Research overview: environmental stress and behavioural responses in cats

Cats are sensitive to environmental change, and chronic stress manifests in altered behaviour, from hiding and reduced activity to elimination problems and stress-related illness. This overview surveys research on feline stressors, including unpredictability, lack of control, social conflict, and barren housing, and the behavioural and physiological signs used to assess them. It discusses how environmental enrichment, predictable routines, hiding places, and resource distribution mitigate stress, drawing on welfare frameworks for housed cats. The topic connects the cat's evolved needs as a territorial, control-seeking predator to practical strategies for reducing stress in homes, shelters, and clinics and for interpreting stress-driven behaviour problems.