Feline Fear Overview
Introduction
Cats can experience fear and stress as any other animal. General fear and stress can be described as anxiety, panic, fear and phobia.
Anxiety is the apprehensive anticipation of future threat or danger accompanied by somatic signs of tension. Anxiety is very pervasive and the state of anxiety can be persistent and chronic. Owners may report that the cat fatigues easily,is irritable, has a disturbed sleep, is hesitant or has elimination problems.
In anxious cats, apprehension overrides the ability to respond to normal social and environmental cues. Anxiety often precedes any actual threat or negative experience. Anxiety also occurs when the animal enters a situation in which it has no reliable rule structure for its interactions and where it has no control. Anxiety is therefore more likely in a situation where the animal is in an environment or situation that is unfamiliar to it, or when it meets a novel stimulus.
Panic attacks are discrete episodes of intense anxiety. Panic in animals is assumed from observations as it cannot be described by the individual experiencing the panic. It tends to occur when the cat is trapped in an intensely negative emotional situation (such as being trapped in a room where there are loud noises) and is unable to carry out normal avoidant behaviour. Cats will display absolute avoidance of any context in which panic has previously been experienced and will engage extreme escape responses.
Fear is the apprehension of a specific object, person or situation. The source of fear is localisable and identifiable. Its presentation elicits fear and its removal terminates it. Fear is a normal, adaptive experience that enables an individual to avoid harm. It is socially communicated between conspecifics. It is also postulated that there is a strong relationship between fear and frustration. The distinction between the two can only be made by humans on the basis of the intensity of the experience combined with an interpretation of the preceding events, so we are able to give the name ‘frustration’ to the experience of not achieving an anticipated outcome. Experimentally animals respond with precisely the same escape response both to fear and conditions of the frustration of not getting a reward that was anticipated so we assume that both experiences produce the same emotional response.
Phobias as experienced by animals are fears that do not naturally extinguish with repeated exposure. There is a sudden ‘all or nothing’ response that lacks the grading seen in other fear responses. A lack of variation in the response is apparent. Phobias can develop as a result from a single aversive event as well as from minor aversive experiences for poorly socialised and habituated cats.
Signs of Fear
Fear is a normal, adaptive experience that enables an individual to avoid harm.
Normal Fear Response Behaviours observed include:
- Facial and postural expressions of fear, directed at fear eliciting stimulus (ear & tail position, piloerection, facial expression, muscular rigidity, posture)
- Sympathetic arousal (graded to threat)
- Urination/defecation (often while moving, apparent loss of control)
- Muscle tremor
- Flight-escape response (well organised and directed unlike in panic)
- Threat/aggression directed towards stimulus
The most obvious response to fear is self-defence when there is some prospect of driving the fear-eliciting stimulus away, or when escape is not possible. However, responses to fear are complex and may produce long lasting changes in behaviour. In fearful situations cats can therefore either withdraw from the environment, both social and physical, or show a decreased threshold of reactivity to stimuli leading to reactive behavioural manifestations of the fear.
Withdrawal from the environment can lead to:
- An increase in withdrawn and secretive behaviour including hiding
- Reluctance to go outdoors or to enter open spaces within the home
- A desire to get up high onto inaccessible resting places within the home
- A decrease in desire for interactive behaviour with familiar humans
- A decrease in interest in social and object play
More obviously reactive signs of fear in cats can include:
- Indoor marking behaviours, such as urine spraying
- Loss of house training, due to some fearful association with the latrine location
- Low-threshold flight reaction
- Defensive aggression
- Wool-eating and other pica
- Over-grooming and even self-mutilation
Somatic signs of fear may also be evident, including tachycardia (bradycardia in chronic situations), pupillary dilatation, tachypnoea, piloerection, inappetence and vomiting.
Normal fear and phobia are different from one another both behaviourally and clinically. Normal fear protects the individual without interfering with normal behaviour that is important for survival and self-maintenance. Normal fear only has temporary effects whilst the object of fear is present or perceived to be a threat. A normally fearful animal will naturally habituate to any static stimulus that is presented at relatively low intensity. For example, a cat might initially show fear of a carrier bag, but as the fear subsides then this turns to approach and investigation. Ultimately the bag is accepted as non-threatening. This process of habituation will be slower if the object is moving and slower still if it shows signs of intent [i.e. if it is animate]. Movement delays habituation because the threat posed by the object is constantly changing. Although definitions of phobia are controversial, one definition is that phobic fear limits or interferes with normal behaviour and persists after the object of fear has gone away. Phobic fear does not naturally lessen with the kind of exposure to a stimulus that would otherwise produce habituation. The treatment of phobic fear and normal fear are intrinsically similar, although the duration of treatment of phobia is likely to be longer and there is a greater possibility of the need for psychoactive drug therapy.
Potential Causes of Problematic Fear
Potential causes of feline fears, phobias and anxiety-related problems include:
- A lack of appropriate socialisation and habituation
- Genetic influence on timidity
- One-off traumatic incidents
- Anticipation of unpleasant experiences e.g. anticipation of attack by neighbouring cats can lead to cases of agoraphobia
- Old age - loss of competence and an increase in general fearfulness in geriatric cats is well recognised
- Unintentional owner reinforcement of fearful responses
In the veterinary context:
- Cardiac and pulmonary disease are recognised as potential maintaining factors for anxiety.
- Hypothyroidism has been associated with anxiety and compulsive behaviour.
- Pain and fear are associated increased self-defensiveness.
- Hyperthyroidism causes many behavioural changes including increased irritability and aggressiveness.
- Any form of debilitation tends to increase self-defensiveness and aggression.
- Hypoglycaemia is associated with irritability and aggression.
It is therefore wise to consider the possibility that behavioural change is associated with medical disorder.
Prevention
As with fear in any species, the rule of prevention being better than cure certainly applies. It is essential to remember that cats need to be taught to live in human society and to accept that all of the signs of human activity are, in fact, normal. To this end, it is paramount that breeders understand the importance of the socialisation period and ensure that there is sufficient and appropriate socialisation and habituation of very small kittens.
Prevention of feline fear, anxiety and phobia problems
- Select kittens that come from bold, sociable parents
- Avoid kittens that have been reared in isolation from normal domestic activities
- Properly-reared kittens should meet a wide variety of people and other animals
- They should also be exposed to a wide range of noises and other everyday events
- Confident behaviour can be shaped by reinforcing approach and other bold behaviours using food rewards and play
- To encourage confidence, it is important not to pick up and hold cats, but rather to allow them to approach voluntarily
- Owners should be taught to understand and appropriately reciprocate normal feline greeting behaviour
Once kittens are living in their new home, there are a variety of potential factors, which can contribute to the establishing of feline fears and new owners need to be advised on how to minimise the risk factors. Owners need to be aware of the risks of unintentional reinforcement of fear-related responses and they should ensure that when the cat is showing signs of fear they do not react in a way which could be misinterpreted. It is important to plan ahead when introducing a cat to a new environment.
It is important to:
- Cease untimely reassurance
- Avoid all confrontation and physical punishment
- Minimise upheaval in the core territory during major renovation or redecoration
- Prevent over-attachment by encouraging access to outdoors and enabling the cat to express its full range of natural behaviours
Treatment
When dealing with cats who are exhibiting fear-related behaviour problems it is essential for owners to realise that the cat needs to feel in control of the situation and that forcing the cat to confront its fear is unlikely to be effective. Flight is a primary defence strategy for the cat and, therefore, in some cases it may be necessary to block the flight route whilst desensitisation and counterconditioning techniques are applied. Obviously, one of the most important factors in the success of any behavioural treatment for feline fears is the correct application of reinforcement and an understanding of the relative value of resources is essential.
There are four major areas that need to be addressed during any fear related problem:
- 1) The cat's environment
- It is paramount to remember that the environment plays a major role in cat's ability to cope with fear and stress.
- 2) Behaviour modification techniques
- Examples of behavioural modification techniques include habituation, desensitisation, counterconditioning and controlled exposure. Selecting rewards which are of sufficient value to override the fear response can be difficult and, with a high priority for flight as a defence strategy in cats it can be difficult to keep cats in the vicinity of the fear-inducing stimulus during processes such as habituation. Flooding is also a risky approach since the panic induced by the lack of opportunity to escape can potentiate rather than ameliorate the condition. Controlled exposure, desensitisation and counterconditioning can be useful techniques and provided that the fear stimulus is diluted sufficiently it should be possible to over ride the flight response. Introducing a cat to an environment for desensitisation may require leading it in on a body harness and extending lead. The cat should be fully acclimatised to the harness and leash for several weeks before using it in a training situation. For further information on practical aspects of behavioural therapy for fear problems see the problem-specific information linked below.
- 3) Pharmacological intervention
- There a number of reasons why medication may be indicated in cases of feline fear. Cases involving central nervous system pathology, in relation to neurotransmitters, may require medication on a long-term basis and, in situations where the fear-inducing stimuli are either unidentifiable or uncontrollable, long-term or recurring medication may also be indicated. In other cases where medication is necessary as an adjunct to behavioural therapy due to the severity of the fear response and the adverse effect that it has on the learning process, the usual aim is to have short-term drug support.
- 4) Modifying the owner's reaction
- The final part of the equation when dealing with feline fears is to modify the owner’s reaction to the cat’s behaviour. Unintentional reinforcement of fears is most likely to occur in cats when they flee and escape the stimulus, but owner interaction, both vocal and tactile, may be seen by some cats as reward for their response. Punishment is always going to be counterproductive and techniques designed to make the animal “confront its fear” such as flooding have limitations which have already been discussed.
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