Calming Aids for Nervous Kitties

[KPassa]

Michelangelo is a part-feral and definitely shows it. He has always been one to flee at the slightest provocation to some dark corner under a bed or couch. I know it takes time before he stops running at every little noise, but in the meantime, I keep seeing these products that claim to help calm anxious kitties (i.e. for vet trips and things) and it makes me wonder if they actually work and if I could use it on a daily basis with Michelangelo to help relieve some of his fears and spur him along faster in this tedious process of "breaking in" a feral.

Does anyone have any advice, feedback, recommendations on any of these products? And I do literally mean any of the products whether they're ingestable, breathable, or wearable. Things like the thundershirt, feliway, comfort zone, etc....

 

[doombuggy]

I have the feliway comfort zone plug ins (well, one broke, so I am down to 1 from 2).
I bought them when I "rescued" Dallas from the neighborhood. I had the 2 units - one for my room where he spent most of his time, and one for the great room downstairs. It was for Dallas to feel relaxed after living outside for awhile (apparently his family "left him") and to keep Cedric calm as well. I had a pretty easy intro with these 2 as they were looking and sniffing each other for 2 months thru my back porch screen door (although I have been told this doesn't count!)

Cedric loves the feliway. Sometimes I find him sitting under it in the great room. Note it doesn't last as long there because the room is large - lasts about 3 weeks instead of 4. I buy them thru amazon, its cheaper. Note I do not keep one in my room anymore, since Dallas is not confined there (I rescued him 9/1/11).

What didn't work on Cedric for his last vet visit was Rescue Remedy. He hates going to the vet and it did nothing. Maybe I didn't give him enough.

I enlisted the help of an animal communicator to assist me with Dallas - both before and after his "gotcha." When my mom and my sister came last fall (2 visits, 1 each), Dallas did better than when he hid from my Dad in october 2011. He tries...he is so sweet.

Cjleo is a member here and is the animal communicator I use.

 

[KPassa]

Thank you for this info. I didn't want to go out there and start buying everything off the shelf without knowing it works on some cats first. :lol:

I enlisted the help of an animal communicator to assist me with Dallas - both before and after his "gotcha." When my mom and my sister came last fall (2 visits, 1 each), Dallas did better than when he hid from my Dad in october 2011. He tries...he is so sweet.

Cjleo is a member here and is the animal communicator I use.

Mikey is the same way. I can see he's trying to fight his feral impulses and not run and he's winning more and more of these inner battles each day. It's just that I remember with my last feral kitty, it took 2 years before he was finally comfortable in his own home, and even then, he'd still spend the majority of the time hiding out in my room. I just wish for Mikey's sake that it won't be another 11 months till he's at that stage and if there's anything I can do to help, I want to do it for him. Besides, less stress equals lower BGs, right? ;-)