A great role of Momma Cat is to instill in their offspring confidence. A cat must learn when and how it is right to eat, to hunt, to sleep, to relax, to mate, and when to stay under cover. To know these things gives the growing cat the confidence to face the world with the right emotional tools to prevent fears and anxieties from taking ahold.

Once we humans take over the job, our cats must now look to us for food and water. They look to us when they want a head scratch, meow when they are bored and it’s time to chase a string. They look to us for those intangible needs that we, as their human caregivers, must learn to read: “I am nervous, I am scared, I don’t like this food, I don’t like it when this thing happens in my day. What do I do?” They lack the ability to tell us what they are feeling anxiety over, but they still look to us, as the human that feeds and grooms them, to fix it. “I’m anxious and I don’t know why. Please help.” That is, perhaps, our greatest role as an animal caregiver, figuring out how to help them find the courage to face what they fear! It is certainly the most challenging. It can also be the most rewarding for both of you. And cats are absolute masters at responding to the rewards. So, cat owners, cheer! Your little lion is just waiting to become king of the forests once again (or Savannah…what are you gonna do? It was MGM!).

Anxiety over something that we human caregivers don’t recognize is perhaps the greatest cause of behavioral issues in animals. It’s a huge catch all and can show up as a cat that growls at some “ghost” outside the window, a cat that pees on the bed, or a cat that hides when they hear a certain sound or see a certain type of human. We humans are not immune to the same seemingly irrational anxieties. Something triggers our body to feel fear and we react in our own individual ways.

Most of us have heard some of the terms applied to behavioral therapies, such as positive reinforcement – give the mouse a marshmallow when it does the maze, give yourself that pastry when you finish the project you put off doing. When it comes to facing what we or your cat fear, how do we cure that with a simple treat?

Luckily, there’s a pretty handy thing called desensitization. Desensitization means to make less sensitive. Systematic desensitization means we gradually expose the human or animal to the anxiety-producing object, event, or place while being engaged in some type of reward or relaxation at the same time in order to reduce the symptoms of anxiety. And it works like a charm!

In its most basic, desensitization starts with exposing an animal to a weak, less threatening version of the thing he or she fears or dislikes. You weaken the experience by making it smaller, slower, shorter lasting, farther away, less noisy, or still rather than moving around. Over time, as the animal starts to habituate to that experience being a part of their day to day, you gradually make that thing stronger again by, for example, bringing it closer, increasing its volume or having it move. Give the cat the least scary version of whatever it is anxious over then up the volume as the sessions go on.

If you combine it with another nifty technique called counter-conditioning you have a sure-fire recipe for a happy feline. To “condition” means to teach, and to “counter” means to change. So, counter-conditioning just means to re-teach the animal to have a pleasant feeling and reaction toward something that he or she once felt anxious over. You do this by associating the thing they fear with something good so that it predicts good things for the animal. This is where that yummy positive reinforcement stuff gets to happen. As soon as the cat sees the thing, you give them a favored treat to create a pleasant emotional reaction. Over many repetitions, the cat learns that whenever that thing appears, good things happen! Eventually, the process produces a neutral or positive emotional reaction to the sight of the previously feared or disliked person, animal, event, place or object.

The challenge can be in finding the cats groove and keeping patient. Your sessions may not go as planned, you may be forcing a moment when the cat isn’t ready, you may be giving a reward at the wrong time and not understand why the sessions took a step backwards. For severe anxieties, the process can take months. It CAN NOT BE FORCED. I do recommend talking with a cat behavior specialist to help you prepare a set of guidelines and session plans as well as to be there for encouragement when you are feeling less than certain. Those are the times you will need that pastry.

This work is truly fun and rewarding. I love the challenge of getting to know each cat as a completely individual creation. It isn’t as text book as flipping through pages to find, “Cat afraid of bell-do this”. Just as every human has walked through the world following their own path and perceiving things on that road in their own ways, every Cowardly Lion has walked a Yellow Brick Road of their own. It is my belief to approach every little lion as its own puzzle waiting for all the pieces to find their own perfect fit.