The Stressed Cat: A common behavioral problem
In the cat often the only way of recognising stress is to identify changes in your cats behavior. Thus the importance of knowing and having at least some understanding of cat behavior A good reason to buy and actually read our behavior book 
This can often mean recognising excessive behavior patterns such as grooming to excess or excessive visits to the litter tray etc. Sometimes though the opposite can occur and your cat will show inhibited normal behavior patterns, no one said cats were straight forward.
It seems that cats can express stress behaviourally in 3 main ways:
1. Inhibited Behavior: many cats become inhibited in their normal behaviour patterns, such as grooming, eating, urination, defaecation etc. Again you must know your normal cat’s behavior to spot these often subtle changes. This is especially important in the early stages when we stand the best chance of correcting the problem. So make sure you look for what is absent in your cats behavior as much as the overt signs of stress you would expect.
2. Disruptive Behavior: some cats will try to rearrange their environment and move feed bowls, litter trays toys etc to different places. In some cases they will shred up paper or blankets, especially seen in caged cats but can also happen in the home. The idea is to make a new hidey hole they feel safe and comfortable in.
3. Defensive Behavior: This behavior is quite common in the stressed cat, for example hissing, flattened body posture, ears back, hiding and withdrawal. It is important to realise that cats feel hidden if they cannot see you, e.g. head under a blanket or towel. This is very useful in our surgery as we can often make very nervous insecure cats feel much more relaxed by hiding them under a blanket and examining them under this. An acquired art but very effective at times
Remember cats will stay with you as long as the relationship is mutually beneficial if not they will often move on Thus your dog will not mind you feeding it less or changing his or her bed, your cat might!
I will carry on this overview in the next few days, Paul