SUPER sensitive and highly strung, cats can suffer stress, just like their owners.

What with turf wars, builders and babies, life for the modern-day moggy can be very stressful indeed.

Cats simply don't like disruption or change and, according to pet behaviour consultant Helen Davies, anything from lodgers to long-term DIY projects - even the arrival of a new cat next door - can have a detrimental effect on a once well- mannered kitty.

"Cats need to be happy in their environment," Helen explains.

A trained psychologist, Helen (25), who lives in Hanging Langford, works with cats and dogs with behavioural problems.

While she sees more dogs than mogs, cats make up a growing number of her patients, and she'd like to see more.

One of them is Jasmine, a beautiful six-year-old Burman, who started urinating in the house when she was a year-old.

"Her owners have a busy schedule and they have moved quite frequently," says Helen.

Jasmine finds change difficult and she also has a renal problem which doesn't help.

But since Jasmine's vet referred her owners, builder Ian Penny and his wife, Amanda, to Helen, the problem - if not quite cured - is on the wane.

Whereas Jasmine used to mark the house every day, it's now much less frequent and Helen hopes she can be totally cured.

Jasmine isn't unusual. Urinating in the house is a common way for cats to show stress, says Helen.

Other cats scratch carpets or furniture, and show aggression or timidity towards humans or other animals.

"Cat owners often think they can't do anything with them, but you can do a lot," Helen says.

"People tend to expect cats to be independent, but you can get them to do as much as is physically possible for them to do."

Another patient was a big ginger-and-white tom, a rescue cat, who attacked the family dog, a black Labrador, because he was unsettled.

"Cats need certain things to be happy, like beds and lots of food, and they need to be able to do catty things, like hunting," Helen explains.

She worked with both animals to create an environment in which the rescue cat felt more secure.

"He changed dramatically," Helen says.

While the big tom and the labrador are not yet best friends, they now co-exist peacefully.

Helen decided to become an animal behaviour consultant after gaining a degree in physiology and psychology at Southampton University.

"I've always liked animals," she says. As a child she had all kinds of pets, including worms and butterflies.

"I was always picking up caterpillar pupae," she laughs.

She was the youngest ever student to study companion animal behaviour counselling, part of a post-graduate diploma at Southamp-ton University, doing practical training at resource centres, kennels and catteries.

Helen's clients are all referred to her by a vet, so she knows any possibility that the problem might be a medical one has been ruled out.

"Owners can sometimes be at their wits' end when a much-loved pet is making life difficult by biting or destroying property," says Salisbury vet Howard Taylor, from The Vets in Exeter Street, who has referred a number of animals to Helen.

"If the problem is psychological rather than physical, I refer them to Helen.

"She is very well qualified and has great success tackling problems, especially after talking to the owners."

Dealing with the owners, says Helen, is the hardest part of her job.

"You have got to be very diplomatic.

"There is no fault anyway, but you have got to get it across that you are not criticising.

"We just speak a different language from cats and dogs."