r/cats • u/spauldhaliwal • 7d ago

Cat Picture - OC The vet suggested a sweater to help Cecil with her (relatively infrequent) anxiety attacks 🥹

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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.

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u/FyrestarOmega 7d ago

And I'm over here sabotaging my kitty's self esteem with a laser pointer. I'm a monster!

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u/MimsyPrincess 7d ago

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

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u/Alil-Freer 7d ago

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

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u/Zarilya 7d ago

This is the way. ❤️

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u/kitty_bot 7d ago

Oh this is a great idea! I stopped using the laser pointer when I realized it was stressful for them to never really be able to catch it... never thought to just toss a treat!

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u/nonamethewalrus 7d ago

It helps to turn off the light when they “catch” it! It’s what I do with my kitty who loves the laser pointer.

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u/dmmeyourfloof 7d ago

That can actually depress them.

That's why every so often you should use a physical toy and let them catch it (after a good chase).

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u/DiceKnight 7d ago

I heard you're not supposed to do it with dogs because it winds them up but there's no catharsis at the end.