Products That Help Deter Misbehavior

Veterinary assistant, Lizzie, uses it to help control her cat’s destructive behavior. When it runs low “Monkey” begins to shred her clothes and go fishing for her goldfish. Dr. Partlow uses it to prevent her young cats from pestering and attacking her feline old timer. Dr. Fisher uses it to temper the panic attacks his canine friend, Dickens, experiences when thunder storms roll in. So what is “it”?

Two pheromone based products designed to control various behavior problems that dogs and cats experience, Feliway and D.A.P. A pheromone is a chemical substance that is naturally produced by an animal and serves to stimulate a behavioral response. When a cat feels safe in its environment it rubs its head against the furniture, the corners of walls, or the bottom of curtains, leaving substances (facial pheromones) that convey a message of calm, well-being and absence of stress. In dogs a similar calming pheromone is naturally produced by a nursing mother to soothe newborns that enter the world blind and insecure. Both Feliway and D.A.P. have the same comforting effect on your pet.

For cats Feliway comes as a spray or as a plug-in, slow-release diffuser. The spray is used on areas of a room that cats would naturally rub up against such as corners of furniture and doorways and the plug-in diffuser covers 500-650 square feet. For dogs D.A.P. can be purchased as a slow-release dog collar (similar in appearance to a flea collar), a spray or a slow-release plug-in diffuser. The collar slowly releases the pheromone upon exposure to body heat and lasts about a month. All diffusers last about a month and refills can be purchased.

Uses in cats include:

• housesoiling misbehavior/ urine marking

• aggression between feline household members

• destructive behavior including furniture scratching

• anxiety associated with moving to a new home

• new arrivals and overcrowding

• travel or visits to the veterinarian (spray in travel carrier)

Uses in dogs include:

• separation anxiety or angst associated with environmental change including whining, barking and destructive behavior

• car travel sickness and anxiety

• fear of loud noises such as fireworks or thunder

• socializing new puppies. Reduces the stress associated with the new home and helps reduce whining, fear of new people and pets and helps speed up the housebreaking and crate training process.