Seven Helpful Ways to Calm Your Upset Cat

Cats are intriguing, intelligent, and habitual creatures, which makes them fascinating and loveable pets. But even with such impressive traits, they are sensitive. At one time or another, they can become stressed, agitated, or scared by certain things. As a cat parent, you must closely observe your cat’s body language to tell if they are suffering from stress, fear, or anxiety. 

Once you suspect and confirm it, you’ll want to jump in and help your feline companion overcome these negative feelings.

To help, we’ve highlighted several methods to calm your cat under such situations.

1. Provide a Safe and Comfortable Environment

Whenever your cat (whether indoor or feral) is dealing with stress or fear, they always need a comfortable, safe spot where they can retreat to calm themselves. Some love to squeeze under objects and stay hidden while others love climbing up structures or objects. 

UnderCover Pet Houses has a fantastic supply of cat shelters, houses, and feeding stations to provide this protection and feeling of calm to outdoor cats.) Once you identify your cat’s favorite method of escape in stressful situations, make sure you provide it. Additionally, ensure that their safe spot is loaded with their essentials, such as food, water, and favorite toys.

Additionally, soft classical music has been found to calm cats in stressful situations that may involve intolerable noises.

2. Find the Source of the Stress

Another method to help you not only find a way to better understand your cat’s behavior but also to solve the issue is to identify the root cause of their sudden change in conduct. Uncover the source of discomfort if it is environmental and even visit the vet to rule out underlying medical conditions. After that, you can work on fixing the problem to make kitty joyful again.

3. Marking their Territory

One thing you may notice about cats is that they like to relieve their stressful situations by marking their territory with odors from their scent glands. You’ll see them rubbing against objects or even yourself or scratching. In cases of stressed cats, especially those getting accustomed to a new home or people, it might help to ensure that you provide toys, scratching posts, and other accessories that they can mark to feel better. Remember that exposure to his/her mild odors will help your cat feel relaxed.

4. Give Your Cat Some Personal Space While Watching Them

Unlike how humans may fancy comfort in the form of physical contact when feeling stressed, afraid, or agitated, most cats don’t buy the idea. As much as you’d like to smother your cat with affection in the form of physical contact - be it hugs or holding them - its best to grant them some space to calm down. At the same time, give them a sense of love and security by providing a physical presence. Contrarily, some cats may try to initiate close contact by climbing and sitting on your lap.

5. Use Cat Calming Pheromones

One verified method to help your kitty feel calmer is exposing them to pheromones or sprays that mimic the ones cats produce when feeling comfortable and secure in their environment. Cat calming sprays do have a de-stressing effect that relaxes your fur ball.

6. Administering Treats

There are treats formulated to help calm your cat by treating anxiety and stress. You may want to keep a treat pack for such situations.

7. Seek Professional Help

Occasionally cats can become nervous and distressed due to undiagnosed health-related reasons. As such, if any of the above methods can’t help calm your cat down, schedule an appointment with your vet to find and treat the issue.

Admittedly, calming down a stressed, agitated, or fearful cat requires lots of care. If you have a feral cat that lives outdoors and does not like human interaction, your options are even more limited. Irrespective of the reason behind such behavior, do not panic but try to calm kitty down gently. With the right approach and the tips listed above, you should get your feline to being the jovial and friendly cat they always are.