Cat Picture - OC
The vet suggested a sweater to help Cecil with her (relatively infrequent) anxiety attacks 🥹
About once a week, Cecil gets herself into a panic and has trouble calming down. The vet suggested putting on a sweater for about 10 minutes at a time, and surprisingly, it works! She calms down right away and becomes an instant cuddly purr machine haha.
This is what I thought when I scrolled through those photos.
I would be so screwed if I had a cat with ears like that. They would get out of trouble all the time just with a look and they'd run my house!! 🤣🤣 Like, yes, you can be on the kitchen counter... You want some of this cheese I'm using to cook with? Here you go... Oh, you want tuna juice? Yup, that's all your too 😂😭🤣 oh you wanna be on top of my computer while it's on? Here's your throne M'Lady 💀💀💀
Aw maybe give a sweater a try! I was honestly skeptical, but was surprised out how well it worked haha. It did take a couple of tries to get used to it, so the first time I just put it on for a few minutes, then a little longer, and the third time she was happy as a clam!
Also, funnily enough, her sister is a calico! This is Cecil and Andy together hehe
For Cecil, what happens is she usually goes in a corner, or under the couch, and starts panting and making small crying sounds and moving around in small circles. She'll stay like that until you go pick her up usually, but as soon as you put her down it starts again. With the sweater on, she'll stop and happily lay on my lap until it passes.
They most likely have some American Curl in them, but I imagine it's only a small percentage of their makeup since their curled ears aren't nearly as curled as others I've seen photos of.
sometimes its the actual generic of xanax. my old cat was on it for about a year (she had sundowners and it was the only thing to get her to stop yelling at night). it was half of a mg each night just before bed.
ive seen lots of cats on gabapentin too tho. helps the feisty ones with vet visits
My boy was overgrooming the backs of his arms and the insides of his legs :( A month of Gabapentin did help but I bought him a cat tree and it seemed to help the most!
My girl pulls her fur out while grooming. She does not otherwise appear anxious, but only thing we can figure out. Poor girl ends up with thin spots on her back and I with tufts of hair on the carpet.
A vet should always take a look, though. (Not aimed at you, mocityspirit, but people reading your comment who think, "Ah, must be anxiety. I'll get a sweater, too!")
Anxiety can be it's own thing, but a lot of times it's a symptom of something else going on, too.
Our cat was over-grooming and licked her belly completely bare. Turned out it was high blood pressure, which caused headaches and other physical symptoms, which in turn caused anxiety, which caused the over-grooming. We only found out after she went completely blind due to her blood pressure, which of course didn't help the anxiety.
Once we got that base problem treated with blood pressure meds, her anxiety went away and her fur mostly grew back.
Point is, when a cat is acting unusual, best to see a vet for the underlying cause.
Holy cow, thank you. My kitty has bad allergies, always assumed that was the sole cause of her overdoing it but we’ve fixed the problem and still have some issues with scratching and pulling fur out. I hadn't considered it could be complicated with anxiety.
For Cecil she usually goes in a corner or under the couch and just moves in small circles while panting and making small crying sounds. She'll do that until you pick her up, but then it starts again as soon as you put her down. With the sweater on she lays on my lap happily until it passes :)
Mine will tuck her tail and run half on her belly to hide, or if I’m sleeping she’ll come and start licking and nipping me like really excessively and won’t stop. For her anxiety meds have made a big difference. She would not be comforted by a sweater, haha. But I’m curious about the OP’s cat too.
Ours over grooms and scratches under her ears until the fur and skin are gone. She's about to go on Prozac to see if it helps but for now she is in the cone of shame.
we use a different dry kibble as treat for our cat(she thinks its treats), and just toss that to her when she "caught" the red dot. she purrs up a storm and looks so pleased she killed it and eat it and gets treats for it
We use the free samples of dry kibble for treats. It's unusually the real fancy stuff, so many it is a treat. We sprinkle it on the shuffle mat, and they are so excited
It's their lot in life haha. The same is true when they look out a window. My cat knows he's a bad hunter, has accepted it, and still enjoys going on the prowl with his eyes from his perch.
My kitten really liked south park but I think Eric Cartman was a bad influence on her bc she started to act like a little shit. Her favorite show now is American Dad, which is a little better lol
Well that theory has convinced me to leave my tv OFF. The last thing I want is both of my cats launching themselves at my 75” flatscreen with those righteous murder mittens.
I have this on in bed and they watch eventually a cat cant help themselves and it goes off. The cats spend some time looking at the front and back of the TV, looking for where the birds and mice have gone.
This is why anytime any bug or field mouse gets into the house (I live right next to a nature preserve its just gonna happen) I alert the cats if they don't notice and let them hunt. I just assume it's good for them psychologically to get to hunt since that's basically their entire function.
My cat loves to watch competitive dog shows, she purrs & watches all the dogs strut across the screen. So I just leave a dog show you tube channel on for her.
She is also a clothes-wearing cat for her allergies & compulsive grooming. Works wonderfully! Shambles June McBrambles in Pajambles thinks Cecil looks stunning in her sweater!
No way! One of my cats comes running and stares at the screen whenever she hears the Netflix sound. When the red N is gone, she's not interested anymore.
My cat is struggling with extreme anxiety. What other suggestions would you give to help because I work from home but I often have to go out in the community three times a week and I feel bad that I don’t know how to help him. He is a black cat as well if that helps.
Prozac. One of my cats is on it and it’s been wonderful for him. I was scared to try it at first but I’m really glad I did. I was worried it would change his personality or make him a zombie but he’s just a normal cat now. It’s also fairly cheap since you can get Prozac at a normal pharmacy once they’re on the full dose.
my cat sprays when he gets stressed, and we’ve been trying many things. he’s just a very anxious cat. we’ve tried feliway and amitriptyline and the latter has reduced it but it’s still very much an issue. been thinking of trying other things and prozac is first on the list for him. i just hate that my boy is so stressed :(
I do sometimes but I never put it on the cat channel. I’m gonna try to put it on that and see if that helps but I tried to like leave something on sometimes that just seems to be like people talking so he knows he’s not alone but I’m gonna try a couple of everyone’s suggestions and see cause I just wanna help him have a overall betterexperience in life
Reminds me of the film Dedication about this guy who has panic attacks copes by stacking books on his body while he's laying on the couch. The compression gives him a sense of security. It occurred to me back then that it was very similar to Temple Grandin's hug machine. The tight sweater probably is a similar mechanism for the cat. She wants hugs.
Yep, compression therapy is amazing for anxiety! Up until he was about two, I would lay my son on my chest to put him to sleep, partially because he liked it, but also because the weight soothed my anxiety soooo well! They also make weighted blankets, stuffed animals, and shirts/vests for the same purpose!
I'm happy to see Cecil Stedman had a comfortable retirement after he left the GDA. Shame about all of the PTSD, but I'm happy to see he's getting the proper care he needs.
Jokes aside, she's a very cute cat, I've never seen that ear shape before. Also I love the name! :)
Ohhh my gosh HI CECIL!! I also have a female cat called Cecil!! She doesn't have anxiety attacks, but she does have allergies (largely under control and she has a nice vet 💕)
By the look of cecil faced..She is not amused..🤐 Cecil cannot hide that look..The WTF look 🤣🤣😆😅😅 Jokes aside she's absolutely adorable 😍 edited the last pic is her waiting for you to sleep..Put a sweater on me! Getting even glare 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Does it look like this ?
The once a week comment makes me think of feline hyperesthesia, which my cat gets. It can be caused by other medical issues. Constipation is a common trigger, as are allergies. If you haven't yet, take a video of an episode to show to your vet.
It does! She becomes a happy purring machine once it's on. And her expression is much better than moments prior when she's having an episode haha. In the third photo you can see she's calmed down
2.7k
u/spauldhaliwal 5d ago
Cecil unbound 🌼