Feliway Survey *moderator approved*

[Bumble21]

Thank you! Their names (including middle names!) from oldest to youngest:
Simon Greystoke Thane, Her Royal Highness Princess Evangeline Evayne Snow the Benevolent Ruler of All, Tara Lenore Tierney, Astrid Cordelia Rose, Fennimore Strider Black, Freya Adelaide Prynne, Iris Eleanor Jane, Juniper Calanthe Rain, Jasper Lysander Stark, Cassian Pendragon Fox, Iroh Finnian Poe, and Xanthippe Cressida Frost.

My son took Estella Flannery Thyme, Willow Elisabeth Sage, and Silas Endeavour Book.

When you do the clicker training, say the cat's name to get their attention. If you do not distract them at first, walk over to them, click again, say their name, and then pet them or give them their favorite treat. Soon, the click will be enough to distract them. You will probably still have to pet them, but that is one reason we have cats! It is to the point that I just snap my fingers at Tara and then point next to me. She stops what she is doing and runs to me. Another thing I thought of: With Juniper, I distract her with a wand toy with bells or a laser pointer. Her desire to play is stronger than her aggression.

haha I love them! They sound like game of thrones names! Does the vet give them their full title when they call them?

I did try clicking at my cat this morning when she was being a bit mean and she didn’t even give me a twitch of the ear to acknowledge me. So so rude . Thanks for the tips, I’ll give it another go with positive reinforcement! I’ll give that a go too, we have lots of toys because as they’ve gotten older they’ve become very playful!!

 

[Jem]

Did the survey for a past kitty of mine. However, he also had medical issues that possibly trumped the efficacy of the feliway. Perhaps something else to consider, is if the pet in question has been seen by a vet / has a diagnosis from a vet. As we all have come to learn that no amount of behavior modification can happen IF an underlying medical issue is the cause. It could skew the results of the survey if most people filling this out have not had a proper diagnosis...

 

[Bumble21]

I've filled in the survey. I only filled it in once although I do cat rescue and currently have 21, at times as many as 26 cats in my house.. However, I think the male cat I had in mind when I filled in the survey is a pretty good representative of the cats I had in mind when I was looking for calming products.

I wonder if knowing a bit more about the cats' background would help your study? For example, most of my cats are former ferals, some of them were abandoned by their owners or lost their mothers at an early age. These factors will increase the amount of stress the cat feels, as well as affecting the behaviour we see because of this stress.

Also, multi-cat/multi-pet households are more likely to have stress triggers than single pet households. Would questions about the number of pets at home help in your survey?

Thank you for filling it out! 25/26 cats oh wow . Thats an entire primary class of kitties, I’m envious (not of the litter tray scooping though !)
They’re great ideas actually, I didn’t even think of them. It’s too late for me to add them now (and would take altering 80+ sections ) but, if it is ok for me to use your ideas, I would definitely like to use them for my write up when we discuss what we would have done differently. I really appreciate that feedback, thanks! It’s crazy how tunnel vision I got when creating the survey because I just wanted it to be ready, all these things I have missed! Haha

 

[Bumble21]

i use the spray in graycies carrier befre her vet trips to try calming her vets used it to help calm her for nail trims but it doesnt seem to work no more it seems like she knows what the scent means in her carrier (vet trip) i know she isnt afraid of it and will go into it unless she scents feliway now at the vets she is on her last strike now vet also prescribed an oral med to sedate her for her next nail trim or we can do it ourselves times like this i really miss the use of my left hand an arm cause i know i could get her nails trimmed while she sleeps.

they’re so clever, guessing if she can smell the feliway spray she’s much more difficult to get in the carrier?
I giggled that she is on her last strike. She sounds very fiesty at the vets, testing the patience of these highly trained professionals . Mine get terrified and hide in the sink, literally weeing themselves! At least with the sedation it should be nicer for everyone involved, including her. Some cats apparently keep their own nails short, what a dream that would be! Mine certainly don’t!!!

 

[Bumble21]

Did the survey for a past kitty of mine. However, he also had medical issues that possibly trumped the efficacy of the feliway. Perhaps something else to consider, is if the pet in question has been seen by a vet / has a diagnosis from a vet. As we all have come to learn that no amount of behavior modification can happen IF an underlying medical issue is the cause. It could skew the results of the survey if most people filling this out have not had a proper diagnosis...

Thank you for participating!
If ok, I would like to use those points for my final write up on how I would have improved the survey. I 100% agree that medical issues would skew the results. I should have asked people for ideas of what to include as these are things I never even considered (but really should have!) thank you!

 

[Jem]

If ok, I would like to use those points for my final write up on how I would have improved the survey.

By all means! Will you be writing up a new survey after writing/discussing your results and what you would do differently? It would be cool to see the results after comparing the two.

 

[game misconduct]

they’re so clever, guessing if she can smell the feliway spray she’s much more difficult to get in the carrier?
I giggled that she is on her last strike. She sounds very fiesty at the vets, testing the patience of these highly trained professionals . Mine get terrified and hide in the sink, literally weeing themselves! At least with the sedation it should be nicer for everyone involved, including her. Some cats apparently keep their own nails short, what a dream that would be! Mine certainly don’t!!!

no she is easy to get into it the issue is soon as she gets to the vet and comes out ready to fight retc. last visit they had to sedate her for blood work and nail trim she was under 2 minutes woke up clawing at them and trying to bite graycie has learned to not use her claws on me atleast durnig play after 3 years ongoing biting thats a work in progress still. i cant trim her nails cause i am dsisabled. gf is scared of getting bit or scratched my worry is more of graycies claws getting to long and getting snagged. on somthing to where she freaks out and rips her nail off or breaks her toes trying to get loose. vet gave us some oral stuff to sedate her apparently it will knock her under i guess.vet said theres another type that will leave her conscious eyes open unable to move and aware of things. vet feels that ones more stressful on the cat with mind awake but body wont move. i tend to agree with his opinion on that having woken up from an induced coma after my stroke and nothing worked as it should.i as pretty angry added to the confusion and shock of it all

 

[game misconduct]

feliway did work i think though atleast it did a few times at the vets they used the spray on a towel let it dry then covered her carrier and were able to trim her nails then until it didnt work no morewhat i found really curious is that graycie knows when a nail trimming is due soon i cant figure if she has a good sense of time passing.( we took her monthly) or just knows her nails getting long

 

[IndyJones]

ahh that’s a shame it didn’t work. I tried that spray on my wrists when trying to socialise semi feral kittens. It didn’t work for us either, you can probably guess what happened to my poor hand! Have you found anything that helps to settle her?

I've tried covering the crate with a towel which sometimes works putting the radio on sometimes helps.

I think she howels because she wants out of the crate. It's not really safe to have her loose in the car though. She would probably crawl under the pedals or climb the steering wheel. If we got into an accident and the airbags went off, she would be much safer in the crate too.

 

[Bumble21]

By all means! Will you be writing up a new survey after writing/discussing your results and what you would do differently? It would be cool to see the results after comparing the two.

Thanks! I won’t be doing another survey unfortunately. This module finishes in mid May which gives me the time to collect data from this current survey, analyse everything and write about the study as a whole. It would have been cool to see the differences though, i 100% agree!

 

[Bumble21]

no she is easy to get into it the issue is soon as she gets to the vet and comes out ready to fight retc. last visit they had to sedate her for blood work and nail trim she was under 2 minutes woke up clawing at them and trying to bite graycie has learned to not use her claws on me atleast durnig play after 3 years ongoing biting thats a work in progress still. i cant trim her nails cause i am dsisabled. gf is scared of getting bit or scratched my worry is more of graycies claws getting to long and getting snagged. on somthing to where she freaks out and rips her nail off or breaks her toes trying to get loose. vet gave us some oral stuff to sedate her apparently it will knock her under i guess.vet said theres another type that will leave her conscious eyes open unable to move and aware of things. vet feels that ones more stressful on the cat with mind awake but body wont move. i tend to agree with his opinion on that having woken up from an induced coma after my stroke and nothing worked as it should.i as pretty angry added to the confusion and shock of it all

Ahh, I understand now! Haha. Bet she’s fuming on her journey there because she knows what’s coming. Hope they managed to trim her nails before she woke up ready to scratch them! It would hurt a tad less then lol. Is the biting during play due to being extremely excited or is it aggressive? I have the worry too of one of my kitties pulling their nail out, she gets it caught on the rug and begins to panic. I try to help her but she panics more and rips it out. Being unable to move but aware must be terrifying, unable to flee from danger etc. It’s a very vulnerable position to be in, and I can imagine it wasn’t very nice for you either when you come out of the coma. I agree with you and the vet on that one!

 

[Bumble21]

I've tried covering the crate with a towel which sometimes works putting the radio on sometimes helps.

I think she howels because she wants out of the crate. It's not really safe to have her loose in the car though. She would probably crawl under the pedals or climb the steering wheel. If we got into an accident and the airbags went off, she would be much safer in the crate too.

Ahh yeah we cover the carriers when going to the vets.
Definitely much safer to have proper restraint for her. I think there’s laws (in the UK anyway) about dogs being properly restrained in vehicles and I hope in the near future, a law is passed for cats too. Being properly secured can save a life, animals don’t know what’s good for them sometimes! I transported a feral once and he leant on the front of his crate and it popped open, it was a nightmare 10/10 don’t recommend!