Cats are the second most popular pets in the world by a long shot with domesticated cats only being beaten by dogs when it comes to our four legged friends.
With cats being so popular and many people just starting to get their very first cat, we often see people reaching out and asking various questions about what they should be doing to take care of their pet cats of why their cats do certain things as some of their behaviors can be strange.
We do see a huge number of questions and we have already answered a large number of them but more recently, there have been more and more people reaching out to ask if cats pee when scared or not.
Many of the people from the cat-owning community who are reaching out and asking about their cat peeing when scared are often worried that there is a serious health problem with their pet cat but this is rarely the case.
On top of that, some of the answers that people are getting on social media when asking about their cat peeing when scared are incorrect and often result in people thinking their cat has a serious problem when it probably doesn’t.
That said though, if you do think that your cat may be peeing itself due to a health issue then a quick video call with a veterinarian for a check-up should be an easy way for you to get a professional opinion on the situation.
Do Cats Pee When Scared?
Some cats will pee when scared and this can be totally normal, especially for younger cats or kittens.
If your cat is terrified then the chances of it peeing drastically increase but this is usually not a cause for concern and does not mean your cat has a health problem, it is just a natural response to fear and terror in your cat.
Not all cats exhibit this behavior but a surprisingly large number of cats will pee when they are scared and there is usually nothing that you are able to do to prevent it.
We just wanted to make a clear point that not all cats will pee when they are scared as we often see people who own multiple cats on social media curious as to why one of their cats will pee when scared when they have another cat in the same room who didn’t.
This is a totally different behavior in cats to a cat peeing on your while sleeping and is essentially a loss of control from your cat in a similar way that some humans may pee themselves when they are terrified too.
If your cat does need to pee naturally due to not having had a chance to relieve itself and then it is scared by something the chances of it peeing will also increase as there is more pee in your cat’s bladder reducing the amount of control the cat needs to loose over its body to release pee.
Why Do Cats Pee When Scared?
Some cats pee when scared for the exact same reason other animals such as humans, dogs, and rabbits will and it is due to the shock to the nervous system from being scared.
A sudden fright or extreme terror often “reset” the nervous system as the fight, flight or freeze instincts kick in and in some situations, this can result in pee or poop being released.
This does not mean that one cat has a higher level of fear than another either as the issue is usually physical rather than mental.
If you do have multiple cats in your home and something scares them, one cat map pee due to being scared and then be back to normal within an hour or so but another cat may not pee and hide for hours at a time due to the mental trauma from being scared.
Peeing due to being scared is an involuntary action and there are a number of different factors that come into play for it to happen.
This means that the exact same cat may be scared of something and pee and then a few days later be scared again by the same thing and not pee only to be scared again a few days later by the same thing and pee again.
This is why there is so much confusion around cats peeing when they are scared as there are so many variables involved that it is very inconsistent in some healthy cats as to when they will and when they won’t pee due to being scared.
Is There A Way To Stop A Cat Peeing When Scared?
It is very difficult to prevent a cat from peeing when scared as the action is involuntary and the larger the amount of fear in the cat or the shorter the time frame for the fear level to rise in your cat as well as the amount of urine in your cat’s bladder all come into play.
It is usually a total waste of time to even try to prevent your cat from peeing when scared and simply removing it from situations where it will be scared is usually the best option.
You could try to encourage your cat to pee in its litter tray more often but the majority of cats are fiercely independent so we doubt that pestering your pet cat to pee will go down well with your cat.
Never restrict your cat’s access to water in an attempt to prevent it from building up urine to pee when scared either as this presents a dehydration risk to your pet cat that should always be avoided.
Depending on what is scaring your pet cat, you may not be able to remove the cause of the scare from your cat and this may unfortunately just be something that you have to live with.
Thankfully, this is a relatively rare condition in cats but more cats will pee when scared than most people initially realize so factor this in when you consider adding a cat to your family.
