Anxiety Busters For Anxious Cats

Anxiety busters for an anxious cat.

Keep watch with the Petcube Play 2 camera.

1. A Cat Camera

A camera lets you keep an eye on what your cat is up to. Simply use it to check in on your cat or to understand triggers and interrupt behaviour by speaking to your cat.

The Petcube Play 2 cat camera lets you see, talk, and check in on your cat remotely via your smart phone. A built-in laser toy even lets you play with your cat remotely, helping to ease separation anxiety. You can even set up auto play to keep your cat entertained! ($179, petcube.com)

2. Treat-dispensing puzzle toys

One of the best and easiest ways to keep your cat busy and happily engaged? Enrichment toys that offer mental stimulation. 

Senses 2 Digger Treats Toy.

Catit’s Senses 2 Digger is designed to be pawed at to capture treats, keeping your food-motivated cat occupied and engaged. (Food for the win!) Simply insert your cat’s favourite treats or kibble into this interactive puzzle toy and watch your cat stay mentally and physically stimulated while trying to get her paws on the tasty rewards. A perfect way to keep your cat busy when you’re not home! ($15, catit.ca)

Play with your food.

Reduce anxiety, boredom, and even litter box woes with this veterinarian-designed Indoor Hunting Feeder system. Cats have a biological need to hunt for their food. Instead of putting your cat’s dinner in a dish, put wet food or kibble in these fun, clever feeders and hide them around the house so your cat can hunt, catch, and play with many small meals a day, as nature intended. Bonus: these also reduce instances of scarf and barf and early wake up calls from a hungry cat. Ingenious! ($20, docandphoebe.com)

Snuggle buddies

3. A Mom Substitute

This stuffy with a heartbeat is designed for kittens transitioning from their mom and littermates to a new home and is especially ideal for bottle babies or rescue kittens. (Plus, how cute is it?!) Aptly named Snuggle Kitty, it recreates the intimacy and physical warmth with a “real feel” heartbeat, designed to comfort and reduce loneliness and separation anxiety in your feline friend. ($40, snugglepuppy.com)

Comforts and reduces loneliness (Photo: Maliflower73/bigstock.com)

4. Pheromone Power

Naturally calm your cat with the power of pheromones. Pheromone diffusers and sprays mimic the pheromones nursing cat-moms emit to create feelings of comfort and safety. A pheromone product like Feliway, available as a spray or plug-in diffuser, helps put an end to sometimes anxiety-induced behaviours like destructive scratching, urine spray marking, and eliminating outside of the litter box, as well as easing tensions in multi-cat households by helping cats feel comfortable and relaxed in their environment. (from $35, feliway.com)

Calm your cat with the power of pheromones.(Photo: Antibydni/bigstock.com)

5. Essential Oils

A time-old remedy, essential oils can be used to calm cats, but caution should be taken as essential oils used incorrectly can be harmful to felines. Choose a vet-approved formulation designed for cats, like the Furbliss Calming Spray, formulated to keep your cat calm through vet visits, car rides, and more. Made with a unique blend of botanical extracts and cat-safe essential oils, this spray is easy to use and vet recommended. Works for dogs, too. ($7, vetniquelabs.com)

Watch your cat sleep like a baby (Photo: K.Decor/bigstock.com)

6. CBD to the Rescue!

“Typically, anxiety requires a multi-modal approach (including supplements, behavioural modification, and medication) as one thing alone is not likely to solve the problem, but CBD can be an excellent adjunct therapy since it has anxiolytic, anti-inflammatory, and pain-relieving qualities,” says Dr. Kramer, a veterinarian at Vancouver Animal Wellness Clinic. Here are three CBD products to try:

Organic Hemp, Chicken and Tuna treats.

Suzie’s CBD Bites for Cats are made with chicken and tuna, making it easy to provide your cat with the benefits of CBD! Each tasty treat contains a half mg of full-spectrum, human-grade, organic CBD from their USDA organic farm. ($16, suziespettreats.com)

Wildlife Sublingual for Cats.

Developed specifically for felines, the third-party lab-tested 250 mg CBD Wildlife Sublingual from Creating Better Days includes natural ingredients like fast absorbing CBD, coconut oil, wild salmon oil, vitamins, and probiotics. ($25, creatingbetterdays.com)

PawsElite for dogs and cats.

The Paws Elite CBD Oil for Dogs and Cats is formulated with high-quality, full-spectrum, organic CBD oil and coconut derived MCT oil. Third party lab tested, there are no additives or preservatives, and it is easy for cats to digest! (from $55, pawselite.com)

7. Vertical Space Solutions

Having vertical space solutions for your cats allows them to have safe and secure space to rest, lounge, and relax! Cat trees with scratching surfaces also encourages exercise and positive scratching behaviour, which helps relieve access energy. In multi-cat households, having a cat tree with multiple perches reduces cat-to-cat tension. The Ivy cat tree from Mau Pets features a variety of perch heights, machine washable cushions, and four fun pom-pom balls to encourage play! Plus, the baskets and all other parts can be replaced and customized. ($389, maupets.com)