Calming anxious cats after moving home

A divorce and a house move at the same time — that's a lot of upheaval for a cat, and Abyssinians feel it more than most. They're one of the more emotionally attuned breeds, very bonded to their environment and their people, so a smaller space with a different energy can genuinely unsettle them. Cat anxiety is real and often underestimated — cats hide stress well, which means by the time you're noticing it, things have usually been building for a while. Pheromone diffusers are the most evidence-backed calming tool, but placement matters a lot. Before I point you in a direction — what are you actually seeing from him or her? Hiding, over-grooming, not eating, aggression, litter box changes?

The over-grooming on the belly is a clear stress signal — that's psychogenic alopecia and it tells you the anxiety is fairly embedded at this point, not just surface-level adjustment. The fact that it hasn't improved in two months without intervention is actually pretty typical; cats don't just 'settle in' on their own once they've reached that level. The jumpiness at sounds fits with the smaller space too — less room to retreat means she can't regulate her own stress as easily. What's the rental like — is it one floor, multiple rooms? And is she the only pet?

That's actually a helpful setup — one level means a single diffuser can cover the whole space properly, which is exactly what you need. My recommendation is the Feliway Classic Starter Kit, which comes with the plug-in diffuser and a 30-day refill. Feliway Classic uses a synthetic version of the facial pheromone cats deposit when they rub their face on things — it's the 'this place is safe' signal. For a cat showing belly over-grooming and sound sensitivity two months in, this is the right product. Plug it in the room where she spends the most time or where she tends to hide — not a hallway, not a kitchen, the room she's actually in. It takes about a week to notice a difference and up to four weeks for the full effect, so don't judge it too early. Keep the refills going for at least three months given how established the stress is.

The diffuser is your foundation and the most important thing to get in place first. Alongside it, the single most useful thing in a smaller flat is vertical space — a cat tree or even a wall shelf she can get up on gives her somewhere to survey the room from safety, which reduces baseline anxiety noticeably. Abyssinians especially need to feel like they have a vantage point. Also worth keeping her routine as consistent as you can — same feeding times, same spots for her things. If the over-grooming doesn't reduce at all after four weeks on the Feliway, it's worth a vet conversation, because sometimes chronic stress at that level benefits from short-term medication alongside the environmental work. But start with the diffuser — most cats respond well.

Good — plug it in as soon as it arrives and try not to move it once it's placed. Give it the full four weeks before you evaluate. The combination of a stable pheromone environment, some vertical space, and a consistent routine should make a real difference for her. Abyssinians are resilient cats when they feel secure — she just needs the environment to catch up with everything that's changed.