Does Weather Affect Cats?

The condition called SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is pretty common in humans.  That's the one where a person who may be just fine in the warmer months gets gloomy and depressed in the colder months.  Guess what - cats can experience it, too!  In fact, some science shows that there is a direct link between a cat's mood and the weather.  A recent study found that eight million pets show some of the symptoms of SAD in the colder months.  If you think about the evolution of cats, it makes sense!

Before cats were domesticated, they were predatory animals that had to find ways to survive in the wild.  Being able to do that successfully made it necessary for cats to develop very heightened awareness.  Since the availability of food could depend a lot on the temperature where they lived or if it was dry or wet, cats evolved to be acutely aware of and sensitive to those factors.  Cats learned to tune their psychology and physiology to the conditions around them.  Even after thousands of years of domestication, cats can still do that.

Ever heard that animals can predict the weather or know when a natural disaster is coming?  Well, whether it's true or not, they do seem to be aware of things coming before we humans are.  Again, it's a result of those evolutionary skills. Cats' hypersensitivity to their environment means they have extraordinary senses of smell and hearing.  With them, cats can pick up even the smallest vibration or electrical impulse in the atmosphere!  Imagine if humans had these same abilities!  Just getting through a day would be super hard!  But cats learned how to use those skills for their survival.  They translate into today's world, too.  If your cat senses a storm coming, the instincts may kick in and they may want to hide out and could be less loving than they normally are.  Does your cat get scared during thunderstorms?  The smell of
rainwater and the loud sounds of thunder and lighting are can trigger the same behavior. 

So, it's natural that the super tuned-in cat will perhaps get grumpy in the winter months and seem less like their normal selves. The echoes of the ancient cat would feel cold, threatened by not having as much food available, and possibly want to conserve energy.  What can you do to cheer up your furry friends?  Spend some extra time playing with them and make sure they get plenty of exercises.  Sounds a lot like what people need to do in winter, too!  Cats need to be stimulated with toys that challenge them (like the treat balls that they can chase for a treat reward or chasing a ball in a maze).  We can't change millions of years of evolutionary instinct but we can help our cats thrive even when it's cold outside!

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