¿Cómo SABER si TU GATO SE SIENTE SOLO en tu casa? 😿 | 5 COMPORTAMIENTOS de GATOS DESMOTIVADOS

Do you know if your cat feels lonely at home? Well, today we're going to delve deeper into feline psychology to find out. Hi, I'm Carlos and I'm a veterinarian. Welcome to the Happy Pets and Families Channel, which, although according to Squire magazine, has. Has a cheesy name, is a must have for all cat people. When we talk about loneliness and cats, it's very common for us to think of a cat that spends many hours without us being home. But it could be that our feline companion feels lonely even when we are there, because we probably don't give them the attention they need. As an initial idea, what's the maximum amount of time a cat can be left alone? Because. Because obviously we have things to do. We come and go, we go to work. I recommend that your cat be left alone at home for a maximum of 24 hours without supervision, because then a lot of things can happen and we need to be close at least to be able to solve them. And if not, someone should go and check on them. But hey, it's one thing to know how long you can leave your cat home alone, and another if your cat feels lonely even when you're home. And there are five feline behaviors that indicate that they feel lonely. They spend the day sleeping. A lonely cat is generally understimulated and has little motivation to do things. It's true that our cats can sleep a lot, up to 18 hours a day. But cats that don't feel lonely tend to sleep a little less and move around more and even be more playful. That's why if you want your feline companion to stop thinking about how lonely they are all the time, what you have to do is enrich their environment and play with them yourself. On this channel, you'll probably be sick of hearing me say that. I always advocate for you to spend a little time each day playing with your cat. That little bit of distraction can be enough for your cat to not feel lonely and to see that their life has some purpose because at least they are creating a bond with you. But hey, you've heard me say this 85.5 billion times. Now let's talk about something that lonely cats do that you probably don't know about. They have problems with their litter box. As you probably know, when our cat's mystical balance, their well being is altered, it's normal for them to start exhibiting behaviors that are not their usual ones. And one of the first signs that we start to see when our cats are not comfortable is that they start to pee where they shouldn't outside the litter box. A cat that feels lonely can generally be more stressed and therefore start to use their litter box less or even develop bladder diseases such as cystitis and flood. Flood is a group of diseases that our cats usually suffer from and are related to urinary evacuation. This is when our cat doesn't pee or pee less than it should because it's bothering its bladder, which in this case could be cystitis, or it even develops crystals and small stones in its urine. We've already talked about all this on the channel and I'll leave you a video below where I tell you all about it. So notice how important it is for your cat not to feel alone. In cases where we see that our cat doesn't have much stimulation at home and spends a lot of time alone, we can try to enrich its environment, but in this case with pheromones. Synthetic feline facial pheromones, which are also a classic on the channel, can help us manage this type of inappropriate urination behavior behavior and our cat not doing its business in the litter box. These pheromones help make the environment in your home familiar to your feline companion and make them feel good, which is why they have less stress and are much less likely to develop urine related diseases. And please, when I talk about pheromones, we must not make several mistakes. First, they do not smell like anything your house is not going to smell like cat pee. And second, they are not relaxing substances. They do not make your cat sleepy all day. They are substances that only your feline companion perceives and that help him feel better. Destruction in the House Cats that feel lonely at home can usually cause damage when you are not there. It is very common on door frames or on sofas where they scratch and claw. They may also knock things off shelves or even start gardening by nibbling on your plants. These are just a few examples. Let me know in the comments some of the damage that your cat has done at home when it is alone. For example, it is also very common with toilet paper where they leave everything as if there had been a quinceanera party. But they can also exhibit other behaviors that destroy the peace in your neighborhood or building. When some cats are alone, they start calling you seve like crazy because they don't know when you're going to come back and that causes them a lot of frustration. This type of meowing can also be very insistent, very hoarse, and at a very high volume, and it's normal for your neighbors to get annoyed. This type of behavior is very typical in relationships where the cat is very dependent on the human. When you're at home, your cat doesn't leave you alone, not even for a second. It's always with you, always glued to you. That's why when you leave, it's normal for your feline companion to feel lonely, helpless. And since it has nowhere to vent its frustration, it dedicates itself to doing these destructive activities that deep down calm your cat down. To improve this type of behavior, and although it may seem a little contradictory, you have to leave your cat alone for a while when you are at home. I mean, your cat is very attached to you. And if you have that very strong bond with your cat, you are very devoted to it. It is normal that when you are not at home, it practically does not know what to do. That is why when you are at home, you have to let your cat entertain itself so that it can eat by itself, and you do not have to be on top of it all day. Also, when you leave, you do not have to perform a ritual. We do not have to say goodbye to our cat. It is better to leave without it realizing it. And leaving our cat alone so that it does not feel lonely is because it is suffering from an emotional disorder called separation anxiety. If our cat knows that we are going to be there, even if we have left it alone for a little while, and that when we return home, we are going to give it everything it needs, it is normal for its behavior to not be destructive, and it will not create a circus every time we are not at home. Obviously, this behavior will take a long time to return to normal. But the important thing is that we start taking the necessary steps to help our feline companion. And if we see that this behavior of the cat does not disappear, we we may need to resort to a feline behavior professional, an ethologist who can advise us so that our cat does not suffer so much. That is why in these situations, I recommend that you have a camera at home. Because this way you will be able to see if your cat is vocalizing a lot or not. If it feels very lonely when you are not at home, but you will also be able to see the progress that your cat begins to make little by little, as the situation improves. Changes in appetite when our cats feel lonely, it is very likely that they will change the way they eat. A cat that feels lonely usually does not have the motivation to do things and therefore does not want to go near the food bowl to eat. Even if you are at home and you put the food out at that moment, the cat goes, eats a little and goes back to lie down calmly. But we can also have the other extreme cats that binge. This usually happens in cats that are left home alone for many hours. And we give them food, usually the entire portion. And our cat arrives and as soon as we leave through the door, goes to its food bowl and finishes it in one saying, that's why the most important thing for both cats that eat little and cats that eat a lot is to dose it, always giving them the exact amount of food that corresponds to them. I don't care if it's a commercial diet, the typical care diet, dry food, kibble, what comes in the bag, or a diet that we have prepared at home, or that a veterinary nutritionist has specifically prescribed for us with homemade preparations, I don't care. The important thing is to respect the dosage. Now, as you probably already know, cats don't eat just once a day. They nibble little by little. That's why in these cases, giving them small amounts throughout the day can help. You can improve all of this a little bit more. As I've told you on other occasions on the channel, if you make food a game typical activity, Feeders are very helpful for cats that feel lonely. And we can also use programmable feeders, which I've also mentioned on other occasions on the channel, because they encourage cats to have a small internal clock in their heads and to be aware of when the feeder releases a little bit of food. And you might ask me, what does food have to do with my cat feeling less lonely at home? Food is helping us improve the cat's entire environment. A cat that feels lonely is a cat that has little motivation to do things, to play, to move, to eat. If we regulate its food, we are already giving it a routine and we are helping it to have something motivated to do during the rest of the day and that this reduces its feeling of loneliness. Your cat attacks you. When a cat attacks you or anyone else in your home a lot, even if it lives with other animals, it can be an indication that it is lonely and frustrated. Cats that don't have much motivation at home and don't move around much will usually try to hunt the first thing that comes their way, and that could be your legs. You will feel that something has changed with your cat because it has suddenly become aggressive towards you. But your cat is not showing aggression just for the sake of it. Rather, since it has nothing else to do during the day, it is usually motivated to hunt parts of your body to improve your cat's behavior. At this point, again, the key is play autonomous games or other entertainment, such as a bed on the window, a bird feeder also on the window outside, so that it can see the little birds approaching through the glass, or games that it can use whether you are at home or not. And now you may be wondering, well, so that my cat feels less lonely, wouldn't the solution be to adopt another feline companion? And the answer is no. Obviously, if you want to adopt another cat, perfect, go ahead. But I have to tell you that this doesn't necessarily solve the problem of the cat that already lives with you. Because what we have to do so that our cat doesn't feel lonely is to give it motivation, enrich its environment, get involved with it ourselves, play more, and also give it things to do. Adopting a new cat is not going to solve the problems that our cat has because they are with us, they are with its environment. In fact, it may be that introducing the new cat to it is quite difficult, because we are introducing a new cat to an environment that is already stressful for the cat that lived inside, and that does not make it any easier for that cat to accept a new feline companion. Especially because the bond we have with our cat is not the best. And did you know that a cat can be alone at home and how important this is for it? Well, leave me a comment so I can find out too. Give the video a like if you enjoyed it and subscribe if you haven't already. If you also click the bell icon, YouTube will notify you when we have a new video. We also have a secondary channel here on YouTube called Questions and Answers from a Veterinarian. Go to it and take a look. And before we go, we're going to meet Pollux, the cat who lives in Monterrey, Mexico, with his human companion, Alberto Paredes. I don't like it when you put bows on cats, eh? Nati greets us from Buenos Aires with her feline companion, Chronito, who is so handsome. And we say goodbye from Belgium with love, the love of Antonio and Pinky, who are the black cat and the cow cat. Maria and Donnie greet us with their human family. Thank you very much for following the Happy Pets and Families channel. And I'll see you in the next video. I mean, I don't know why it's like that channel that according to Squire magazine, because it's Squire, they leave everything full. Since we have a name that's a bit cheesy, not very cheesy. A name that was more cheesy than anything else. Something like that. The cheesiest name. A cheesiest name. Cheesiest as hell. Okay. Hey, a question. Does your cat feel lonely at home? Will your cat feel lonely at home? I say that because of that. I want to. I don't want to. Hey, a question. Hey, a thought. Hey, does your cat get bored? No. They don't leave your cat high. Very high, right? YouTube throws it at me. That's what cats are for. Always to complicate our lives. That's why they can end up destroying part of your house. They destroy the piece of your building. These destructive activities, so to speak. Destructive, right. Because he's talking about destruction. That's why it disturbs the peace of the neighborhood. I've already said it. So that they only eat what they cut for them. Only what they certified. If I don't bring a string, I'll get lost. Your neighbors will surely find out and they won't be happy at all.