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Feliway is a synthetic product designed to mimic the facial pheromones that cats use to mark their surroundings as safe. Feliway can be used to calm a cat who is showing signs of stress through undesirable behaviour, such as inappropriate spraying or scratching. Alternative remedies exist for pet owners who wish to take a more natural, stronger or less expensive approach.
Rescue Remedy
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Rescue Remedy for pets is a flower essence manufactured by Bach. Rescue Remedy is made the essences of five flowers: rock rose for terror and panic; impatiens for irritability, nervousness and tension; cherry plum for fear of losing control; Star of Bethlehem for trauma, shock and numbness; and clematis for clarity and alertness.
Nutri-Vet Pet-Ease
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Nutri-Vet Pet-Ease makes a natural calming product containing a blend of essential oils of lavender, sweet orange, bergamot, cinnamon, clove, thyme and juniper berry. Like Feliway, it's available as either a spray or a diffuser. Nutri-Vet also makes a paw gel which combines passion flower extract, chamomile and catnip. Another option offered by the company to calm cats is tuna-flavoured soft chews, which contain the active ingredients dried hops, chamomile, ginger root extract, taurine and tryptophan.
PetAlive PetCalm Formula
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PetAlive PetCalm Formula is a natural anxiety remedy containing skullcap flower, passionflower and kali phos (potassium phosphate).
Zylkene
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Zylkene is a food supplement made in England from a protein found in milk. The active ingredient is a peptide that binds temporarily to receptors in the brain for a calming influence similar to tranquilliser drugs like Valium.
Prescription Remedies
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A veterinarian may prescribe a number of medications to help calm a cat, including buspirone (Buspar), diazepam (Valium), amitriptyline (Elavil), clomipramine (Clomicalm), fluoxetine (Prozac) or megestrol acetate (Ovaban).
Acupuncture
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Some pet owners have also reported that acupuncture has helped their cat's behaviour problems. The website of The American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture has a directory of licensed animal acupuncturists in the United States.
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