Long term treatment for sound sensitive cats

It can take very little time for a cat to become sensitised to the sounds of fireworks and other similar sounds, but treatment to reduce sound sensitivity can take much longer. It is not something that can be achieved within a few days or even weeks. So if you already know that your cat is sound sensitive, it may not be possible to reduce his fear sufficiently in time for this firework season, but once this year’s fireworks are over it may be a good idea to consider more specific long-term treatment.

How to cope this year

Follow the advice contained in the articles ‘How to prepare your cat for the firework season’ and ‘Keeping your cat safe when fireworks start’.  This advice may not reduce his fear, but may help him to cope in the short term. Attempting to reduce fear during the firework season is less likely to be successful because until the process is complete every time that your cat hears loud fireworks he will go back to feeling frightened again.

Consult your vet

·        Your vet may be able to prescribe or recommend treatments that can help your cat to cope during this firework season.

·        Pain and/or disease can make a cat more susceptible to stress and fear, so it is also a good idea to have your cat examined by your vet to ensure that he has no physical problems.

·        Your vet may also be able to refer you to a suitably qualified feline behaviourist who can help you to reduce your cat’s fear and identify and address other possible stress issues that might be contributing to your cat’s behaviour and reaction to sounds.

What is the long-term process and how does it work?

Fear reduction can be achieved by the dual processes of desensitisation and counter conditioning. But what does this mean?

Desensitisation: This is the process of reducing fear by allowing the cat to become accustomed to the sounds, initially at a very, very low level (not sufficient to elicit any fear response) and then very, very gradually increasing them. At no point should the process cause the cat to experience fear (see ‘How can I tell if my cat is frightened of fireworks?’) because this would be more likely to increase rather than decrease fear.

Counter Conditioning: Although this sounds more like a hair product, it is actually the correct term for training any animal to change its perception and learned associations with a stimulus (i.e. sight, sound or smell). So if a cat associates certain sounds with the feeling of fear, the aim is to ‘counter condition’ it to associate the same sounds with something good instead, such as food treats or play.

The process is very similar to that described on ‘How to prepare your cat for the firework season’ but greater care needs to be exercised if the cat is already sound sensitive as there is greater risk of making the problem worse rather than better if not carried out correctly, or if other issues that could be contributing to the cat’s fear are not identified and addressed.   

For more information, ask your vet or a qualified behaviourist such as a member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (APBC) www.apbc.org.uk

Trudi Atkinson RVN, Dip.AS (CABC), CCAB

Trudi Atkinson is a full member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (APBC) and a Certificated Clinical Animal Behaviourist (CCAB). She runs a behaviour referral practice covering South West UK dealing exclusively with feline behaviour problems. She initially qualified as a veterinary nurse in 1986 and spent several years in veterinary practice before undertaking further study and gaining a post graduate diploma in companion animal behaviour counselling from Southampton University in 1999. As well as helping cat owners and their pets with behaviour problems, Trudi has also contributed to behaviour and veterinary textbooks and has presented several talks on the behaviour of pet animals, especially cats.