Customer Reviews

Feliway ORMD-D Behavior Modifier, 75 ml Spray

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(46)

 

 

Hi Everyone,

Last Friday Tazz (our male cat) was attacked in our yard by a loose dog, needless to say I rushed him to the hospital Friday afternoon and upon the initial examination, the vet did not find any external damage. The next day I gave Tazz a bath because he was covered in urine from the attack and that is when I noticed a lump on his right rear hip. I took him to another emergency hospital at which they did an ultra sound of his hip and found he has a hematoma / fluid in his hip.

The vet gave me some anti-inflammatory liquid to give him but he is still in pain and you can see it when he tries to jump or climb. In addition, his whole demeanor has changed to being scared of the slightest noise or movement. He hides frequently and does not talk / meow anymore.

My Veterinarian recommended Feliaway Spray, which the Veterinarian said, would help with his anxiety in addition to helping him heal from the emotional trauma of the attack. I received the Feliaway today in the mail and after spraying it on a couple of places where Tazz frequents, I must say his attitude is very much improved. I would HIGHLY recommend this product even though it is a bit pricey it just takes a WEE BIT for it to have an effect. Call it aromatherapy for cats, whatever the case if can help a cat after a dog attack then I say it's a product that deserves high marks.

I wrote a review for the feliway plug in, which I have been extremely pleased with. I ordered the feliway spray as a 'reinforcement' to keep my hallway poop and pee free. I have a purebred female persian cat who is 10 years old who can be a little moody when something bugs her. She has peed in my upstairs hallway in the past and nothing will stop a cat once they decide they want to mark. I tore up the carpet and pad, used every enzime product there is on the market (they did not work), used vinegar and water (got rid of the smell but not the problem), treated the subfloor of the upstairs and used kilz oil based primer spray to lock in any remnants of the kitty pee. I finally had a pee free house, so I put in a berber like carpet with stainmaster and a waterproof carpet pad. Everything was fine but one day I thought I smelled something nasty upstairs, and lo and behold I caught my cat peeing again out of the box. She was examined by the vet and no health problems were present-the vet chalked it up to 'surface preference', which I did not believe because I have carpet in my family foom which is pee-free. I chalked it up to a fussy cat with some emotional problems....she also began to poop in the hallway as well (not a nice thing to wake up to)....I found the feliway plug in on amazon after a google search and decided to give it a try....I used the plug-in in the middle of the hallway and miraculously the cat has not peed or pooped anywhere except her litter box! I am in total shock! I read up some more on the feliway and decided to try the spray when I made my next order of the plug in refills. I spritz the three spots DAILY where she peed/pooped before and now she won't even think of getting near the corner where she did her bad deeds. I don't know how it works but it does, even on an emotional 10 year old kitty. I noticed she is calmer and more loving as well. Amazon has the best price when it comes to the spray and the plug in and refills. Oh yeah, I also had family in over Thanksgiving stay with me for 5 days, which would normally cause a poop or pee outburst after day three or four. I did not have one incident during or after the visit! I wish I had discovered feliway years ago-it would have saved me a lot of hassle and cleaning and $$$$. It is definitely worth the money!

You have to rule out other things first. If your cat has an underlying medical condition that needs to be treated first or nothing will work. Most cats do not eliminate outside of the litterbox if they are healthy. In fact, over 90% of inappropriate elimination can be directly attributed to illness or a medical condition. The first step needs to be a visit to your vet for a urinalysis. Feliway is for the behavioral aspect. Once your cat is healthy again it may be habit to go in the spot where they chose. When a cat feels pain while urinating he begins to associate that pain with the litterbox itself. That's why they go somewhere else.

What Feliway does is mimics facial pheremones. Ever seen your cat rubbing his cheek on the wall? He is marking it to say it's a safe place. That's what Feliway mimics. Cats generally will not urinate where they facially mark.

As for my experience...I have a cat who has a stress-related bladder condition. He gets bacterial flare ups when he's under a lot of stress. Stress often triggers UTI, FLUTD flare ups, among other things. He is being treated for the medical side but still wants to go outside the box. I clean the areas where he goes on the floor with an enzyme cleaner then I spray with Feliway. As long as I'm consistent (spraying at least 2 times per day) he doesn't go there. I also use Comfort Zone diffusuers full-time. Yes, they are pricey but it is well worth it for me to have happy kitties.

Bottom line, this stuff works! It may not be the miracle you're hoping for and it may take a while but it does work. Like I said, you have to consider all factors though such as your cat's health and making sure you eliminate the underlying urine odor. There are products on the market specifically designed for cleaning cat urine. Use those because you may not smell the urine after using a common household cleaner but that doesn't mean your cat can't and until you get rid of that odor they will keep going in that spot.

I am not sure how well the Feliway worked because I did a whole bunch of things to try to get my cat past his issue. I used the Feliway to spray the wall where he liked to pee, but I made a big mistake at first that you want to avoid:

DON'T WASH THE WALL before or after you use the Feliway spray. That's right, don't wash the wall where your cat peed on the wall. I'm serious. I know that sounds gross, but the enzymatic cleaner you should be using on your carpet to clean up urine will destroy the scent of the Feliway just like it destroys the order of the urine, and you'll be wasting all the money you spent on the Feliway. Just wipe the wall with WATER, and then spray the Feliway there. But do clean the carpet/floor thoroughly, since you won't be spraying Feliway there anyway.

For anyone else struggling with a spraying cat, here's a comprehensive list of everything I did to FINALLY fix my cat's issue. I can't tell you which things worked and which things didn't, but if you're desperate like I was, you'll try anything:

1. Take him to the vet to get a urinalysis and make sure he doesn't have a medical problem that's causing his bad behavior. Urinary tract issues cat be VERY serious! My cat's urinalysis cost $70.

2. Get a good, wide-bulb UV light (like Stink-Finder), not the flashlight-shaped kind, and use it in the dark at night to find exactly where your cat has been peeing on the floor, walls, etc. About $20

3. Buy a BIG bottle/jug of Nature's Miracle "Just for Cats Advanced" or "Urine Destroyer" and pour a ton of it on your carpet over the stains. Don't spray, POUR. Really soak the carpet. Wait at least 5 minutes before you blot it up. If you leave any urine behind, the cat will know that that's a good place to pee. About $10 per bottle.

4. Just wipe the wall where he peed with water. Then spray Feliway there twice a day, every day. About $20 per bottle.

5. Take off his collar and spray it thoroughly with Feliway too. When it dries, put the collar back on him. Do this every two days or so.

6. Increase your cat's "vertical territory" by investing in a cat tree if you don't have one (really expensive, unfortunately, but cats adore them), or adding one of those window seat things. I got a window seat at Petco for $30.

7. Add another litter box to your home, and put it in a different room. Even if you already have one for each cat, like I did. Having 4 litter boxes in a 2 bedroom, 3-cat apartment isn't ideal, but it beats pee on my walls. Use those big plastic storage containers instead of actual litter boxes, they're a lot cheaper. I got one at Target for $6.

8. If you have multiple cats, your sprayer might be having an issue with one of them, even if they got along well before. If one of the cats was added to the household more recently, that's probably who it is. Watch them closely to see if your cat is either picking on, or being picked on by another cat. Even if they aren't fighting, watch for staring. That's what was happening in my house. You'll need to separate the cats and re-introduce them, as described in the books "Cat vs. Cat" and "Starting From Scratch."

9. Buy some of those corrugated cardboard scratchers from the pet store and line the wall with them in the area where he's peeing. This will encourage him to mark his scent there by scratching instead of peeing. About $10 each.

10. Start feeding him in the places where he's been peeing. Leave a small bowl of dry food there. Cats usually don't want to pee where they eat.

11. Play with him and give him treats in his pee-problem areas 2 or 3 times a day. I played with my sprayer for a few minutes in the morning before work, in the evening when I got home, and again right before bed. If you have other cats, lock them in a separate room while you play with him in his problem areas. Everybody can be present for the treats though. This teaches him that this is a central location in his territory, not the perimeter, and it teaches him to associate the area with positive things rather than threats to his territory.

12. Do all of those things every day for at least a month. Yes, it's a lot of work, but you wanted a cat. And it beats pee on the walls!

Other Good Ideas That Didn't Apply to My Situation:

1. If your cat isn't neutered, there's your problem. Get him neutered.

2. If your cat goes outside, start keeping him in. If he feels threatened by something outside, he might start spraying in the house to protect his territory from the threat.

3. If he's spraying by a window or door, he might be seeing something out there that's spooking him, like another cat. Block his view out that window, or put cat repellent outside.

4. What are your litter boxes like? Maybe they're too dirty, maybe they're too small for him to fit in comfortably, or maybe one of your other cats won't allow him to use them. Also, covered litter boxes are much more convenient for us humans, but a lot of cats feel too trapped in them. Get a storage box with really high sides instead for messy cats.

I hope this helps! Good Luck!

If you have a cat that is nervous or aggressive, I sincerely recommend this product. I spray it in the areas where my cat sleeps or sits a lot and after a while, he calms down, is much more relaxed and happy. My cat is extremely aggressive, I almost got rid of him because he was so difficult to live with. After using this product, I was able to become friends with him. Now he is my buddy. I still rely on this product though because he still has the aggressive streak that pops up when I am not using Feliway. It lasts a long time, I would say 1 bottle lasts me
6 months or more.

We used the spray in our cat carrier to transport our two cats. On previous trips the cats meowed the whole trip. They did not meow when we used the Feliway spray but just layed down and were quiet. We knew it would be a winner when we opened the box and the cats ran over and started smelling and rollling in the box.

One of our two cats has chronic litter box problems. I have done tons of research and taken him to the vet numerous times, tried special litter and special food, even considered medication. Then the vet suggested Feliway. I was amazed! My cat completely stopped urinating on my living room carpet AND actually began choosing a sandbox over the carpet within two to three weeks of consistent use of Feliway spray.

I don't have any idea why this product works, I just know it DOES work. You have to be VERY consistent with it and reapply to the problem spots every day, but it does work. It even works if I catch my cat looking for a place to go on the carpet - once I spray the Feliway, he will literally walk away from the carpet and use the box instead.

From other reviews it seems Feliway doesn't work for all cats, but for us it has been a life saver. Our cat has always had a nervous personality so maybe it works better for anxious kitties. Also it seems the spray and the diffuser don't work the same. We tried the diffuser too but our cat seems to need it sprayed directly on the problem spot.

I really recommend this product. Try both formulas and just be patient and you may get the results I have!!

Our boy cat was very anxious and was having political issues with our girl cat's strong fecal odor. He took it out on a very specific area of the living room where we always sit (the sofa and recliner). Within two days of applying this stuff, he stopped spraying. Within a week his attitude toward us and the other cat changed dramatically (friendlier to us, less submissive to her), and now a month later it's a brand new cat. It may not work for everybody, but boy it worked for us.

This product seems to reduce spraying by our male and generally to increase peace and harmony between our feline family members and both one another and unfamiliar house guests--which previously caused one of our cats a great deal of stress. The effect of the spray is pretty immediate, but temporary--its very usefully when having a dinner party with people our cats do not know. The plug-ins take a few weeks to make a notable difference because it takes time (a) for the air to become saturated with the diffuser solution and (2) for the cats to adjust their behavior in response. But overall we feel the expense is worthwhile. Over the past few years these products have helped us to introduce 2 new cats into our household as well as helped our cats to adjust to moving from a large house in the country to a smaller apartment in the city, new neighbors and friends, etc.

My cat is the very nervous type. He yowls constantly during car rides. I purchased this product as a last ditch effort to make a long 16 hour car ride bearable.

This is *THE* only thing I found to help with his nervousness problem in the car.

Things I have tried that didn't work:
Talking to him
Petting him
Letting him see out the window
Tranquilizers (Vet prescribed Acepromazine, which didn't work)
Rescue Remedy
Food and/or treats
Water

Here's how I got it to work, and hopefully you'll find my experience informative. I sprayed the inside of his cage 20 minutes before putting him in it. I also sprayed the walls and floor of the car area where he'd be at. After giving it time to dry, I put the cat in and started driving. He did yowl at first and I ended up having to let him out of the cage to roam around while I was driving. After he walked around a bit he became comfortable and went to sleep. This is the way it worked for two days, 8 hours a day. Please note that letting your cat out of the cage while driving is dangerous, and should be done at your own risk. If you choose that route, don't let them roam under the pedals, and put the cat back in the cage before you exit/enter the car.

Some more notes: he never used the litter box during car rides. He even waited a couple of hours after arriving at the hotel before he felt comfortable enough to use the litter box. He also wouldn't eat during the car ride, and did drink water but very little. I kept bottled water and treats handy in case he needed them, but he was only interested in the water. I also had an area in the back of the car set up with his litter box open and ready, just in case he had to go while we were moving. He didn't use it while in the car, but it might be a good idea for other cats. Also, I don't think he liked smelling the Feliway spray near his litter box or his food. After getting to the hotel, he was well rested and ended up staying awake all night exploring the hotel room. Conveniently, this meant he was ready for sleep again for the next day's car ride.