How does the behaviour of cats with inflammatory gastrointestinal or skin diseases differ from healthy cats?

9 April 2025

The majority of clinical behaviour cases stem from underlying pain and discomfort¹. Chronic stress in cats can cause various sickness behaviours, including gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, skin inflammation and overgrooming. Due to the immune system’s role in regulating behaviour, it seems likely that inflammatory responses would affect behaviour, but this is poorly understood in cats¹.

A new study, published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research, has explored whether cats with inflammatory GI or dermatological disorders display different behaviour profiles to healthy cats, and investigated the behavioural effects of corticosteroid treatment in inflammatory cats¹. GI and dermatological disorders were chosen, because there is evidence that the gut microbiota influences behaviour via an immune-mediated response, and it has also been suggested that the skin microbiota may influence behaviour¹.

Data on cats’ behaviour in their home environment was collected from behavioural assessment surveys (Fe-BARQ) completed by cat owners, which measure 38 categories of cat activity, behaviour and interactions. A range of behaviour categories were selected to assess the cats’ affective state, reactivity, expression of innate feline behaviours, and care-soliciting behaviours, and compared between groups. Cats were grouped by inflammatory status, as healthy or inflammatory. Those with inflammation were further divided into the source of inflammation (dermatology or GI) and pharmaceutical treatments (psychoactive drugs, inflammatory steroid, and inflammatory nonsteroid). Survey data were received for 97 cats (58 healthy and 39 inflammatory).

Cats in the inflammatory group displayed more care-soliciting and attention-seeking behaviours than healthy cats; specifically, purring (likelihood of the cat to purr when stroked and when sitting/lying on a person’s lap), trainability (how well the cat comes when called, readily responds to simple verbal commands and listens closely to everything the owners say or do), and sociability to people (how likely the cat is to be comfortable and relaxed among people in social gatherings, or when being petted by or playing with unfamiliar people).

Inflammatory cats also showed more anxious behaviours than healthy cats, by compulsive grooming (excessive and intensive grooming, self-mutilation, hair barbering and/or sudden frantic licking or chewing) and fear of novelty (restlessness when the cat’s resting area is modified and when unfamiliar objects are introduced into the home). Cats treated with corticosteroids exhibited more anxious behaviours, including separation behaviours, than both healthy cats and those in the nonsteroid treatment group.

The higher incidence of purring in inflammatory cats likely relates to the cats’ attempt to seek comfort from their owners or to self-soothe; the authors interpret this as increased discomfort and/or stress in these cats. Inflammatory cats receiving psychoactive medications had reduced purring, whilst there was no difference between cats receiving steroids and healthy cats, suggesting that corticosteroid treatment reduces physical discomfort and the resulting need to seek comfort or self-soothe with the inflammatory response.

Increased trainability in inflammatory cats suggests that they are more likely to be highly motivated by food, attention, and affection than healthy cats. Increased sociability to people in inflammatory cats could be due to the cats’ attempt to alleviate GI discomfort by soliciting food or relieving stress and anxiety with human contact. Increased compulsive grooming and fear of novelty in inflammatory cats indicates increased anxiety compared with healthy cats. As cats treated with steroids showed increased separation problem behaviours than both nonsteroid and healthy cats, this suggests that corticosteroid treatment correlates with increased fear and/or anxiety. The authors weren’t able to conclusively determine whether the behavioural differences were a reaction to physical discomfort, emotional distress, or a combination of both.

Limitations of the study were the relatively small sample size; the results were based on owner’s perceptions of their cats’ behaviours which may have been biased; and comorbidities and treatment with medications other than corticosteroids and psychoactive medications in some cats may affect behaviour.

Take home message

Cats with chronic inflammatory disorders displayed more care-soliciting and attention-seeking behaviours (purring, trainability, and sociability to people) and more anxious behaviours (compulsive grooming and fear of novelty). Corticosteroid treatment may increase anxiety in cats. These findings suggest that monitoring anxious and etepimeletic behaviours may be relevant when assessing inflammatory disease in cats.

Reference

¹Gilbert EJ, Powell L, Siracusa C (2025). Cats with inflammatory gastrointestinal or dermatological disorders exhibit increased care-soliciting and anxious behaviors. American Journal of Veterinary Research. https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.24.10.0312