The amount of time spent away counted, too.

Younger adults - those in the 18-35 group - were more apt to report having a pet with separation anxiety behavior than older people, perhaps because younger people have more erratic schedules and busier lives that don’t allow them to give cats the consistent schedules and attention they may crave. It makes sense when you consider that even the company of an animal your cat might not like very much could be better company than none at all, especially over long stretches of many hours. In the latest study, signs of separation-related problems in felines were twice as common in homes without another cat - or dog - as in homes that had one or more other pets. Environmental factors that contribute to separation issues And a number of studies taken together suggest that cats express more security and stability in their owners’ presence, and more anxiety and stress when their owners aren’t around. One experiment found, for instance, that cats display more exploratory and playful behaviors when accompanied by their owners rather than when they are left alone or with someone they don’t know. The new research squares with what many cat owners have observed on their own and what prior investigations have helped confirm: cats can and do bond with their people. The inappropriate urination tended to occur on the owner’s bedroom floor or bed, below the living room furniture, next to floor drains, and on carpets, sofas, pet owners’ clothes, and the kitchen sink. The problem signs, from most to least common, included destructive behavior, excessive vocalizations, urination in inappropriate places, depression/apathy, aggressiveness, and agitation/anxiety. But when Brazilian researchers conducted a study in which they asked 130 owners of 223 cats to answer a questionnaire about their pets’ behavior in their absence, it turned out that almost one in seven of the cats was found to have exhibited one or more signs of separation-related problems indicative of separation anxiety. After all, in the wild, cats are often solitary predators. The thinking is that when people head out, the pet is content to curl up in her favorite closet, or at her favorite window, and hang out by herself for as many hours as necessary. There’s a belief in some circles that a cat can easily cope with her owner’s absence for long periods of time. Some cats may literally feel depressed when separated from their owners.

Miserable cat