Does Feliway work?

[RedHedd]

I'm at my wits end with Marbles and Josie. I know they are working out the pecking order. I suspect I may have two alpha females on my hands. Friday night I came home from work to find one very spooked Marbles. She slunked around for several hours, obviously not happy, and now I know why - Josie is fighting back!

This morning I witnessed Josie standing up to Marbles - actually going after her. I had to break up several scuffles when they were just getting too rambunctious with each other.

I don't want them to hurt each other. I know these things take time. I have a call in to Nancy, the cat psychic. Feliway may be my next step.

[moosmom]

Feliway is a GOD SEND in my house!!! I took in Bad @$$ Buddy a couple of years back and he began peeing all over my tiny apt. The vet ruled out a UTI and gave me Feliway Concentrated Spray. It worked like a charm!!! The defusers do not work as well, in my opinion.

Take it from someone who has kept a can in her house for a long time (along with the Cornell Book of Cats). It works!!!!! You just raise your arm over your head, shake the can well, and spray the circumfrence of the rooms. There's an enzyme in it that works IMMEDIATELY!! I highly recommend it to anyone. They also have "behavior collars". Not sure how they work.

[Malibu's Mom]

I've had limited success with it. For me it has worked better with inappropriate urination and scratching than it has with fighting between cats. It's definitely worth a try but I'd use it in conjunction with behavior modification techniques, not just by itself. Dr. Sophia Yin has a good article explaining some of the techniques that can help with this issue. I hope you can get things sorted out, I know all too well how stressful this situation can be.

[RedHedd]

Thank you. Nancy suggested going back to step one and separating the cats. She says they both feel that things were rushed. Marbles had kept opening the door to Josie's safe room and I, foolishly, assumed that meant they wanted to be together. Apparently not. They're both upset with me for rushing things.

According to Nancy, they're both alphas, although Marbles is the more alpha of the two; Josie is more submissive (I did get that from their behaviors already).

here's Nancy's reading:

Marbles...very alpha, feels intruded upon, put out, annoyed Says it was not a slow intro but rather very quick, fast stranger forced on her, forced on her space felt things were forced with no choice and not slow

Josie
Also feels a bit alpha but not as much as Marbles. Does not appreciate being tossed with this cat needs some separate alone time and needs completely own space secluded time. both feel like they need their complete separate own space.

The Feliway spray would be more practical for me to use in my space. Thanks again!

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems. I know it's also hard to give cats their own space when you live in small apartment. I've used both the plugins and the spray and it helped at first but later on it seemed like they became immune to it so it didn't work as well.

I also know how females can be and even though I love Pearl and Ziggy, I've already told many people that I won't be adopting any more females because they're too territorial, bossy, and can be down right mean to their male siblings for no reason at all. My males are much more laid back and loving. I hope you can find something to bring some peace to your household. Good luck.

[Medusa]

Catty1 sprays just a slight spritz on a stretchy collar and she swears by it. Might want to give that a whirl.

[Freedom]

After living together for 2 years, Tommy and Mandy decided they can't tolerate one another, last June. So Mandy lives in a spare bedroom and she is quite happy this way.

Tommy taunts and teases her, she fights, black fur goes flying everywhere. As he is 3 times he size, I worried about her getting hurt. She is quite relaxed, gained 2 pounds and is happy in there.

Sometimes, you just can't keep them together.

[RedHedd]

And of course yesterday afternoon after I had separated them while out doing laundry, later that afternoon they were happily sleeping together on the bed in the sun.

In the evening the same thing - I went out for a couple of hours, separated them and came back to spend an evening with them both snoozing together on the couch. Josie tried to start a pawsy war, but I broke that up - she does seem to want to snuggle and kiss Marbles; Marbles isn't too happy about that right now.

I feel bad, but I left Josie locked up in the bathroom today. I finally figured out a way to gerry-rig the door so it hopefully stays shut at least most of the day.

I couldn't find Feliway yesterday in the stores I was able to get to - it was Easter and I was busy catching up on my life which has been majorly upset by a jury trial we're working on.

I will stop at Petco tonight after work. I'm shocked at the huge price discrepancies posted for Feliway depending on where you shop - from $49.99 at Walgreens to $23.97 at Petco for the same thing!

Marbles IS eating more. Josie honed in on the Evo immediately - Marbles had never liked it, no matter how I tried to coax her. Now, all of a sudden, it's her favorite food and she's eating a lot of it. I'm sure she's over 10 lbs. now; Josie weighed in at 9 lbs. on Saturday, which is good. She's put on 1/4 lb. in the few weeks I've had her, which she desperately needs.

[moosmom]

I've found over the years that cats have a love/hate relationship with each other. Some hold a grudge for life. Sounds like your case. Good idea about the spraying of Feliway on a collar.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Well I'm glad to hear that they can sleep next to each other in peace. I think there's a Pet Club in SF and if it's close enough to you I'd get it there. You can't beat their prices for any pet supplies. I've also noticed that Petsmart is less expensive than Petco. Good luck.

[RedHedd]

Well I bought the Feliway Spray (Petco website advertising FAIL - it was $35.99 in the store; $23.97 online) and immediately sprayed when I got home. The result was eerily quiet cats all evening long except for a few low-level scuffles - no screams. It's weird having them both this calm.

Josie keeps trying to kiss Marbles; Marbles is slowly letting her get closer. They both love the laser pointer, so we may have an inroad to getting along at least when it comes to playtime.

I did lock Josie up again today. I feel bad doing that, but I guess it's necessary. The only room I can use for this is my tiny, somewhat dark bathroom. Marbles did seem a bit happier that I had done that yesterday; Josie didn't seem to care one way or the other; she's a very affectionate cat.

The Feliway came with a $10 off coupon - for the diffuser - WTF? Their marketing and pricing leaves a lot to be desired, but I guess they figure when people are desperate they will pay whatever they have to for peace. Today I checked Pet Food Express and their price is $34.99 for the spray

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm so glad to hear that it's working and helping to keep both of your kitties much calmer. Hopefully in the future you won't need it any more. Good luck.

[RedHedd]

Another friend suggested lavendar oil behind their ears, so I picked some of that up too and had a couple of very nice smelling kittehs last night.

I caught them sleeping together with me in bed last night. Josie had her paw on Marbles' tail - so cute! Marbles is still PO'd at me, though - I haven't gotten her nightly face-kneading in a few days now. I miss have her paws up my nose!

Another day of Josie being in "jail" for the day - I still don't really trust them not to tussle with each other when I'm not around. We had several incidents in the past 24 hours - not as loud as last week (Josie is the screamer), but enough that the neighbors might complain.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I love the smell of lavendar so I bet they sure smell wonderful. When I leave for work Storm, Pearl, and Sky are usually the ones that like to stay in my bedroom during the day for peace and quiet. They have a litter box and water too. This has worked out very well so far. Sometimes Sky or Pearl will decide to stay out in the main area but when I return I can always tell that they've had enough of the redheaded twins.