all those places outside and clean any urine with an enzymatic cleaner. Then take measures to keep other cats away from your house. Most cats hate citrus, so scattering citrus peel around can be a good (and free) deterrent. Alternatively, there are a variety of devices that will keep cats away. Motion activated sprinklers can work wonders, and there are sonic deterrents too (just check that they won't affect you cat inside the house ).

If your cat is peeing in specific places, you could try putting boxes with VERY soft litter (Yesterday's News is often recommended for declawed cats, and stay well away from clay litters) in the places that he pees. If he's really litterbox averse, then try puppy pee pads. I know neither is ideal, but I'd far rather scoop extra boxes or change pee pads than be constantly cleaning up 'accidents'.

As pain may well be a factor here, change everything you can about the litterbox experience - location, litter type, shape and type of box etc etc. Be aware too that some declawed cats can never handle using regular litter, and for these cats the best solution is often pee pads inside a litterbox.

Daily interactive playtime is a wonderful stress buster too, and has the added benefit of increasing self and territorial confidence. Definitely worth a try. I wouldn't necessarily go looking at calmers or anxiety remedies before first identifying the root cause of the anxiety. Doing it the other way about is simply a sticking plaster 'cure', and the issues will likely re emerge at a later date. [article="33457"][/article][article="33674"][/article][article="31290"][/article][article="29667"][/article] (I know you've already declawed, but this article has some more information about long term complications ) [article="30316"][/article][article="32341"][/article][article="30323"][/article][article="32656"][/article][article="33155"][/article][article="30225"][/article]