Squiring overestimulated cats – North Toronto cat rescue

By Nomi Berger

Does this family sound? You are caressing tenderly or playing gently with your favorite feline when suddenly becomes hyperactive or you swallow you by biting you and/or scratching. According to veterinary behaviorists, this erratic and unpredictable behavior is known as “overestimulation.”

Whether your overestimulated kitten is acting aggressive or with fear, it is a psychological response to feel overwhelmed by some external factor. Examples: excessive touch and/or management, sudden changes in the home, from a recent move or a new pet to home construction. Being overestimulated can even make it exaggeratedly react to seemingly “normal” occurrences, as a family member of the family that approaches it or the usual noises emanating from the appliances of their home. Because an overestimulated cat runs the risk of hurting itself by hitting furniture or knocking down objects, it is essential to recognize the first warning signs, prevent the situation from intensifying and helps it return to a quiet mental state.

While any cat can be overestimulated, it is more likely to affect those who do not receive appropriate mental enrichment or exercise and those who fight with stress and anxiety, which reduce the threshold so that they overestimulate themselves. In addition to the “triggers” mentioned above, others include bright and/or flickering lights, strong noises such as thunderstorms, fireworks, dogs of dogs and vacuum cleaners, play too intense and ingesting kittera grass or silvervine.

The signs of an overestimulated cat include dilated pupils, skins standing at the end, hiding, whistle, stubborn body posture and hidden tail. Overestimulation can, in addition to biting and scratching, also leading to aggressive behaviors such as periods of random random activity (frap), commonly known as “zoomies”, growling, touching and persecuting, sliding and a tail that surpasses from one side to another.

When your cat oversthes, eliminate or quickly reduce the potential causes you can control: finish your caress and/or play session, mitigate the lights, turn off the vacuum and so on. Place in a full and private location with leafs of food and water, hangers, a sand box and a bed, and give it time to decompress. This can vary from several minutes to several hours, so please be patient with her.

To prevent your kitten from overestimulate again, you must address the underlying causes behind it. If excessive caressing or exuberant game seems to be the culprit, I accept it as you feel comfortable and shorten your game sessions. If the sound of a vacuum bothered it, place it in a quiet and confined area while using it. If Catnip or Silvervine overestimates it, reduce or eliminate it completely.

And finally, but not least, to prevent your cat from getting bored, the second “trigger” for overestimulation, ensures that you have a variety of mental enriching toys to play alone during the day, as puzzle and food dispensers.

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