Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Our fiesty feline has a biting problem. He was not properly socialized as a kitten and when we brought him home at 8 weeks, he discovered that he hated seeing the sight of our hands and to retaliate from his fear, latched on to our legs, arms, and sometimes face by biting and scratching. Although we tried kitty nail covers, Comfort Zone plug-in diffuser, Cool Kitty Pheromone Spray, and Pet Organics No-Stress Spray for Cats, and taking him to numerous vet visits for recommendations, eventually he was diagnosed by a feline behaviorist with "play-induced aggression." She gave us a ton of tips for a kitty with his behaviors I will share here: 1) Pheromone collars work A LOT better than plug-in diffusers because the smell is continuous! With our kitty, we tried many varieties of calming collars including more expensive ones like Nuturecalm and Thunderease; however, those brands are much more expensive and don't work as well. The Sentry Collar is the best because the smell is the most potent. We learned over time that our kitty required a new collar every 3 weeks for his behavior management, not 30 days like the package recommended. Also, the package instructions recommends shaking the excess powder off before putting it on the kitty. Wrong!!! If you do that, you will render it essentially ineffective. It always took two of us to put it on our kitty and leave at least two finger widths underneath the collar and between your kitty's skin. 2) Comfort Zone Plug-in Diffuser: We used in every room. Our kitty would go up to it and smell them daily. However, we are not sure it really did anything looking back, but he enjoyed a good whiff of it. Our vet said that the American Association of Feline Friendly Hospitals states that every vet office should have a plug-in diffuser now in every room to calm kitties when they go the the vet's office. 3) Spray bottles filled with water in every room to deter negative behavior: The kitty psychologist suggested that cats hate water and spray bottles can stop negative behaviors before they start. It helped if the spray bottle was around and in hand before an attack was going to occur; however, there were times in which our kitty got us in an area of the room where the spray bottle was not located. Easy solution- add more spray bottles everywhere! 4) Toys, Toys, and More Toys: Our kitty was the type to want to play all day, every day, which was good for him, but we also couldn't indulge him in that because it would essentially create more fiestiness. We were told to limit his play time to 15 minutes per day and give him only toys where our hands were not associated with them, including wand toys, round circular toys, kitty kicking sticks, and robotic toys. We were told to only give him catnip one time per week because anything more than that and kitties become tolerant and it is not as effective for them. During our non-play times, due to the pheromone collar in large part, our kitty became a snuggler to our surprise!!!! We were so pleased to have him come and knead and purr on our laps and seek our attention when we never thought that was possible before!!! 5) Scratching Posts: Our kitty psychologist suggested that our kitty needed an outlet for all of his energy and she suggested placing multiple types of scratching posts all over the house. We got him fancy, expensive ones including SmartCat Ultimate Scratching Post and PetFusion 3-Sided Vertical Scratching Post, but he preferred the cheapest kind: Fat Cat Big Mama's Scratch 'n Play Ramp. We LOVED that one the most and they were so cheap to be able to place in multiple rooms, plus the corrugated cardboard insert can be flipped over to elongate its use! 6) Cat Condo and a room with a view: Our kitty psychologist suggested that our kitty needed entertainment throughout the day and constant stimulation. She suggested we purchase a cat condo and it was a great decision. We originally purchased Armarkat Cat's Beige Tree Model and it was super sturdy and well constructed. We moved and had to get a different one and the replacement was cheaply constructed and broke immediately: Cat Tree Scratcher Play House Condo Furniture Bed Post Pet House. I would not recommend that purchase. However, we also purchased Nature's Hangout Window Bird Feeder with Removable Tray- possibly the best idea we've ever had. Since then all sorts of birdies would come to the window and chirp and my kitty even learned how to chirp back! We got him this toy during the winter months when the birdies fly south for winter and he misses his friends. The bird toy has the most excellent rendition of a real bird chirp that we have ever heard! It is a loud chirp that may be heard a couple of rooms away, but it always brings a smile to my face because I know my face is enjoying snuggling up to his bird toy and dreaming of the day when his birdie friends will come back for a visit! This entertained our kitty for hours on end and the scratching and biting decreased tremendously while the snuggling and purring increased!! 7) Time: Time, patience, persistence, and A LOT OF CONSTANT LOVE and REASSURANCE helps calm behavioral issues with a fiesty feline. We are super proud of our kitty that his behaviors improved tremendously over time. They never resolved immediately, but we knew to avoid triggering the behaviors: avoid placing your hands in front of his face, if ears are bent backwards- watch out, don't pick up because that is overstimulating, let the kitty come to you, give kisses using your face to his forehead and don't have your hands anywhere in sight, avoid loud noises or startling movements to cause fear in him, use Cool Kitty Cat Calming Pheromone Spray liberally and often in addition to everything else (esp. at night before bed to avoid nips to the face or head while sleeping). Cool Kitty works WAY better than Pet Organics No-Stress Spray for Cats. Cool Kitty also has a very pleasant not over-powering smell that lingers; whereas Pet Organics has an extremely strong rosemary smell that is kind of nauseating and it does not work as well. The bottle itself does not spray equally or evenly compared to Cool Kitty; instead, dollops of liquid come out instead of a nice even mist. Also, ensure that the kitty has a full belly. If the kitty is hungry, the kitty is more likely to attack. It can be done. Do not give up. It is well worth the struggle. It will get better. We can truly appreciate our kitty and understand him better and his needs because of the struggle we have had to endure due to the lack of socialization he was given as a kitten.