Can cats get separation anxiety?

I know it's relatively common in dogs, my grandma's last 2 dogs have had it. But my flatmate says that when I'm not home, my cat wanders around the house meowing. She doesn't stop until I get home. (She may have also peed on the bath mat in protest of my absence). She's normal when I am home. 

I've only had semi-ferals before, and she's certainly more clingy and affectionate than them. But I don't know if she's moreso than any other regular domestic cat. Can cats get separation anxiety, and what does it look like when they do? 

Short answer: Yes.

Cats, for all their reputation for being wandering independent creatures, are actually fairly social within their family.  Also, once they have established their surroundings (territory) they do not like change.

So, if you leave for a period of time that is longer than normal, your feline companion will "worry" about it.  And if it seems like you aren't coming back, they will "grieve" your absence.

Something to consider; animals do feel basic (and some would argue even complex) emotions.  They feel love, fear, grief, anger, annoyance, jealousy, comfort... However, they do not attach any morality to these emotions, therefore they will act on their emotions and feel not one iota of regret.  This is why they do not really understand "punishment", because that is a human thing about attaching morality/reason to actions. 

Animals simply act how they feel. 

So, it's important to imagine their world from that perspective.

Something you can do when you will be away for a while, is to leave a "stinky" shirt for kitty to take comfort in.  Also, some folks have had success with Feliway and Calming Collars, to help ease the stress.

I truly believe they are individual souls in a different “container" than us. We often focus on the anatomy of the container more than the individual being in that container to arrive at understanding. This falls short as it does when trying to understand an individual person. I have a kitty who cries like a baby in the dark, roaming the apt hall and rooms if he falls asleep away from my bed where he likes to be with me to dream. This same kitty was a feral who has all the battle wounds to prove it. And personally saw his rank outside with other ferals, one growl from him and they would back off. So here I have a rough and tough feral crying like a little baby because he temporarily can't find his Mommy upon opening his eyes, lol. I have also noticed my cats often mirror my state of mind. The more anxious I am the more they are....So I believe it to be wonderfully complex and a chance for beautiful interaction between two species navigating through this experience called life. Personally I would be honored if I were you. This one is connected to you profoundly!

Furmoster Mom - thank you. I wasn't sure if separation anxiety was what this might be. Actually, I'm still not certain it is. I've just realised she might be jealous; over the last 3 days, I've been nursing an injured baby bird (it died this morning :/  ). I've been paying just as much attention to her as usual, but I've also been paying attention to this bird, and I think she might've been jealous. I'll see if it stops now the bird is gone or if this is a new development in our relationship! 

pocho - your feral baby sounds like such a sweetheart!! I think they know when you've rescued them. I am honoured, and grateful! I adopted Mama Can and her two kittens at the beginning of the year. The kittens have their own humans (one is flatmate of mine) but from day one it's been Mama and I, we just clicked. She was abandoned I think, from what I can gather somebody had her as a kitten and then quickly got fed up with her and tossed her out. But she is just the nicest cat! She knows the sound of my car and greets me at the door; she comes and checks on me when my alarm goes in the morning; she chirrups and purrs and meows. When I hang out in my flatmate's room (w/flatmate of course) she scratches and meows at the door, and comes running when she hears me come out. She's gentle, she's docile, and sometimes she gets these playful bursts and acts like a kitten. When I picked her up off the street she was really hostile and anxious at first, but she acclimatised to being a pet so quickly, within a week she was rolling over and asking for tummy pats. It feels like we were 'meant to be'. Maybe that's silly 

My little Mama Cat is so different compared to the other cats in my life; my mum and grandma's cats are semi-feral, and it shows, but they were never really 'rescued'. They were adopted young-ish and given freedom and independence when they wanted it. As a result it's always affection on their terms, attention on their schedule... I know they love us but they are not clingy. Compared to them Mama Cat is like a dog!

I love your Mamacat! I think your instincts are spot on. It is hard sometimes to distinguish between their personalities and what you project onto them but I think you are reading her the way she needs to be to be understood.

Lots of good advice offered - I can't add anything but I really enjoyed reading it!

Eric

I think cats absolutely can have separation anxiety. Sinbad goes absolutely bananas when he doesn't know where I am. When we first adopted him and he didn't know his way around the house, he would "cry" in the middle of the night when he had to get up to use the litter box and couldn't find his way back to me. These loud, yeowling mournful sounds that wouldn't stop until I went to find him and bring him back to bed. Thankfully he knows his way around now and can find his way back again. For a few months I couldn't leave the house for long, because he would get completely terrified when I was away. I'd come back and find him cowering, shaking and wide eyed with fear in some hiding place.

Thankfully he's much better now. He knows his way around the house, so when he 'loses' me he just goes to the places where I usually am. It's actually rather cute, he'll sit waiting for me at certain times of the day when he knows I'm going to be in a particular room or another. Although I still can't leave the house while he's sleeping. If he wakes up and I'm not at home he'll completely panic. And if I'm gone for an abnormal length of time he'll get upset and worried.

The "stinky shirt" helps a great deal. In Sinbad's case, he uses a combination of a shawl I made for myself, my slippers, and a stuffed fox that my husband gave me a few years ago that I have hugged so much it probably reeks of me. When he's feeling particularly upset, he'll go to the game room, make himself a nest on my shawl, and carry my slippers and the fox down to snuggle. He is definitely less scared since I started leaving the shawl out where he can get it.

Tempest is similarly comforted by my husband's smell. She doesn't need it as badly as Sinbad does, but she prefers to nest in his laundry over anything else. We've found that she'll even tolerate the vet without fear if we wrap her up in one of his dirty shirts. The vet doesn't even pull her out of the shirt, just keeps her bundled up, only lifting sections of fabric where she needs to examine. 

Here is Tempest at the vet, snuggled in her comforting daddy stink shirt:


So I will agree with Furmonster Mom! Anything will do, so long as it smells of you. Socks, shirts, shoes, stuffed animals.. it's the smell that's important. Although I think soft and snuggly helps too!   And you get Bonus Points if you leave them in a place where you often sit. 

Adding this link to the great replies in this thread - 

Separation Anxiety in Cats

I think cats most definitely can have seep seperation anxiety. My cat does not have what I would term seperation anxiety, but I do notice obvious differences in her behavior when I am here versus when I am not (I know how she behaves when I am gone because I live with my sick mother).

Typically when I am gone at work or school she sleeps like 99% of the time and has little interest in being up or eating. When I come home she will often immediately jump up and start roaming around, rubbing on my legs, sometimes following me around the apartment until she is sure I am going no where. The. She will trot off to her dry food bowl dish and eat etc.

Apparently one day when I was gone on a trip for a few days, she barely ate or moved. She just slept. So - I don't think she suffers anxiety issues, but I think I am her main human. Cats are interesting creatures.

Absolutely, cat's can have separation anxiety. My Peaches, especially as she is old, always wants to be on my lap.. When I'm  gone my family notices she paces then sleeps.  When she hears the noise of a car she thinks it's me and puts her head up and seems disappointed that it's not me.  At this very moments she is sleeping on my lap as I try to awkwardly write. I also had a cat years ago named Beasly who was very sick with kidney disease and a heart mummer.  The night he died from congestive heart failure at 9, he was on my lap wheezing before I took him to the Emergency Vet where he died anyway