Cat Anxeity?
By sedel1027
@sedel1027 (17846)
Cupertino, California
May 24, 2007 8:19pm CST
Has anyone had a cat with this? Our male cat went to the vet today because he hasn't been feeling quite right and been displaying his unhappiness by pooping in my sons bathtub. They gave him a colon medicine because of how the poop looked, but the Vet said there is a possiblity he may have anxeity. He is easily scared by noises and small things, but major happenings like moving to a new place do not bother him. He has been this way since we aopted him a year ago. Funny thing is that even though he scares easily, he is not high strung at all. He is very laid back. Personally, I think the cat doesn't feel well. Of course - like my husband sarcastically pointed out - I am not a Vet.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@gizmo528 (731)
• United States
25 May 07
My first guess is that he probably feels bad too. Anyway, there may be some truth in the possiblity of him having anxiety. There are alot of animals that have anxiety for a variety of reasons that make no sense to us at all. I'm no vet either but you got me curious as to why they gave him colon medicine if they think it's anxiety? I know you said it was because of how his poop looked but I would think they would do an antibiotic or some type of depression/anxiety medicine but that's just me. Hopefully everything will work out just fine.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
25 May 07
Per the Vet he has an inflamed colon because his poop was mucusy. They gave us a list of things we can try out if the problem is still occuring after the medication is done. Our Vet does not believe in over medicating animals. Unless the animal needs the medication, they like to exhaust all other posibilities first.
1 person likes this
@jennybianca (12912)
• Australia
25 May 07
It's hard to say. I have certainly had cats with anxiety. This can be partly treated with medication & also seeing an animal behaviour specialist.
But it kind of sounds like he is unwell. Just in case he is reacting to his diet( allwergies can come on later), try changing his food, to see if this stops the inappropiate pooing.
Would he be jealous of your son? Is your son very young?
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
25 May 07
My son is eight, so he was here before we had the cats. It may be diet related. We did have to change food because of the food recall, but that was well over 2 months ago. That was on the list of things to change from the Vet. Ofcourse the list also included changing the litter brand (about 9 months ago we switched from rwegular clumping to flushable), taking the lid off of the litter box because cats want to be able to see their surroundings while using the box, buying a second litter box (supposedly you are to have 1 per cat), cleaning the entire litter box more often (completely dumping all of the litter once a week even if you scoop daily), replacing the litter box if it smells even after a good cleaning. Not sure if I can afford to do all that.
@Sailor (1160)
• United States
27 May 07
A Vet is just like any other Dr., he works off of facts. Now many of the reasons you mentioned are generally reasons the a cat would do this. But you must also remember that a cat will return to where he feels comfortable to do his thing. He could be past the stage of what caused him to start going in the bathtube, but since he felt comfortable there has not stopped.
What I would suggest is to leave about six inches of water in the bathtub, (we all know how much our friends like water). Then see if he goes right back to his litter box, or seems confused.
