Experiences With Zylkene?

[prairiepanda]

Jonesy has had an extremely poor appetite since we moved from a house to an apartment, and seems to be quite stressed by all the sounds of strangers in the halls, loud children, etc. He has even started a habit of sleeping completely hidden under covers, whereas he always used to sleep completely out in the open. To help with the stress we've set up Feliway diffusers, plenty of small dark hiding places in every room, hung cloth posters and flags on the walls to reduce some of the sound, and leave some of our dirty clothes in his sleeping areas for the familiar scent (all of the furniture is from our old place anyway). To make food more appealing, we've tried changing the flavor/texture of his raw food, offering various canned foods , even kibble, various food toppers, different feeding locations, different dishes, etc.

He has good energy, good poops, and is generally relaxed when we are home, but it seems like he is probably hiding all day when we are gone and doesn't really want to snuggle like he used to.

The vet wants us to try Zylkene, which I'm going to go pick up today. I'm just curious what kinds of experiences others have had with it. We will also be giving B12 shots since he hasn't been eating much.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I haven't had to use it, and it took some digging to find information that wasn't coming from people selling Zylkene! However, I did find out that it is generally very effective, it is non-drowsy, and that the only side effect seems to be an occasional cat who has diarrhea. And that is a quite low number. Hope this helps a bit!

 

[cheeser]

Our cat has been on Zylkene for about three years, and it has been much more helpful for Buddy than the prescription anti-anxiety meds that he had been on. The Zylkene doesn't make him drowsy at all, and he's never had any weird reactions to it.

The only downside is that it isn't as effective as it once was. But that's par for the course for a lot of Buddy's meds and supplements the longer he's on them.

Another thing that helped to reduce his stress was to get a white noise sound conditioner like this one. We run it 24/7, and it does help to drown out noises that would normally scare the crap out of him.

 

[prairiepanda]

I'm glad to hear Zylkene has been helping Buddy! And thanks for the suggestion of a white noise machine, I bet something like that would be good for Jonesy. I've thought about getting cat music for him too, to play when we're away.

 

[Tobermory]

This may sound kind of weird, but I found a recommendation from a review in the NYTimes for free app for iPhone called myNoise. I think it’s available for Android, too. I use it when the neighbors are a little too loud outside or during holidays when people are partying or shooting off fireworks. Seem to help my girls. I also use it when I travel, both on the airplane and the hotel room. The sounds that come with it are really nice..very natural. They don’t repeat at all, and you can increase various sounds within a selection. If you have an unused device, it’s a great way to experiment without cost.

 

[prairiepanda]

Actually, Jonesy has his own tablet that we could put the app onto! I'll give it a shot, thanks!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

This might work as well, just turn the "meow" all the way off. Hekitty LOVES it!
The Internet has a Cat! Meet Purrli, the online cat purr generator.

 

[saleri]

This might work as well, just turn the "meow" all the way off. Hekitty LOVES it!
The Internet has a Cat! Meet Purrli, the online cat purr generator.

There isn't an option for meow?

never mind found it.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL, that "meow" wakes Hekitty up out of a sound sleep EVERY TIME!