Feliway

[riccadawn]

We just bought our first ever Feliway diffuser. We got 2 new kittens who are locked in the bathroom and River is all sorts of mad about it. She even growled at the blanket with their scent on it!!! So a couple things...

1) How long does it take this thing to kick in? The box said all sorts of stuff about how long it takes to cure unwanted scratching and peeing, but I'm just using it as something to reduce stress.

2) I know they don't work for all cats, but if one of my cats starts showing improvement because of it, I'll probably want to keep it. So let's say it does work for Miles, but not River. Is it safe to then try a calming collar on River while the Feliway is still plugged in? Or is that too many chemicals going on at one time?

 

[cannegardner]

Feliaway is synthetic facial hormones so it's not a chemical. I have found it does take a few weeks to a month to notice anything. I used to use it in combination with the spray to calm our feral we took in. He doesn't need it anymore. I just use the spray in his carrier for vet visits now. I also found Natural Pet stress control works well. You put it in their water. I use this a few days before having guests over since my feral hares people and other animals. I have no experience with the collars.

 

[tx_kat]

I don't have any experience with collars either, but I notice a decrease in our skittish girl's anxiety within 48 hours.  Even with the Feliway, it took a couple of months for our two girls to start to accept the two kittens, and another month for them to fully accept them.  Then again, we took the integration process really slowly, slower than we could have;  but we wanted to keep the stress on everyone to a minimun.

 

[sararocks]

My friend uses a thunder shirt to help her cat stay calm while she's away. She says it works. My sister uses them for her dogs too when it's thundering.