Anxious, or unwell?

A 2026 study analysed owner questionnaires for 43,517 dogs in the US Dog Aging Project. Owners rated their dog’s fear in nine everyday situations on a scale from 0 to 4, where 2 meant mild-to-moderate fear and 4 meant extreme fear. In total, 91% of dogs were rated at least mild-to-moderate in at least one situation. Without the two grooming questions (nail trims and baths), the figure was 84%. By category, fear of unfamiliar dogs was the most commonly reported, at 47.4% of dogs, followed by grooming (33.0%), unfamiliar situations, objects or noise (25.5%) and unfamiliar people (22.3%).

Here is the part that tends to get lost. These are owner observations, not diagnoses — the study’s title says so. Extreme fear across the board was very rare: only three of the 43,517 dogs were rated extreme on all nine questions. And the author, Bonnie Beaver, says the findings do not suggest that most dogs have clinical anxiety disorders, only that they give a clearer picture of how often dogs feel fear. A dog that dislikes nail trims and a dog that chews through a door during every storm both count towards the 91%. They aren’t the same problem.

The honest reading: some fear is normal and very common. Severe, persistent fear is much less common, and it’s the kind that needs professional help.

Owners are paying attention. In a survey of 1,000 US cat and dog owners, conducted by Fractl for MetLife Pet Insurance on 3 February 2026, 89% said they believe their pet has experienced anxiety, and 48% said depression or persistent sadness. More than half (53%) had changed their own schedule or lifestyle because they were worried about their pet’s emotional wellbeing. The median spend on calming products or services in the past year was $50, and 37% had spent $100 or more on calming products alone.

Two other figures from the same survey matter more. Only 21% felt very confident telling emotional distress apart from physical illness, and 35% said they had already mistaken one for the other. Nearly a quarter (23%) had used AI tools such as ChatGPT to assess their pet’s mental health.

A word of caution about the source: this is an insurer-sponsored survey of what owners believe, not a clinical study. It doesn’t show that 89% of pets have anxiety, and it doesn’t confirm the 91% figure; it measures something different. What it does show clearly is a gap between how worried owners are and how confident they feel about what they’re seeing. That gap is where things go wrong.

The most important point in this whole topic is one that calming-product advertising rarely mentions: a change in behaviour can be the first sign of a physical problem.

In a 2020 paper, an international group of veterinary behaviour specialists looked at how often pain is involved in problem behaviour. In several of the authors’ referral caseloads, the share of cases involving a painful condition ranged from 28% to 82% in recent years; a review of 100 recent dog cases put a conservative estimate at around a third. Their advice to clinicians was blunt: it is better to treat suspected pain first than to consider it only when the animal fails to respond to behaviour therapy.

Cats are the clearest example. Feline idiopathic cystitis is bladder inflammation for which no specific cause, such as stones or infection, is found after a thorough work-up. It can show up as peeing outside the litter box, straining, or blood in the urine. Stress is thought to play a central role, and a 2022 review names long-term environmental modification as the primary treatment, with anti-anxiety drugs and supplements reserved for chronic, recurrent cases. So “my cat is peeing outside the box” can be a bladder problem, a stress problem, or both at once. Only a vet can tell which.

Calling a physical problem “anxiety” delays treatment. Calling anxiety “disobedience” delays help. Both mistakes grow out of the same uncertainty: only one owner in five feels very confident telling the two apart.

Once a medical cause has been ruled out, or alongside treating it, the environment is the most reliable tool owners have. This isn’t new or fringe. Professional guidelines have treated it as standard care for years.

For cats, the AAFP and ISFM Feline Environmental Needs Guidelines set out five “pillars” of a healthy environment:

1. a safe place, such as somewhere high or a hiding spot;
2. multiple, separated key resources: food, water, toileting areas, scratching areas, play areas and resting or sleeping areas;
3. opportunities for play and predatory behaviour;
4. positive, consistent and predictable human–cat social interaction;
5. an environment that respects the importance of the cat’s sense of smell.

You’ll often see the rule “one litter box per cat, plus one.” It isn’t what these guidelines say. They ask for each resource to be in a separate location, give “a minimum of two… toileting areas” as an example, and keep toileting areas well apart from food and water. The “plus one” rule comes from the separate 2014 AAFP/ISFM house-soiling guidelines, which call it a historical rule of thumb rather than an absolute requirement.

For dogs, the 2015 AAHA Canine and Feline Behavior Management Guidelines call behavioural management “a core competency of any modern practice” and recommend a standardised behavioural assessment as part of every examination. In daily life, the practical tools are scent work, foraging for food, short positive training sessions, rotating toys, and exercise suited to the dog’s age. We checked the evidence behind each of these in Mental stimulation for dogs: 21 enrichment ideas checked against the research.

One part of animal emotional life gets less attention than it deserves: loss. In a study from Australia and New Zealand, owners returned 279 surveys covering 159 dogs and 152 cats that had lost an animal companion. Owners reported changes in affectionate behaviour in 74% of the dogs and 78% of the cats; over a third of the dogs ate less (35%) and slept more (34%). The authors are careful to point out that these are owner perceptions, which may also reflect the owners’ own grief. A 2026 study has surveyed people whose pets lost a human caregiver, to death or departure: they reported less eating, sleeping and play, and more searching and hiding, especially in animals closely bonded to that person.

If your household has lost a person or an animal, keep an eye on the animals still there. Keep routines stable, and treat a lasting loss of appetite as a reason to see the vet, not just as grief.

The survey above found that nearly a quarter of owners already ask AI tools about their pet’s mental health. That isn’t surprising. The worry comes at night, and the vet’s phone line doesn’t open until morning. The problem is that a general chatbot answers just as fluently when it’s wrong as when it’s right.

Lares Pecoris works on the opposite principle. It answers only from a curated set of official veterinary sources — the 2015 AAHA behaviour management guidelines cited above among them — and every answer comes with the document it came from, which you can open. When the sources don’t cover a question, it says so instead of guessing. It doesn’t diagnose, and it won’t tell you whether your cat is anxious or ill: nothing reliable can, short of an examination. What it can do is show you what the guidelines say, so that you walk into the clinic with better questions (more in Informed, not invented).

Pet Anxiety Awareness Month, founded by Kristen Levine in 2017 and held each June, reached its tenth year in 2026. Levine says the campaign has helped owners understand that anxiety is a medical condition, and that their veterinarian is an essential partner in helping pets feel better. We’d add one word: first.

How common is fear and anxiety in dogs?

In a 2026 study of owner questionnaires for 43,517 dogs in the US Dog Aging Project, 91% of dogs were rated at least mildly to moderately fearful in at least one of nine everyday situations, or 84% without the two grooming questions. Extreme fear in every situation was very rare: three dogs in 43,517. These are owner ratings, not diagnoses, and the author says they do not suggest that most dogs have a clinical anxiety disorder.

Can a change in behaviour mean my pet is in pain?

Yes. A 2020 paper by veterinary behaviour specialists reported that a painful condition was involved in 28% to 82% of problem-behaviour cases in their referral caseloads, with around a third as a conservative estimate, and advised treating suspected pain first. Any sudden or persistent change in eating, drinking, sleeping, toileting, grooming, hiding, irritability, aggression or withdrawal is a reason to see a veterinarian before it is treated as emotional.

Why is my cat peeing outside the litter box?

It can be a medical problem, a stress problem or both. Feline idiopathic cystitis, a bladder inflammation with no specific cause found after a thorough work-up, can cause peeing outside the box, straining and blood in the urine, and stress is thought to play a central role. Only a veterinarian who examines the cat can tell the causes apart; a cat straining without passing urine should be seen the same day.

How many litter boxes should a cat have?

The AAFP and ISFM Feline Environmental Needs Guidelines do not give a per-cat formula. They recommend a separate location for each key resource, give a minimum of two toileting areas as an example, and say toileting areas should be kept well apart from food and water. The familiar “one per cat, plus one” rule appears in the 2014 AAFP/ISFM house-soiling guidelines as a historical rule of thumb, not an absolute requirement.

Do pets grieve when another pet dies?

Owners often report changes. In an Australian and New Zealand study of 279 owner surveys, owners reported changes in affectionate behaviour in 74% of dogs and 78% of cats after the loss of an animal companion, and over a third of dogs ate less and slept more. These are owner perceptions, not measurements. A lasting loss of appetite is a reason to see the vet, not only a sign of grief.

Can Lares Pecoris tell me whether my pet is anxious or ill?

No. Lares Pecoris is a reference tool, not a veterinarian and not a medical device, and it does not diagnose. It answers from a curated set of official veterinary sources and shows the document behind each answer; when those sources do not cover a question, it says so. Telling anxiety from illness needs an examination by a veterinarian.