Fear is a normal response for any animal to a fear-inducing
stimulus or situation. Without a reasonable amount of fear
neither cats nor humans would fare very well. As unpleasant as
fear may be to experience, it keeps our animals and us safe by
encouraging caution and by preparing us for fight or flight
when danger threatens. Problems arise, however, if fears
become so excessive and irrational that they disrupt normal
functioning. At this stage, fear has crossed a definitional
divide and is now better classed as phobia.
Excessive, irrational fears (or phobias) have three possible
triggers:
Other living creatures (especially cats, dogs,
and humans)
Inanimate cues (most often noise)
Certain situations, such as being left alone or
visiting the vet’s office
Development of Fears/Phobias
Nature and nurture interact to produce excessive fearfulness.
The natural component is the innate hard-wiring that acquires
and processes fears. Specifically, it involves neural pathways
in the brain to a structure called the amygdala, where fearful
stimuli are processed and then relayed to emotion centers in
the limbic system. The natural tendency to acquire fears can
be exaggerated in individual cats, families of cats, or whole
breeds of cats.
While nature provides the substrate necessary for fear,
learning is key. Without learning, fears do not arise in the
first place. Fears can be acquired suddenly and
cataclysmically when an extremely traumatic event polarizes a
negative learning experience. This can be thought of as a
variation on the post-traumatic shock theme. From the time of
the negative experience onwards, the fear-inducing stimulus
will be avoided or repulsed at all costs. Permanent learning
of this type is facilitated by the release of a fight or
flight neurotransmitter, called norephrenephrine.
Another way in which fears develop is more slowly over
time. In such instances, fears are compounded by repeated
exposure to the instigating cause. Over time, the fear gets
worse.
Once acquired, fear learning will fade if not reinforced –
but it never completely disappears and can be rekindled
quickly when circumstances dictate. Fortunately, it is often
possible to reduce fearful perceptions and fearful responding
by superimposing new learning that masks an older negative
association.
Learning What to Fear
The “sensitive period” of learning (about many lifelong
perceptions) occurs between two and seven weeks of age in
cats. During the early part of this period, fearless kittens
bravely go where older cats fear to tread. But, as the
sensitive period rolls on, a certain caution or tentativeness
emerges in our young heroes. This is a necessary development
if kittens are to stay out of harms way. The more driven a
kitten becomes to explore his environment, the more essential
a dose of apprehension and caution are to his continued
safety.
It is adaptive for a growing kitten to associate fear with
people who are yelling or gesturing wildly. It is good for the
youngster to become frightened by the loud noise and commotion
of a busy highway. And it is good for the kitten to learn to
avoid experiences that cause him to feel pain or discomfort.
It is not so good when these fears become exaggerated,
generalized, or misdirected, so that, for example, all
strangers generate a powerful fear response from the cat or
all visits to the vet’s office wind up nightmarish.
Avoidance of Excessive Fearfulness
Many fearful cats have fears that could have been avoided. The
most critical time to guard against negative events is during
the early part of a kitten’s life, notably the latter part
of the sensitive period. Throughout this stage, it is
imperative for kittens to be raised in a warm, friendly
environment and to be introduced to a variety of people and
other animals without having any bad experiences, such as
prolonged social deprivation or punishment. Conscientiously
shielding a young kitten from adversity will ensure a
confident well-adjusted adult.
A kitten raised without human contact or who has had bad
interactions with people during the first seven weeks of his
life will never be entirely comfortable around people and will
most likely be afraid around strangers. Adverse experiences
may also cause profound and long-lasting fears later in life,
but the ante goes up. That is, it takes more of a challenge to
produce the same long-lasting fearful result. The
susceptibility of older cats to acquiring fear varies with
their behavioral experience. A properly raised, fully
socialized cat will be much less likely to interpret
occasional unfortunate experiences as the “rule” and more
likely to interpret such events as exceptions.
Common Expressions of Fear
Fear of Animate Cues. Cats that are frightened of people
and other cats have usually been undersocialized or have
had bad experiences with people or other cats. Aggression,
running away, and hiding are common signs of fear of
living cues. Enlarged pupils, body hair raised, large
bushy tail, and inappropriate elimination (urine or feces)
are also seen.
Inanimate Fears. Fear of noises – demonstrated by
hiding, signs of high arousal, and hunkered, cowering
postures.
Fear of Situations. These can be divided into fear of
cat carrier, car travel, and visiting the veterinarian's
office, and fear of separation. Fear of the carrier,
travel and vet office often go “hand in glove” and
represent a learning process known as back-chaining. The
latter is a process by which learning experiences become
linked together so that one heralds the next, and so on.
When the cat experiences pain at the vet’s office, he
associates the location and veterinary personnel with
unpleasant consequences. The cat then associates car
travel with a visit to the vet’s office. Next, he
realizes that being put in the crate means a possible trip
in the car – which might possibly culminate at the
vet’s office – which might conceivably result in pain.
Separation anxiety. This occurs when a cat that is
closely bonded to his human companion (or sometimes feline
companion) becomes distraught when separated from them.
Signs include: crying out when left alone, house soiling,
and lack of appetite. Some cats may even pull out clumps
of their own hair and most greet their owner's
over-exuberantly on their return home.
Desensitization is the name of the game. Some golden rules of
desensitization are:
Accurately identify the source of the fear.
Prevent exposure to the fully blown fear stimulus during
retraining.
Be able to control the fear-inducing stimulus so that it
can be presented at low, incrementally increasing levels
of exposure (e.g. for fear of strangers - a volunteer
fear-inducing stranger who will agree to present
himself/herself at varying distances).
Test the fear-inducing stimulus to make sure that it
does, in fact, produce the fearful response. Then wait a
few days before commencing the program.
Present the offending stimulus at a low level of
intensity.
Gradually increase the challenge by decreasing the
distance between the cat and the feared stimulus, by
increasing the volume of a sound recording, or by adding
new dimensions to the fearful situation.
Do not advance consecutively through such a program of
desensitization; instead proceed in a random fashion. As
long as the cat remains calm, for instance, expose the cat
to a stranger at 20 feet, then 12 feet then 20 feet, then
8 feet, and so on.
Though the distance may vary in either direction between
sessions, over time there should always be a progression (i.e.
in the example above, the stranger is being accepted at
progressively closer distances).
If a problem occurs at any stage of the program, return to an
earlier stage of the retraining process, always finishing a
training session on a positive note. The following day the
session can be reinitiated at a low level of exposure, which
is subsequently increased to, and finally through, the former
upper limit of acceptance.
Training should preferably be conducted every day, however,
training sessions 2 to 3 times weekly sometimes suffice.
Desensitization is usually performed in conjunction with
counterconditioning (with cats, this almost always involves
using delicious food to change the cat’s perception and
behavior at each stage of the reintroduction process).
Global Fear
The most difficult cats to treat are those with “global”
fear, meaning simultaneous fear of multiple cues; animate,
inanimate, and situational. Cats of this disposition are
almost impossible to desensitize to the multiple stimuli that
trigger their fear. They are the “Nervous Nellies” of the
feline world and are probably best treated medically to
alleviate the impact of negative experiences that pervade
their world. Even these cats, that seemingly have nothing to
fear except fear itself, can be brought around by means of
judicious anti-anxiety medication and subsequent weaning of
the medication over time. The latter process should be
conducted only under the strict guidance of a veterinarian,
perhaps with input from a veterinary behavioral specialist.
Medical Treatment
Many anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs have been employed
to facilitate retraining – with varying degrees of success.
The best are (in order):
Buspirone
Alprazolam
Fluoxetine
Clomipramine
Amitriptyline
Propranolol
Conclusion
If whatever frightens your cat can be consistently represented
in an attenuated, non-threatening way, gradual reversal of the
fear will result. The principle is similar to that involved in
homeopathy – that of treating a condition by administering
small carefully gauged quantities of things that excite the
symptoms. Behavioral medicines can be helpful in ameliorating
entrenched fears and fears that are “global” in
proportions. Finally, there is a very good chance of
rehabilitating cats with excessive fearfulness, especially if
the fear can be clearly identified, is discrete, and can be
easily isolated and controlled.
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