Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

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don1976
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Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

Post by don1976 »

We're looking to adopt a 2-3 yr old female from a local shelter in a week or so, once things like the home check has been taken care of.
I've been reading about Feliway. Whilst Feliway may (or may not) help the new addition to the family when first settling in, I was wondering if Feliway was something that you can simply stop using after a while once the cat has settled in and has started scent marking the home herself ?

What seems to work best - the diffuser or the spray ? Anything we can do to help protect our sofa/carpets, the better.
We've got some scratching pads that we'll attach in various places once we get to observe her scratching habits.
booktigger
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Re: Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

Post by booktigger »

It's worth a go (Zooplus is the best) - it either works great or not at all, and you can stop. I'd get the diffuser
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Alice
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Re: Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

Post by Alice »

If she does start to scratch carpets/sofa I'd recommend putting a strip of double-sided sticky tape in that area. They hate the feel of it under their paws, it's very effective, but watch for her to start doing it somewhere else! Fingers crossed that she'll like what you've provided and be a good girl. ;)
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Kay
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Re: Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

Post by Kay »

if she is a horizontal scratcher, cheap cardboard scratchers are liked by most cats - my Tiffany sleeps on her cardboard bed http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/scra ... ure/315507 all the time, when she' s not giving it a good seeing-to with her claws
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Red wine lady
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Re: Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

Post by Red wine lady »

We bought a Feliway diffuser when our rescue cat was struggling to settle in and decided to wee behind the TV!

I can honestly say the diffuser does not stop stratching (I bought a repeller stray, which worked for my wallpaper but not carpets). I've spent £100 on a pole, horizontal scratch do-da and a damn scratching mat...he still prefers my carpet, so I've admitted defeat and become a soft cat owner.

However, Feliway did calm him down and stopped him peeing behind the TV. We are trying to decide whether to buy the refill or risk the TV getting wet again.

However I would recommend with a new rescue cat. Good luck x
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Re: Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

Post by Antonio »

In my experience, Feliway, both diffuser and spray, didn't work.
I used it in different occasions, for different situations and different cats over a several years span.
None of them had any advantage or improvement from its scent.
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Red wine lady
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Re: Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

Post by Red wine lady »

Antonio wrote:In my experience, Feliway, both diffuser and spray, didn't work.
I used it in different occasions, for different situations and different cats over a several years span.
None of them had any advantage or improvement from its scent.
Your post has made our mind up not to buy the refill....will see if there is any relapse x
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Red wine lady
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Re: Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

Post by Red wine lady »

Update...bad mistake on my part. Oscar started to pee behind the TV and just became very naughty. Bought a refill and he settled down in 2 days.
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Ruth B
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Re: Feliway - Shelter cat settling in

Post by Ruth B »

I would say you need to give it at least a few months for him to settle in fully and get all the good habits set in place.

We used a diffuser for about 18 months to help settle the tension between a young male incomer and the older resident female. It help although it was no miracle cure. When I got made redundant we decided it was one thing that we might be able to cut back on so didn't get the refill. I'm happy to say it hasn't been needed since and we could probably have got rid of it earlier.

Glad to hear it works so well for your lad.

The two scratchers i have had the most luck with are the cardboard one that is large enough for a full grown adult cat lo lie down on, all three have found it is large enough to stand on and then use their own weight to hold in place to do their claws properly. The other one is like heavy duty carpet on a board that is screwed to the wall top and bottom. It can be set at the right height for the cat to stretch out fully and the screws hold it firmly so there is no feeling of insecurity or that it is going to move of fall over on them, which seems to be a problem with a lot of posts and pads. It certainly isn't decorative, but neither was the shredded wall paper it has covered over.
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