Stress-related feline urinary disease is among the most common welfare-compromising conditions in indoor cats; environmental modification and stress reduction are primary treatment and prevention tools.
Stress-related urinary disease in cats is both a welfare indicator and a welfare problem — the stress that triggers episodes is itself evidence of chronic welfare compromise, and the disease episodes cause acute pain and distress. Management addresses both dimensions: treating the disease episode and identifying and modifying the environmental stressors that triggered it. This makes iFLUTD management an unusual case where welfare improvement is simultaneously the cause and the treatment.