Anyone ever had bad Feliway reactions?

[Melanie and Smokey]

Our house has seemed to go to hell quickly the last week and a half and I am starting to wonder (maybe hope) if it could be because of the Feliway plugins I put in about 2 weeks ago. I have 3 of them upstairs. I had hoped they'd help Mitty with his tail-hating issues, but that seems worse, the house smells like cat pee in places it shouldn't, and Smokey seems obsessed with beating up the foster cat.

We brought Tiger, the foster, back home a little over a week ago. We had had him for a week to week and a half and everything was great, he got along with the kittens and the older girls just ignored him. Took him to the shelter for about a week, but he didn't do well there so we brought him back home. It was while he was gone that we put in the Feliways. Now we have to keep him or Smokey locked up or she stalks him and attacks him. That was her reaction when we had adult fosters a long time back and the reason we adopted kittens, but its such a change from how she was with him the first week that I am wondering if something else might have tripped her.

The cats seem to have all just gone insane. I am hoping it could maybe be chemically induced and if I get rid of the Feliway, maybe they'll calm down a little?

 

[Lisa and Merlyn (GA)]

I have not personally experienced a bad reaction, but have heard of them.
Feliway works by synthetically mimicking pheremones, what a cat would mark with cheek rubs, spraying urine for some cats. The theory behind it is that the cat would feel like the space was "already marked" and the cat wouldnt have to do it and would feel more secure.

HOWEVER... some cats percieve the pheremone as OTHER. as in OTHER cats, "hey thats not me!" and can lead to more marking behavior either with urine or excessive marking. It is quite possible that one or more of your cats has had that response, and all the rest of it was in response to those affected cats issues. For example, you said you thought you smelled pee.. well if one cat decided he had to mark turf because of the feliway, that would be enough to send the rest of the cats into a turf war..and stress your tail attacker to do it more.

One way to tell would be to take out the feliway and see if anything changes. You may want to black light your space to see if in fact anyone has peed/marked so you can clean it.

 

[doombuggy]

Do you think that she smells the other cats from the shelter on him and that is setting her off? It's easy for me to say this 'casue Cedric likes water and gets groomed at least once per year, but maybe a bath for him might help too?

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

I have pulled the Feliways and am scrubbing floors,washing rugs and shampooing carpets this morning. Our cats have never been markers in the past, we've only had pee on the floor when someone is sick or Taz is mad at us so its kind out of sorts to smell urine in the living room and the dining area. Both kittens came from the same place so the shelter smell shouldn't be setting her off, but I could see that causing Mitten's evil-tail anxiety to get worse since we suspect the source of that may have him being in isolation there for over 3 months.

Its just weird because its what we expected out of her when we brought him home the first time and she was fine, so we didn't think it would be a problem when he needed to get out of there to bring him back. She will be upstairs and just run downstairs to find him to hiss and snort and fight so he doesn't even need to be getting in her face to start it. He does have Science Diet light hard food that she is getting mad that she can't have. She'd sneak into his room the first couple of days and try to break into the tub we'd close it up in when we let him out. Maybe its food jealousy?

 

[Anonymous]

I HAVE! I HAVE!
The 2 times I used feliway spray....in his carry box.
The first time, I sprayed a bit....the put my head in there and felt sick, dizzy and quezy for an hour at least.
The next time was Tom's turn...and we were going to the vet.
Now it could have just been his run of the mill nervouse breakdown....but he was panting more that before in his box.
I thought he might pass out.
We don't like Feliway....me or Tom.
Anyone want it?

 

[Maggies Mom Debby]

3 may also be too many. I have one plugin on each story of our house, in the room the cats spend most of the time. I haven't seen any negative reactions.

The spray may be different. You can overdo it for one, and there is something in it to make it spray that might cause breathing problems.

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

It appears that the marking problems are from the foster I saw him in the toy box this morning and when I was cleaning up, I found the toy box, toys, and the cat bed in that corner were peed on. I think he's started that because he's mad that he gets put downstairs more now that Smokey is upset. He's a good cat, he just doesn't like being alone.

I had put 3 upstairs so that we'd have one in each room that Mittens has his biggest tail episodes in, 1 in the bedroom, 1 in the office, and 1 in the living room.

 

[Melanie and Smokey]

We didn't have litter box problems until I started using Feliway.

I started using it to see if we could use that instead of medications to calm our cat that thinks his tail is evil and will run from it in fear and smash into walls or the headboard and when he can't outrun it, he attacks it and fights with it. He will lay down, and when he starts flipping his tail, he looks at it in disgust, or maybe horror, and starts swatting it, then biting it, then starts the running from it.

The Feliways have been unplugged now for a couple of days and we haven't had any more peeing. Smokey isn't quite as hostile to Tiger. We put Mittens back on his meds - doubled the dose - and he seems to be getting along better with his tail. No episodes at night and the daytime episodes are shorter and milder so it is much better for him and us to go back on the meds. I just worry about effects of long term use of the Amatryptaline along with his steroid for his stomatitis.