Cats are well-known for their high standards of hygiene. They spend a good part of their waking hours grooming themselves. In addition to keeping their body clean and free from tangles, grooming promotes cooling as saliva from their hair coat evaporates. Glands on hair roots are also stimulated during grooming to produce secretions that can help preserve the waterproof quality of the hair coat.

Cats also gain psychological benefits from grooming. Thus there are cases when stressful situations cause a cat to groom excessively as he deals with anxiety or frustration. Excessive grooming triggered by stressful situations is called ‘displacement behavior’.

The behavior is often triggered by a cat’s effort to do two or more opposing behaviors at the same time. His inability to accomplish the behaviors often lead to the display of another behavior that is not in consonance to the prevailing situation the cat is in. One common example is a cat that feels threatened by the presence of a dominant cat, and cannot decide whether to fight or run for it. Being unable to decide on the best way to get out of the situation he is in, he will just groom himself instead in an effort to calm down.

You should seek professional help from your Indianapolis, IN vet if you are dealing with any undesirable behavior of your pet. Check out this website to know more.