A framework for managing feline behavioral conditions

Managing feline behavioral conditions rarely comes down to a single solution. For Tiffany Tupler, DVM, CBCC-KA, HAB, effective treatment means addressing behavior, medicine, pheromones, and supplementation together, a framework she describes as the "four pillars" of feline behavioral management.

In this post-conference interview following a session she led on feline behavior at the Fetch dvm360 conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, Tupler walks through each pillar, explaining why behavior modification and medical evaluation must work in tandem, how pheromone therapy fits into a broader treatment plan, and why veterinarians should be prescribing behavioral medications with the same diagnostic intentionality they bring to any other condition.

Below is a partial transcript, lightly edited for clarity.

Tupler: I kind of coined the "four pillars." Not that it's based in research science, but it's more of how we should talk to owners about managing behavioral conditions. In reality, behavior is just like in humans. When you go to therapy, I'm not going to fix and solve your problem—I'm not going to cure depression, per se—but what we're going to do is teach coping flexibility and help identify communication techniques.

When I talk about the behavioral pillars, the first one that comes to mind is always going to be behavior modification. Behavior modification includes things like physical and mental enrichment, like we talked about with Bengals. Cats need to have enrichment. It doesn't matter what kind of cat they are or where they come from; it's just like with us. We all remember COVID, and COVID wasn't fun. Imagine being a cat where you're locked in a house and you have nothing to do. What happens is you start to eat more. You're more prone to obesity, diabetes, arthritis, and other conditions.

So, modification is one of the pillars of what we do. As we look at "bad" behaviors—or what we would call socially unacceptable behaviors—we have to say, "Okay, what are we teaching the clients about those behaviors?" The modification part is working with trainers and people who understand how we can teach those communication techniques.

We can't do one of these without the other, so obviously, our medical evaluations are extremely important. We know the majority of behavioral changes, especially sudden ones, are medical in nature. We know cats in particular, between five and eight years of age, now have arthritis. How is pain and other medical conditions contributing to behavior abnormalities?

One of the things I really advise veterinarians—especially because we see this on the pet parent side—is when you medicate with behavioral meds, medicate with intent. You wouldn't look at a cat and say, "Oh, you're peeing in the house. You must be diabetic, so here's your insulin." Do the same thing with your behavioral meds. Ask, "What condition am I treating? What am I looking for?" If I check in with this owner in two weeks, what modification are we doing? What behavior modification am I working on with my medications? We must ensure that we didn't miss something like a pain diagnosis, where maybe a pain trial—or a motion sickness trial for a cat that doesn't like being in the car—might actually alter a lot of those issues.

Then, three and four. Number three is pheromones. Cats communicate with pheromones, and pheromone therapies don't solve the problem on their own. You can't just say, "Go buy a diffuser" or "Go buy these pheromone products," and then magically your cat's going to be cured. We use it in conjunction with modification and medical therapies.

Finally, our supplements. There are tons of supplements on the market. We obviously know there are veterinary-backed and researched ones, but we can't just look at them and say...