Feliway plug in users...question

[Catlady711]

Tuesday I was going to change the vial on one of the two plug ins I have and when I unplugged it and started to unscrew the vial I saw either smoke or steam come off of the thing!!!!:eek: The wick to the vial also has a very dark colored area that looks almost a bit singed to me. When I got worried over this I unplugged and took the vial off the other one and it did the same thing! I've never seen them smoke/steam before (or at least never noticed it) and I've had them for 2 months. I set them in the bathtub overnight to cool properly then put them in a cupboard until I could post this. They didn't seem to be smoking/steaming when they were plugged in, but they were very hot near the area around the wick.

I've always thought they were both too hot when plugged in, my hubby says I'm just paranoid (which I frequently am founded or not, separate issue there), and my mom says look it up online to see if anyone else has had a similar problem.

I did not find anything on Google about this problem. Both plug ins were ordered through one of our distributors from work, about 2 weeks apart in separate orders.

I'm now terrified to plug them back in, but they really did seem to cut down on the urine marking. What do I do now????

[moosmom]

If it's hot and singed, you did the right thing. While I don't have any Feliway plug-ins, I've had close calls with other plug-ins. I'd call Feliway and ask them.

http://www.feliway-us.com/feliway_us.nsf/Page?OpenForm&DocID=151&POS=7&Key=null

[Catty1]

Also, if you think your cats would take to really stretchy collars, I use on on Oscar, and take the Feliway every morning, shake it a bit, and give the collar itself a squirt (I don't push really quickly on the spray button, needless to say).

My vet loves this "Feliway Collar" idea, particularly since it means Oscar gets the 4-hour exposure that is recommended.

The first couple of days were a bit awkward, but now I do it as Oscar is crunching his breakfast, and it's a routine.

[moosmom]

Catty1,

What a great idea!

[phesina]

Candace, do you spray Oscar's collar every day? Or how often?

[Catlady711]

Thank you moonsmom for the link. I sent an email to them, and also to the corporate office in France. At least I think it was the corporate office, the whole webpage is in French and I don't know French so I guessed. LOL

Hopefully Monday they will respond back to me on this problem.

I REALLY want to go back to using them. Since they've been unplugged I've gotten to see firsthand how well they were working for the cats. I had been down to 2 maybe 3 urine marking incidents a month and now just since Wednesday I've already cleaned up 3 spots. Apparently the Feliway spray alone just isn't good enough for my kitties which is why I got the diffusers in the first place.*sigh*

I wouldn't think it should make a difference that I got them from work from one of our distributors vs you guys getting yours from the pet stores. They should all come from the same manufacturers so I wouldn't think there should be a difference at all in the product itself.

I'll let you know if I find out anything.

[Catty1]

Pat:

With the regular Feliway spraying, Oscar was supposed to get 2 - 3 shots a day.

That was several years ago - and now he is on one shot in the collar in the morning.

I make sure it is a REALLY stretchy one so it flies off when he and his brother fight or he grooms and gets lower teeth caught in it.

[jazzcat]

I use the plug-ins and had to replace one a few months ago because I bumped against it with my bare leg one day and it felt very hot. I'm extremely paranoid when it comes to fire so I unplugged it immediately. The second one felt warm but nothing like the other so I've left it plugged in. I just checked the replacement and it's warm, the wick is very dark but everything seems okay with it. I've never had one smoke or smell like yours did. I would be afraid to use it. Hopefully the company can help you with it. Good customer service would be to send you replacements free. ;)

[Catlady711]

I use the plug-ins and had to replace one a few months ago because I bumped against it with my bare leg one day and it felt very hot. I'm extremely paranoid when it comes to fire so I unplugged it immediately. The second one felt warm but nothing like the other so I've left it plugged in. I just checked the replacement and it's warm, the wick is very dark but everything seems okay with it. I've never had one smoke or smell like yours did. I would be afraid to use it. Hopefully the company can help you with it. Good customer service would be to send you replacements free. ;)

I would hope for a free one. Sounds like occasionally they have a defective one since googling it resulted in basically nothing so I'm guessing it must not be a widespread problem.

Hopefully one of those email addresses will result in something helpful.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I've been using these for quite a while now and I've never seen them smoke or steam like you mentioned earlier. They are warm and when I replace them the wicks have changed to a darker color but I don't think that it's anything unusual.

I sure hope that you'll be able to find out what's causing this so that you can start using them again. I use them to help ease stress in my household and I can tell when they're getting low because my cats will start acting up and fighting with each other more. Good luck.:)

[Catlady711]

Just wanted to let you all know I got an email back from Ceva about the Feliway plug in's.

They should be warm to the touch but not hot. The Feliway pheromone sits in a mineral oil, paraffin type base so if any of the product leaks outside of the refill when it is plugged in it is possible to get a smoky, burnt smell as the product burns off outside of the product. The refills should not leak unless damaged(the refill or the wick itself). I recommend that you return the refills and diffusers to your regular veterinarian and have them replaced. They will be able to be refunded or have replacements sent to them through their distributors. If you or your veterinarians office have any further questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us. You may contact me through email or my 800 voicemail below.

Sincerely,
Debbie Barnett,RVT
Ceva Animal Health
(800)276-8197
[email protected]

When I go to work tomorrow I'll speak to the boss about getting some new ones through the distributor.

[nancys]

Someone sent me an email a few years ago about the plug ins and how dangerous they are. Evidently they are the cause of many house fires. I would warn people about them.

[MBones]

Catlady,

I want to THANK YOU for this thread, because last Saturday night, my husband was upstairs and thought he smelled something burning. He asked me to come upstairs to check it out, and yep, I smelled it as I was coming up the stairs. If I hadn't seen this post, I might not have thought to check the Feliway plug-in, but that's the first thing that I checked. Yes, it was hot and the plastic had started to melt!

We unplugged it immediately and went to check all of the others as well. They weren't even warm, but we now make it a habit to check them out as we are going from room to room. I hate to stop using them since they calm my Abbycat down so much. I shudder to think what would have happened if we were away from home for a few days. Thanks again!

Mary

[Catlady711]

Wow,:eek: I'm glad then that I posted this and you found that defective one before something really bad happened. That would have freaked me out even more than my experience did! You may want to contact that vet tech from Ceva listed on my email and tell her what happened. They may replace your unit for free, or tell you how to go about getting a refund for that unit depending on where/how it was purchased. I'm glad the other units are working fine and safely for you.

It's a shame too, because they really do work better than the Feliway spray. I wish they'd just make one of those aerosol (sp?) things that takes a AA battery and spritzes automatically at set time intervals. Seems to me it would be much safer and nearly as effective.

Anyways I spoke with my boss and he had me call the district rep for our distributor. I explained to her what was going on and what the email contained from Ceva. The rep is going to send a call tag and pick up the units I have, send them back as defective, and replace them with new ones. By doing it this way it shouldn't cost me a dime extra, but it's a long way of doing it. Based on past history with waiting for call tags this could take a few weeks to get replacements!:(

**edited to add** The instructions with my diffuser says to replace the diffuser every 6 months. While I originally thought that was a bit unecessary, given others experiences and my own I wonder if the diffusers short out or something after awhile??

[MBones]

You bring up a good point about replacing every six months. Ours are definately older than that. Perhaps the durability of the dispenser erodes with age. We are trying something new, though. Are you familiar with the Glade plug ins? They disburse scent much like the feliway dispenses pheremones. We bought a Glade plug in, dumped the scent, and replaced it with Feliway. We've used the scent dispensers for a long time and never had a "burning" issue. They are much cheaper than the Feliway; we paid $4.34 for the scent dispenser.

It must be working, because my problem kitty is sitting right next to me and she very rarely does that! I'll keep you posted on any issues; I would hate to stop using Feliway due to safety issues.

[Catlady711]

I used Glad plug ins for years without problems either. I unplugged all of them when the peeing started because I had read an article that sometimes other strong scents may cause a cat to mark.

Our distributor sent the new replacements today. I just plugged in one and it's not as hot as the others but still much warmer than I'd care for on a plastic object. I figure I'll just only plug them in when I'm here and unplug them when I'm gone or going to sleep. I'm sure this won't be as effective, but it's got to be better than nothing, and certainly a bit safer than just leaving them plugged in. When I plugged it in the cats came sniffing around within minutes. I can't really smell anything, but obviously they do.

On a side note I've been noticing the Feliway plug in's at the pet stores are made by a different company than the ones I have. The pet store ones are made by a US company called Farnam (or something similar) and the ones I have are made in France by Ceva. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with all this? I'm reluctant to try the pet store versions because I get my diffusers with one included vial for $21 at work (refills are $12), the pet store ones are $36 even with a coupon!!:eek: I'd hate to spend the extra money to find out they all are the same.

[Sashamom]

I use three dispensers in my house, and they really help my two cats get along. I noticed recently that two of the three (and they are the oldest, over a year probably) not only got very hot, but both have melted plastic and a scorched area, behind where the wick comes up! My boxes didn't have the warning to replace every six months. The newer one I use hasn't done that, but - wow, I think I'll try the Glade idea with one, and see how it works out. This is a good thing to warn people about!