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
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
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
PetAlive PetCalm Formula is a natural anxiety remedy containing skullcap flower, passionflower and kali phos (potassium phosphate).
Zylkene
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
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
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.