Psychoactive medications can significantly improve quality of life for cats with anxiety, compulsive disorders, and fear-based behavioral issues when combined with behavior modification.
There is a persistent cultural reluctance to consider psychoactive medication for behavioral problems in cats, partly from concerns about over-medicating and partly from underestimating feline suffering. But a cat experiencing chronic anxiety — hiding constantly, unable to use shared resources, engaging in compulsive over-grooming, or eliminating outside the litter box from stress — is suffering. Medication that reduces the emotional intensity of these states is not a "quick fix" that avoids real behavioral work; it creates a neurological foundation from which behavior modification can actually succeed. The welfare standard should be: if a cat is suffering from a behavioral condition and non-pharmaceutical interventions are insufficient alone, medication is ethically indicated and represents good veterinary care.