¿TU GATO TE ECHA DE MENOS cuando te vas?🏃‍♀️🏠😿 | ANSIEDAD POR SEPARACIÓN en gatos

Foreign Hi, I'm Carlos and I'm a veterinarian. Welcome to the Happy Pets and Families Channel. Your cat exhibits destructive behavior when left alone at home. Does it start to cry? Do you think it gets nervous? Some cats start to behave strangely when their humans leave the house. This is what we call separation anxiety or separation related problems. Well, what you often tell me is, hey, do you think my cat misses me when I go to work? Because before I leave the house, it's chasing me all the time and when I leave, it starts scratching the door. Quote. Well, it probably does, but there are other things that can indicate that our cats suffer from separation anxiety. And that's what we're going to talk about now. And all the studies I used to make the video are in the description box. So if you want to learn more, go ahead and take a look. First of all, leave me a comment. If you think your cat misses you when you're not home or suffers from stress or separation anxiety. The problem is that most people don't know that their cat has separation anxiety. And the truth is that some studies say that up to 13% of cats may suffer from it. But the worst thing is that behavioral problems in cats are the leading cause of abandonment. I know that you who watch the Happy Pets and Families Channel are aware of abandonment, but there are many people who, when they see their cats behaving strangely, don't consider any other alternative than abandoning them. And this is terrible. That's why it's so important for us to know what's causing our cat's behavior. Because if we know what's causing our cat, for example, to destroy half our house when we're not there, we'll be able to find a solution. But how can you tell if your cat has a separation anxiety problem? You can suspect that your cat misses you a lot when you are not home. If it exhibits at least two of the following behaviors, I will order these behaviors from the most frequent to the rarest. That is why we are going to start with destructive behaviors, which I have already mentioned throughout the video. Approximately 2/3 of cats with separation anxiety suffer from this problem. In this case, we are referring to your cat destroying, biting and scratching areas that it does not normally mark with its claws, and also when it does so when you are not home. This will allow us to differentiate it from other normal behaviors that our cat may exhibit during the day. It is also usually a behavior more typical of neutered males. Uncontrolled meowing. This is another classic typical behavior that most cats exhibit undoubtedly approximately 63%. It is also true that it is sometimes very difficult to realize that our cat is meowing uncontrollably because we are not at home. That's why we often have to resort to asking our neighbors or recording it with a camera when we're not home. Urinating in inappropriate places. This may be the typical behavior that you notice because the cat leaves traces. About half of the cats that have problems with separation anxiety urinate in places where they shouldn't. They'll do it when we're not home, and usually in places where our scent is present, such as on our bed or on our shoes. Does your cat sound like that? Then write it down. Depression or apathy. About half of the cats that have separation anxiety act depressed, don't want to do anything, and spend the day lying on the couch. And then there are other behaviors that are much less common. The first of these is excessive grooming. I've told you that sometimes it causes bald spots in some cats because when we're not home, they feel stressed and their way of calming down is by licking themselves. This causes bald spots and what we call psychogenic alopecia. It is much more common in females than in males. And something that occurs in very few cats is aggressive behavior where our cat is constantly trying to attack us, biting us. Although this behavior can occur, it is not the most typical, and only a third of cats exhibit it. Your cat has at least two of these behaviors that I have mentioned. If so, it is very possible that he has separation anxiety. Also, as a curious fact, I have to tell you that separation anxiety occurs more in cats that live with more than one woman at home. The exact reason is not known, but it is suspected that the bond that cats develop with women is stronger than the one they develop with men. But this is just a theory, and, well, they have put it in general terms. But in your home, there may be some situations that predispose your cat to having separation anxiety. The first of these is that your cat gets bored in your house and doesn't have any alternatives or things to do when you're not there. It's also more common in cats that are left alone at home for more than two hours a day. And cats that don't have access to the entire house are also more likely to develop separation anxiety problems. There are many people who, although it may seem incredible, keep their cats locked in a room or leave them there when they leave home. To me, that seems cruel. And as you can imagine, these types of cats are more likely to develop this type of behavioral disorder. Another situation that can contribute to your cat having separation anxiety is if they don't have other feline companions. Which doesn't mean you have to adopt another cat. But when your cat has certain deficiencies, this can also contribute to their behavioral problems. Finally, some researchers have said that separation anxiety may be more common in some breeds, such as Siamese and feline cats, and also in older cats. Okay, and with this, you already have enough clues to know if your cat has separation anxiety issues. But what can you do to help your cat if they have separation anxiety? The best thing to do is to strengthen your relationship with them. To do this, the best thing to do is to play with them. And as I've always said, 30 minutes a day can make a big difference. I recommend that you don't play with your hands, that you use sticks so that your hands are far away and your cat doesn't go after that part of your body, and that you use toys that catch your cat's attention. They're not the same for all cats. Therefore, if you don't know your feline companion well, offer them different alternatives and see which ones they play with the most. And after this, then, for example, play it. Throwing it, getting it to return it to you, hiding it, or putting a little bit of food for it when you find it. Another thing that can help you is to break the monotony of the game. If you rotate the toys, your feline companion will get less used to them and will always have extra motivation to want to play with you. More things you have to enrich your cat's environment. For example, the scratching post different heights so that it can climb up. In the case of separation anxiety, it is very interesting to provide places and hiding places for your cat to explore. This way, the environment your house that only has four walls will change over the days and your cat will be less bored when you are not there. It will help a lot to hide small amounts of food so that your feline companion can find them during the day or so that it can play fetch. This will ensure that it always has extra motivation to move around your house and will not be so aware of whether or not you are there. Another classic from the channel will also help us in these situations. Synthetic feline facial pheromones. These types of substances reduce your feline companion stress and therefore will help them not have such a bad time when you're not around. Something you should stop doing if it's happening in your home is having a toxic relationship with Your cat toxic relationships are those in which hyper attachment develops, where cats only want to be on top of us if our cat doesn't know how to have an independent life. Moments of rest, moments of autonomous play in which they entertain themselves. They're going to have a very bad time when we're not at home, because they're going to say, oh, oh my gosh, I depend on my human for everything. If he's not here, what do I do? And I've already told you this a few times, and it really works. If you want to entertain your cat when you're not at home, you can put a fish tank for them, an aquarium with little fish. Of course, the cat shouldn't have access to the fish so that they don't hunt them. Cats often entertain themselves by looking at the fish, and that's how the hours fly by. Another thing you can do is put a hammock in the window so that it can watch what's happening outside. And if you want to make it a pro hammock, you can put a bird feeder outside the window. That way, when the birds come to eat, your cat will be more entertained watching them from inside. If you've been following my channel for a while, you know that I've already told you this, but the audience changes, and it's very important to remember these little tips. And now I'll go back to the issue of whether or not to adopt a new feline companion if you don't change the rest of the things. Adopting a cat won't solve your cat's separation anxiety problem. In fact, if your cat is already stressed because you don't spend enough time at home, the introduction probably won't go very well because it will see the other cat as an intruder who has come to compete with it for very important resources, such as you. So that's why I don't recommend that you bring another cat into the house unless you make other changes. It is a fact that separation anxiety occurs more in cats that live alone. But adopting a new feline companion when your cat already has the problem is not the solution. And the last piece of advice is that you try to break the routines that you do before leaving your house. Many times, separation anxiety behaviors start to be triggered in our cats when they see that they are going to be left alone. Since they do not want to be alone, they start to have a bad time. And when they see you, for example, putting on your coat or getting your keys, they already know that you are going to be gone for many hours. So if we break those routines, for example, we leave our house for a little while and return before more than half an hour has passed. Our cat will understand that it is natural for us to be coming and going. If you are used to brushing your teeth, getting dressed, putting on your coat, getting your keys, that is already indicating to your cat that it is going to be left alone, what you need to do is start changing those routines. Brush your teeth a little earlier, spend some time with him at home playing, even if that means having to get up a little earlier, and then leave the house or take your keys before breakfast or before brushing your teeth, so that your cat doesn't associate the jingle of your keys with the moment when you leave him, so to speak. And that's why he won't get so nervous or have a bad time when you, for example, go to work. And apart from that, don't make a big deal out of him every time you leave. Don't say goodbye to your cat. If your cat is asleep on the couch, don't wake him up. Just leave and nothing will happen. Because I know every case of, oh my goodness, my kitty, I'm leaving. Bye, handsome. I'll see you then in two hours when he comes back to work and gives him a little kiss and picks him up in his arms. All of this is encouraging your cat to have these behavioral disorders. The best thing to do is to blow a smoke bomb. And of course, whenever we talk about our cat's behavior, if these tips don't end up working, if you see that your cat is really having a hard time when you're not home, if you see that things are even getting worse, you should always consult an ethologist, a veterinarian who specializes in feline behavior, who knows your specific case and knows exactly what the problem is with your cat. But I hope that with all of this that I've told you, you can evaluate yourself, look at yourself, and say, okay, this is what's wrong in my home. Because many times, until someone from outside tells us, we aren't aware of what we're doing wrong and that our attitudes and behaviors are what lead our cats to have problems that of course, we don't want them to have. But in any case, here you have a lot of information and advice with which you can help your cat live much happier with you. And your cat has had or has any behavior related to separation anxiety. How do you deal with it at home? How have you solved it? Well, leave me a comment so that we can help the entire community. Also if you liked it and want to help me, give the video a like and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already hit the bell, so that YouTube will notify you when we have a new video. We have a secondary channel here on YouTube called Questions and Answers from a Veterinarian. Come and take a look, because we have a lot of answers to common questions you have about your cats. And before we go, we're going to meet Nutella, this beautiful kitty with those big eyes that we fell in love with. Lunita, who is this beautiful tricolor cat who lives in Monterey with her human partner, Joanna Hernandez Mendoza. And finally, let's say hello to this cat. We're really excited about it. His name is Gandolf, and he also greets us with a friend of ours called Ramy from Armilla, Granada. She also lives there with her husband, Alejandro. Thank you very much for following the Happy Pets and Families channel, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye. This is a clip for the video. Ah, I have to look at the camera. I'll say that later. I'll say that later. About the game with you, the comment has to be at the beginning, but that's how it is. It could be that the behavior is a little overestimated. I don't know how to say it, that people think they have it more. Yes, I'm going to say yes. Or what did you say? I've already said it. Yes, I have it here again. It's true. It's recording. It can't be. It's just that it has stopped with its human companions. It's stronger than the one the cat develops with its human companions. Okay, and now we're going to say that in fewer words. Okay. And what is this about enriching Tuga? We'll go down a little bit and go back up. Uh, what you have to do is start grabbing your keys earlier or grabbing your keys before you brush your teeth. Done. That way you can see half your legs, you can see half your body, you can see your underwear. They're not underwear, they're panties. Oh, okay. I'm leaving. Keep recording.