Looking for Thundershirt reviews please!

[Alldara]

There's a lot of reviews online from vets and owners but simply them promoting the 'flopping' so that they can accomplish tasks on their cats. I'm not looking for something like that.

Very curious to know the following in your reviews especially:
1- what behaviour(s) were you trying to get rid of when using it
2- did it lower the frequency of those behaviours?
- if it did lower the behaviour was it only when the jacket was on or also when the jacket is off?
3- how long do you use it for daily with your cat?
4- for anyone who uses it for a couple hours or more, how does your cat do at scaling cat trees, eating, litter, etc while it's on?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, it's been quite a while but I think I was trying to help Poppy deal with the noise around the Fourth of July. The Thundershirt did nothing for him that I could tell.

 

[klunick]

Got my mom a Thundershirt for her dog and it worked well. Things like that all depend on the individual pet. Some things work for certain pets while others show no effect. Find a dupe and try it out so if it doesn't work, you won't be out as much money.

 

[iPappy]

My personal experiences with Thundershirts are it's a 50/50 shot. If they work, they work great and if they don't, they just don't.
My clients have not used it with much with cats, but with dogs, I've noticed that (in some) it reduces noise sensitivity (thunder, fireworks, etc.) as well as itching. I've had much better luck with itching reduction vs. helping noise sensitivity.
I did not notice any improvements once the shirts were removed. I kept the shirts on for as long as necessary, in some cases 24/7.
My first Papillon didn't wear a Thundershirt brand (they weren't available back then), but he did wear a snug fitting dog-shirt during allergy season. I swear it helped his itching.
If I had a cat that needed a Thundershirt for whatever reason, I would be more than willing to try it.
Alldara are you considering a Thundershirt for one of your cats, or is this just out of curiosity?

 

[neely]

My personal experiences with Thundershirts are it's a 50/50 shot. If they work, they work great and if they don't, they just don't. My clients have not used it with much with cats, but with dogs,

My only experience with a thundershirt was for our dog. He was very fearful of thunderstorms, e.g. he'd box himself into a corner and shake. We tried the thundershirt but it did nothing for him. Fortunately I borrowed it from a friend so I didn't pay for it. She also didn't have any luck with it for her dog.

 

[Alldara]

Alldara are you considering a Thundershirt for one of your cats, or is this just out of curiosity?

We got one for Magnus to maybe test out if his yelling during the day is anxiety. We were considering a weighted blanket instead but that would be difficult to wash.

 

[iPappy]

We got one for Magnus to maybe test out if his yelling during the day is anxiety. We were considering a weighted blanket instead but that would be difficult to wash.

Keep us updated please? I'd like to know how this works for Magnus. I agree, a weighted blanket might be a little more difficult to deal with.

 

[Alldara]

Keep us updated please? I'd like to know how this works for Magnus. I agree, a weighted blanket might be a little more difficult to deal with.

We can't leave him unsupervised with it on so we only put it on about 10 minutes a day. He likes it in that his tail stays in the "Shepard hook" position and he doesn't flop. But he was trouble jumping up on to things when it's on.
I can say, this far it seems to work in that if he's screaming I can take a 10 minute break from work, put it on him and then take it off and he won't act up until regular "stop work" time comes around.
But I can't tell if that's because he thinks I'm going to take him outside because I've just put clothing on him. So in a few months when I can confirm he's figured that out, we'll see if it still works.

 

[mani]

I've always been under the impression that thundershirts may or may not work with dogs (my experience was good with one and nothing with another) but of limited use with cats.
I tried it on a highly aggressive cat (unexpected aggression, not constant) and initially found it useful, but only while it was on. Over time it ceased to work.