Since I started childminding I have found my cats have become increasingly stressed and unhappy as cats like to be in control of their environment.
Apparently cats carefully mark their home environment using facial marking, therefore, if we remove or disrupt these marks by moving furniture, bringing in a new item, excessive cleaning, building work, DIY etc we can disorientate our cats and in some cases bring on stress. All of which I have done!
I contacted the cats protection league as I felt it better that they be re-homed, but they suggested I try a product called Feliway. I mentioned this on twitter to see if anyone had an experience of using it, and the lovely people at Monster Pet Supplies sent me a diffuser to review.
Firstly, I must say how beautifully packaged it was by Monster Per Supplies. The diffuser itself looks just like a fragrance plug in, so it doesn’t look out of place at all. (please excuse the patch of blue paint – we are mid decorating). The plug in is odourless, so won’t fragrance your home, but you cannot use a fragranced plug in elsewhere as it will mask the effects!
What is Feliway & How to Use?
Ceva laboratories have managed to mimic this natural marking and put it into Feliway.
When cats are stressed or ill they stop marking their territory as safe and secure. This can lead to unwanted cat behaviours.
Feliway helps cats naturally cope with stressful situations and stops unwanted cat behaviour, providing a contented household for you and your cat.
Feliway is available in as spray and/or as a diffuser.
The diffuser is ideal for multi-cat households, moving home, introducing new pet, redecorating, new furniture, settling into a new home, for firework nights, or to add as further support to the Feliway spray in scratching and urine spray marking.
Muggles and Scamp are sisters and are now 11 years old and have always been used to my children and were up until recently very friendly. Scamp is the dominant one of the two and can often be aggressive towards Muggles, hissing and fighting!
Muggles on the other hand, is rather timid now prefers to remain outside and sleep on the trampoline – only venturing inside to eat. Both have a bad habit of scratching my furniture, rather than there own scratch posts and Muggles has been known to lash out at Isaac and Eliza, which she has never done before.
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| Muggles |
Since using Feliway, I have noticed a marked change in their behaviour. They seem calmer and more content, even choosing to come in and socialise with the family. They will even let you pick them up and be stroked by the little ones, although they still prefer to remain scarce when I am childminding, not that I blame them. I even found Scamp being pinned to the floor by Eliza and she didn’t lash out, although I did get a pitiful meow for help!
It is by no means a miracle cure. They are still scratching my sofa, but less often and seem happier in themselves. The diffuser lasts for a month and you can buy a refill pack if you need to. The instructions recommend that you see if the good behaviour continues without the diffuser and then just purchase as and when you need to.
I shall wait and see what happens with my cats, but I am certainly going to buy the spray to use for vets visits, as they cry all the way there in their boxes and Scamp has even sprayed the vet before now – YUK!!
If you have a problem with stressed cats, then I would certainly recommend you try this. Feliway is available at Monster Pet Supplies for £27.34 for the diffuser (the cheapest I have seen it), the refill is £19.44 and the spray £10.12 – sadly it doesn’t appear to work on humans!!
Monster Pet Supplies are the UK’s largest stockists of pet supplies and can also be found on facebook and twitter if you have any questions!!
So pleased to hear that Feliway has made Scamp and Muggles calmer and more content. I’m sure it’s still a work in progress but we’d love to hear how their behaviours change over the next few months. Good luck! Emma@Monster x