Fight Pheromones With Pheromones
(EDITORIAL NOTE: written prior to availability of Feliway Plug-Ins)
Once you've identified the cause of the problem, how do you help your cat over his anxiety? Behavior modification. Create a more secure, calm environment for your cat. An important part of that involves changing his association with the areas he had been targeting for spraying or inappropriate elimination.
Remember how we talked about the friendly pheromones? Cats reserve those for their "inner" nest. Cats don't urine-mark where they facially mark because it would convey two totally opposite messages. So, the key is to change the cat's mindset about the target areas.
Feliway is a behavior modification spray that contains analogues of feline facial pheromones. By spraying Feliway on the spot where the cat has eliminated, he will think he was the one who facially rubbed there. Each cat will interpret the pheromones in Feliway as his own.
Feliway is available at pet supply stores, on-line, through mail order catalogs, and at your veterinarian's clinic.
Once dry, you won't be able to perceive any scent from objects sprayed with Feliway but your cat will detect it and that's what counts!
Step-By-Step Procedure
Clean the area where the cat has urinated with plain water. Don't use detergent
because the chemicals may inactivate the pheromones in Feliway.
Spray one squirt of Feliway over the area twice a day for 30 days. Natural cat pheromones fade after 24 hours so by spraying Feliway twice a day, you're ensuring a consistent level of pheromone output.
Since the facial pheromones have a calming effect on the cat, don't just spray that one spot, but rather, create an environment of calm. Spray prominent objects in the rooms your cat occupies - most particularly where he seems the least at ease. Spray 8" up from the ground and 4" away from the object. That puts the pheromone at a cat's nose height. Use Feliway on table legs, chair legs, entrances to rooms, corners of couches, etc. By doing so, it creates a network of calming pheromones. This way, if your cat walks into a room with the intention of spraying on the far wall, he'll encounter the Feliway pheromones every few steps. BY the time he reaches his intended target, his level of anxiety has hopefully lessened enough to where he longer feels the need to spray.
Feliway should be stored at room temperature. Also, it only takes a quick little spray for each spot - don't overspray.
After 30 days, evaluate how your cat is doing. You may choose to use it twice a day for an additional 30 days or you may be able to go down to once a day. Eventually, you can spray every other day, then 2 or 3 times a week.
Combine the use of Feliway with other forms of behavior modification to create a total treatment plan. For example, play with your cat in the areas where he has eliminated to further create a more positive mindset about those spots. You can also feed your cat in those areas.
