do cats get depressed?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Alan Clarke - 04 Oct 2003 14:11 GMT

Do cats get depressed? Recently my 3 year old Tom had a fight with a
larger newcomer male, and came off worse. The next day he seemed
uninterested in anything EVEN FOOD, and even hissed at me when i tried
to pick him up!
He's OK now, but for 24-36 hours he seemed like a totally different
cat!
PS
Why do cats make a different noise when watching birds through a
window?
(its not a sound you hear at any other time??)
Al

Reply to this Message

Michel Catudal - 06 Oct 2003 02:51 GMT

> Do cats get depressed? Recently my 3 year old Tom had a fight with a
> larger newcomer male, and came off worse. The next day he seemed
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> (its not a sound you hear at any other time??)
> Al

They do. My 17 years old Cat Lulu got very depressed when I changed job.
I had to be out of town all week for close to 2 months. She was very healthy
but during my absence she became depressed. She must have thought that I
was abandonning her. She never recovered and eventually died.

3 year old is a little young for being depressed, I think it is more jealousy
than anything else. Cats don't like to share their pet with other cat.

Signature

Howard Dean for America
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer

http://www.netonecom.net/~bbcat

Reply to this Message

Brett - 06 Oct 2003 09:33 GMT

They sure do. And they can get stressed out just as fast. My friend is a
Vet Techician specializing in cats and noticed my female cats behavior...
So I took her in to her vet, who only sees cats, and they confirmed what she
saw. they placed her on an antidepressant for about a month. The
depressions and stress was caused when I adopted a 2 year old cat. She
didn't like sharing he hosue with another female cat...

The antidepressant, which I administered in doses of 1/10 miligram twice a
day via a cream rubben into my cats ear worked great. she's off the
medication now and even though the two cats don't "love each other" the
stress and depression is gone. The medication we used was Comipramine in
gell form rubbed into the inner filds of the ear.

> > Do cats get depressed? Recently my 3 year old Tom had a fight with a
> > larger newcomer male, and came off worse. The next day he seemed
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> 3 year old is a little young for being depressed, I think it is more jealousy
> than anything else. Cats don't like to share their pet with other cat.

Reply to this Message