Cat Ailments A to Z - Noise Phobias

Acoustico is Greek for  'To hear'

Phobia is Greek for 'Fear'

A Phobia is an overwhelming and unreasonable fear of an object or situation that poses little real danger but provokes anxiety and avoidance MayoClinic

A Noise Phobia is a severe fear of a specific sound. 
For example - Thunderstorms, Loud Trucks, Smoke Alarms, Birds, Fireworks, Screaming 

The more a cat is exposed to the fear-provoking stimulus, the more the reactive the cat may become, 
One may believe that exposure to a certain fear or phobia can desensitize the animal - Not if the fear has psychological and physiological components to it.
And not if the phobia has never been dealt with.

The Fear can actually escalate, worsening with each exposure.

Soon the pet may become fearful of similar sounds or events that they have associate with the noise.

• A fear of storms can possibly escalate by reacting to rain.

• A fear of loud noises caused by big trucks may soon be associated with trucks in general. 

• A fear of loud bird squawking may soon be associated with the cat just seeing the bird through the window. 

There may be a particular bad experience of a noise that you can ascertain as being the triggering event, but often the owner is unaware.
There may be no reason.

The natural awareness cats have to their surroundings, their knowledge of what they should be on guard for - such as the dog, another cat, the evil vacuum, toddlers ...
That triggers their fight or flight mechanism - and it should, they have evolved to know these things can cause them danger. ( the vacuum and toddler are just common sense )
It tells them to move, get out the way.

A phobia - such as a noise phobia - triggers the danger button.
The need for fight or flight.
Except they are experiencing this trigger as if they are in serious danger.
To them there is a rabid, cat eating wolf right in their face. (I have no idea, this is just a scary killy thing)

Imagine a rabid wolf in front of you, what would you do? (I would stand like a statue because that is what I was taught as a child.. in regards to a dog...so basically get eaten.. I would get eaten by the rabid wolf)

Now pretend your a cat.

• Hiding (most common sign in cats)
• Urinating
• Defecating
• Chewing
• Panting
• Pacing
• Trying to escape (attempting to climb walls, curtains, bookcases - up and or out in general)
• Drooling
• Seeking the owner
• Not eating
• Trembling or shaking
• Dilated pupils
• Vocalizing ( meowing)

Physically, the body experiences this as if the cat is in grave danger

• Cardiovascular—tachycardia
• Endocrine/ metabolic—increased cortisol levels, stress-induced hyperglycemia
• Gastrointestinal—inappetence, gastrointestinal upset
• Nervous—adrenergic/nor-adrenergic overstimulation
• Respiratory—tachypnea

Some other physically experienced issues due to phobias

• Musculoskeletal—self-induced trauma resulting from escape attempts
• Skin—acral lick dermatitis

The owner's attitude can influence the severity of the fear.
If owners themselves are nervous during storms there is a higher chance that their pet will have a  noise phobias or  a phobia may become more severe.
If the owner attempts to overly comfort the animal, the animal interprets it as confirming there really is something to be afraid of.

Not saying that our over comforting is a 'reward' but if every time your cat freaks out - you follow him, pull him out from under the bed, cuddle him, and pet him with both hands - Fluffy may be thinking - HOLY CRAP I WAS RIGHT! I ALMOST GOT EATEN BY A RABID WOLF! Look at how they are comforting me, I was in grave danger...knew it. 
I escaped this time. 
Next time I may not be as lucky.. I will have to run faster.

 Cats are weird, we all know that.
A kitten that I fostered, she was hanging out in the living room when this big bird - not 'Big Bird' - flew rather close to the window and let out this loud HONK
The kitten bolted out of the room and pushed the sliding door on the hallway closet open enough to wiggle in. 
A few moments later you could see her little head at the opening of the door - she was panting and her eyes were huge!
It's not nice to laugh... but it was so cute it was hard not to.
She has since learned that the Geese are not trying to kill her.

Sampson, a cat we recently rescued from a tree - He is showing a few signs of a possible noise phobia.
When he hears the tags on a dog collar make that distinct sound  that I can not explain...
He freezes, his eyes get huge, and he does not respond to me.
It does not take a genius to figure out that a dog probably chased him up a tree!

He reacts the same way to people arguing loudly - which he heard a couple doing outside.

So far that is all he has reacted to. It is odd because the rest of the time he is super chill.

Okay, so how do you treat these phobias?
There are various ways to approach the treatment of your kitties phobias
Most of it involves training us - the humans - to stop trying to fix everything by comforting them and telling them it will be okay.
Medications
Changing Environment 
Behaviour Modification 

If any of you human have your own phobias, or maybe deal with anxiety and panic attacks - you will understand this.
Except the rabid wolf is more like someone holding a loaded gun to our heads - though it could be the wolf.....
Us humans also can be treated with those three things.
We do differ in the fact that we may feel many of the same physiological issues - we are less likely to actually do them.
Other than the panting and meowing.. we so do that.