Cats and Seasonal Affective Disorder

[Uniqueviking]

I know, I'm very much affected by the only few hours of daylight we have here in the "Cold North" during the winter...and it has already started.

I've noticed how in the past month the behavior of the furbabies have changed as well - especially in Boomer. He's become completely food obsessed and is VERY whiny, so I began to wonder if he has S.A.D too.

I started searching for info on it on the Internet and I found it mentioned briefly at Animal Planet's site.



Q: Our 2-year old cat has a peculiar new habit. She sits on the end table with her head inside a lamp shade, and she sits and stares at the light bulb. Sometimes, she does this for hours, even sleeping there — with the lamp shade over her head. Her eyesight seems okay. But I wonder about long-term damage, and why she's doing this. J. C., Cyberspace

A: What is your cat drinking at those late night parties? A lamp shade on her head? Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Karen Overall of Philadelphia, PA says your kitty could be seeking warmth, or maybe this has become a good place to hide. Another possibility is that your cat has no sunny window ledge to catch the rays and has what amounts to seasonal affective disorder. This is when people feel 'the winter time blahs' because they're not getting enough sun. The disorder has not been described in pets, but Overall says, "Why not. It occurs in people and it seems perfectly plausible to me that this might be what's going on with this cat."


Does anybody have any info on cats and S.A.D. ?



EDIT: Found an article on S.A.D in dogs where cats are also mentioned:

http://www.roen.com/020128.html