Tasteless, calming remedies for multi cat households?

[momofmany]

I have a large, multi-cat household (8 full time indoor residents and 2 more semi-ferals that go in and out). My alpha male has been ill for the last 2 years (LPS) and with the ups and downs in his health, it has created a higher level of stress than what I would like to have them experience, primarily within the ranks of the lesser pecking order.

I've tried Feliway diffusers with no success. Alpha cat will walk up and spray on them. I've tried Rescue Remedy and other vet prescribed calming drops within their food. The majority of them won't eat a bowl laced with the stuff. They get a meal of wet nightly that I take advantage of that meal to give medications when needed.

I bought a larger home 2 years ago to give them more room to roam. The cats were calmer until my alpha got sick a few months later. I have 1 or more cat condos in every room, plenty of toys, and as much as attention as I can physically give them. Their physical environment is as ideal as I can make it for them.

Is there any tasteless remedy that is available that I can slip into their food? And because I feed 10 cats nightly and they are known to migrate from bowl to bowl, it would need to be something that a little extra dose will have no ill effect. I would expect to use this long term. Any other ideas would be very welcome.

 

[drjean]

Flower essences are the way to go. You can put them in food, but just as easily in water, topically, or spritz around the house. They are totally harmless and won't cause problems in the other cats (and may solve a few!) See: http://www.spiritessence.com/instructions

SpiritEssence's "Safe Space" is the primary remedy I use for territorial issues; in particular, cats that spray. It contains ethanol as a preservative, but to get rid of that, either dilute it in hot water (which evaporates the alcohol) or put it on top of the wet food and just wait 10 minutes for the alcohol to evaporate. After the alcohol is mostly gone, then mix it into the wet food, and I think you'll have better luck with it. You could also try essences in red shiso instead of alcohol, but it's a vinegar extract--and not any better tasting, for sure! www.spiritessence.com

If aggression and fighting are involved, I'd recommend Ultimate Peacemaker, especially with that many cats!

One dose a day isn't going to do it, though. Essences need to be given 3-4 times a day, at least initially. You could give an extra wet food snack, but that's where topical, the spray bottle, and other alternative means of administration come in very handy!

Acupuncture also helps with aggression and spraying; one needle in GV20 works pretty well for a lot of cats...but it needs to be repeated every 4-6 weeks.

If Alpha cat isn't too sick, Play Therapy could be very helpful. http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...therapyforcats

 

[momofmany]

Thanks for the quick response! I don't have a problem with fighting or outward aggression. Things are very subtle with this many cats. All of them were born feral and 2 of them are still very shy. The need for a calming agent is also targeted at my shy boys. Any territorial problems occur when either the alpha's health is on the down side, or one of the lesser cats is ill.

My alpha has no problem with playing like he's a kitten. He just turned 13 last weekend. He loves Da Bird.

 

[drjean]

Then I'd recommend that you contact Jackson, owner of SpiritEssence, and talk to him about the entire situation (which I could only guess at from the info provided), and discuss what the best remedy would be. He's on vacation this week, but give him a call later at 720-938-6794 or email [email protected].