This is a very common question for many cat owners that are thinking about pet health insurance. They reason that keeping a cat indoors makes them less susceptible to infectious disease and less likely to be involved in a serious accident. For the most part, I agree with this logic and I'm an advocate of an indoor lifestyle for cats.
On the other hand I attended an interesting presentation last week at The North American Veterinary Conference that opened my eyes to the Health Risks of indoor living for cats.
A number chronic, non infectious diseases are being diagnosed more and more often, especially in indoor cats. A number of studies have shown that behavioral problems,
diabetes, hyperthyroidism,
kidney disease, obesity, separation anxiety disorder and various forms of lower urinary tract disease are more common in indoor cats.
Part of the increase in incidence is due to the fact that cats are living longer and getting better health care. Consequently, you would expect that more cats would be diagnosed with these chronic disorders. More recent research indicates that, for some cats at least, environmental factors may be at work here, too.
To understand how a cat's environment may impact their health you have to understand something about the
unique behavior of the cat. Cats are much different than dogs. That's a big duh for most cat owners but many of us don't realize just how different cats are and how this effects their world view and response to their home environment.
Dogs are highly social pack animals. In the wild, social structure helps insure survival through greater reproductive success and through more successful hunting. Cats, on the other hand, are solitary hunters of small prey. They rely on stealth and hunting skill and reproductive success is dependent on factors like
induced ovulation instead of pack social behavior.
When you bring a solitary hunter of small prey indoors you have to be cognizant of the fact that you have now created his world and he is dependent on you for a stimulating yet non-stressful environment. The wrong type of environment can lead to chronic stress and chronic stress can lead to chronic disease in susceptible cats.
In the wild dogs would be the number one predator of the cat. Imagine a cat in a house with a couple of dogs. Now imagine that this cat has no place to hide. Imagine that he has nothing to climb on to get above the fray and keep an eye on his enemies. That would be very, very stressful. This cat would feel vulnerable and threatened virtually all the time. He'd be unable to practice his normal sleep wake cycle and his adrenal cortex would be working overtime pumping out stress hormones.
Equally stressful would be a home devoid of any stimulus. Even without the presence of dogs, cats need to be cats and if their owners don't provide
the basics for environmental enrichment, chronic stress can lead to chronic disease in these cats, as well.
Not all cats respond to these stressors by developing chronic bladder disease or
hyperthyroidism, but the increase in diagnosis of these conditions makes many indoor cats more susceptible if we don't pay attention to providing a safe and engaging indoor environment.
We'll cover the basics on how to do just that in subsequent posts. Environmental enrichment for many indoor cats is just as important in maintaining their health as are annual exams and vaccinations.
Health insurance is a good idea for indoor cats, too, just in case they develop one of these chronic health conditions. Radioactive iodine treatment for a cat with hyperthyroidism can cost over a thousand dollars and chronic renal failure or diabetes can be managed successfully for many years with the right medication, follow up lab work and examinations.
It just takes time and money and health insurance can be a big help with the latter.