Cat Pheromone

[cimorene]

There's a cat pheromone product called Feliway that you can either spray onto objects or atomize with a diffuser to attempt to calm cats down. Apparently multiple cat pheromones have been isolated and synthesized, but the two main ones in Feliway are

Feline facial pheromone F3, the one they deposit on things by rubbing their faces on them. Cats mark the spaces they frequently use and hence it is thought to indicate to the cat that it is in familiar surroundings, which is why it's apparently used in the standard Feliway for anxious cats. Uses include spraying in places like beds and cat carriers as well as just atomizing it.

Feline appeasing pheromone is produced by nursing mother cats around their nipples to soothe very new kittens, and is used in multi-cat households to try and reduce conflicts and aggressive behavior like stalking and chasing.

We've ordered some of this second one, and we hope it helps Tristana, who is extremely anxious and wary, and also ideally makes Anubis chill out a bit because he's the stalker/chaser who is always trying to talk to her. Apparently synthetic cat pheromones have been shown to have better effect than placebo, but they're not guaranteed to work at all, so fingers crossed for this and our stress levels. Last Monday and Tuesday I was so distracted that I was dissociating all day and made a bunch of mistakes at work and yesterday the bag of bunny kibble broke and I just sat down on the floor and started crying and then Wax and I were both laughing hysterically trying to clean it up one kibble at a time.

Comments

[vass]

Good luck with it. I've had good luck with Feliway for my cats and stressful situations. And my old vet before I moved had a quiet corner in the waiting room with Feliway-sprayed towels you could cover your cat's carrier with while waiting to be seen.

[cimorene]

Oh, interesting! Fingers crossed.

[vass]

They had the waiting room divided in two with a gate between them, somewhat like orthodox synagogues and mosques, with the cats and dogs on opposite sides.

[princessofgeeks]

In my misspent life I have seen a "cat whisperer" at work one time and she used this type of spray. Good luck and I hope your distraction/anxiety improves soon. HUGS.

[cimorene]

♥ It's so annoying because if I'm having a bad distracted day and know I can't really be trusted to remember things, I have advanced warning, but I can't just call in sick for it. When in fact, it's way worse to try to do paperwork like that than with, you know, cold and flu symptoms (at least mild ones).

[laurenthemself]

Oh, I hope the Feliway works! It seems to help Toby chill out whenever Pippin is doing something annoying, which some days includes 'existing in the same house'.

[twistedchick]

Feliway has worked very well when we had two cats that did not get along; it stopped the 'marking' behavior. They were territorial; unfortunately, both wanted the same territory (me).

[torachan]

I hope it works for you! We used the diffuser multi-cat one for a few years but weren't really sure if it was having any effect or not, so we stopped.