Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Kate Lomas — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 23:32:35 GMT

Oh, and I found this free webinar fascinating! Nothing to do with any supplements, but gave me a good understanding of how and why cats behave how they do:

https://www.sureflap.co.uk/vet/cpd/territory-stress

(hope I'm allowed to post this here!)

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Kate Lomas — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 23:30:28 GMT

Just thought I'd add my own experiences....

My Georgie had a rough start to life (orphaned, attacked by a Husky as a young cat), and he started spraying in our house when we got another kitten (he doesn't seem to know how to be a 'normal' cat sometimes if that makes sense, and he is unable to socialise with another cat at all). Feliway diffuser and spray around the house definitely reduced the spraying, and the addition of Zylkene seemed to calm down his mad moments and allowed us to gradually wean off the Feliway diffuser.

When I moved house (to a house where he would be the only cat) he stayed on his Zylkene, and we put a Feliway diffuser in a few days before he arrived. Moving was horrendously stressful for him (he is very timid) but there was no spraying inside the house. We only kept the Feliway on for a month as he settled in after a few weeks. He is now exhibiting more normal behaviours (marking his territory in normal ways rather than spraying), and we have gradually weaned him off the Zylkene now too (yay!!). Never thought I'd see George this happy, he goes outside for short periods now (accompanied), and marks his boundaries of his garden. Don't think he'll ever cope with another cat in the house, but we have finally got him to a point where he can have a happy relaxed life, and meeting a cat outside doesn't tip him over the edge.

I really don't think I'd have got him to this point without Feliway and Zylkene - my ex threatened to have him PTS when he sprayed on (and destroyed) a £500 plasma TV!

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

martyn barklett-judge — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 09:57:20 GMT

Hi Sally

Maybe try Pet Remedy!!!

email me for samples martyn@unex.co.uk

Pet Remedy is natural and works for all mammals and birds (even their owners) and is much cheaper than many other treatments

See the Facebook page for reviews and comment. Makes good reading

Bye for now

Martyn

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

martyn barklett-judge — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 09:55:18 GMT

Hi Nicola

Maybe try Pet Remedy!!!

email me for samples martyn@unex.co.uk

Pet Remedy is natural and works for all mammals and birds (even their owners) and is much cheaper than many other treatments

See the Facebook page for reviews and comment. Makes good reading

Bye for now

Martyn

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

martyn barklett-judge — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 09:54:42 GMT

Maybe try Pet Remedy!!!

email me for samples martyn@unex.co.uk

Pet Remedy is natural and works for all mammals and birds (even their owners) and is much cheaper than many other treatments

See the Facebook page for reviews and comment. Makes good reading

Bye for now

Martyn

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

martyn barklett-judge — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 09:54:03 GMT

Hi Sarah

Maybe try Pet Remedy!!!

email me for samples martyn@unex.co.uk

Pet Remedy is natural and works for all mammals and birds (even their owners) and is much cheaper than many other treatments

See the Facebook page for reviews and comment. Makes good reading

Bye for now

Martyn

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

martyn barklett-judge — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 09:53:30 GMT

Hi Sally

Maybe try Pet Remedy!!!

email me for samples martyn@unex.co.uk

Pet Remedy is natural and works for all mammals and birds (even their owners) and is much cheaper than many other treatments

See the Facebook page for reviews and comment. Makes good reading

Bye for now

Martyn

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

martyn barklett-judge — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 09:53:03 GMT

Morning Lisa

Maybe try Pet Remedy!!!

email me for samples martyn@unex.co.uk

Pet Remedy is natural and works for all mammals and birds (even their owners) and is much cheaper than many other treatments

See the Facebook page for reviews and comment. Makes good reading

Bye for now

Martyn

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Sally Howe — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:51:39 GMT

I use the DAP collar and zylkene on Hercules during firework season for the last few years and this year we only needed the DAP collar, yay. Got video of him with sound scarey blaring and playing with his dog brick.

I think he now associates the dog brick with hidden sweeties with fireworks and expects it as soon as he hears a bang.

Not totally convinced on the food.

I use Feliway in the middle bedroom when my vets cat comes for her "holidays". She wasn't used a multi cat household let alone a multi dog and cat household. After a few visits she now intergrates with my cats and the dogs

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

sarah rogers — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:14:45 GMT

Hi, over the last few years, my dog has been a total stress head after 2 tplo ops (wont bore u with all the details!)

but bascially he was very vocal, destructive and could be left on his own.

he was first started on zylkene along with some behaviour therapy. this made some difference, then RCW calm food came out- and its amazing!! hes been on it for about 6 mths and hes a completly different dog- no more screaming or destructive behavior.

i have also found its cheaper to use calm food then to use zylkene and also having to feed him.

sarah

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Vicky RVN — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:46:42 GMT

[quote user="*Steph *"]

[quote user="sazzle RVN"]

IMHO the rcw calm food is waaaaaaay overpriced and I could never afford to keep an animal on that!

[/quote]

Agreed!!!

[/quote]

Agree! Why not just use Zylkene?! We had RC come and talk to us about it...they said how great it was if you are taking on a rescue, and to give it to them to help them settle in. My first thought was "what about keeping them on the food they've been on and changing foods over gradually"?! When i got Jack i used a bag of the food he was already on and gradually changed over to the diet i wanted him on. It's the same with any stressful time, you wouldn't want to go changing their food on top of other stresses. So a for the food for me!

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Steph Phillips — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:56:04 GMT

[quote user="sazzle RVN"]

IMHO the rcw calm food is waaaaaaay overpriced and I could never afford to keep an animal on that!

[/quote]

Agreed!!!

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

bongo — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:04:32 GMT

oh yeah - yes please to webinar

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

bongo — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:03:59 GMT

Well done Nicola for steering this thread back to what it was intended for - having a discussion about the use of these products!!

I use feliway on its own for a cat I rehomed who suffers from FLUTD and thankfully he has had no relapses yet, obviously I do other stuff too ie, wet food, extra water bowls, littertrays etc but he also used to overgroom which he no longer does and just generally seems more settled in his environment.

IMHO the rcw calm food is waaaaaaay overpriced and I could never afford to keep an animal on that!

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Nicola Birch — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 23:05:24 GMT

OMG - how controversial is this thread!

I haven't posted for a very long time but feel compelled to share my experiences with Zylkene. I first used Zylkene in combination with a Feliway diffuser when I rehomed 2 young adult cats from CPL. The "girls" are sisters and came from a multicat household. Both cats were very timid at first - did not like to be stroked and Ruby spent all of her time in the kitchen or the dining room, never in the same room as us. Ruby also had hairloss around her tail base, caudal dorsum and caudal hindlimbs. She had no obvious skin lesions, no sign of flea or other parasites but was seen to groom frequently and frantically. I thought this might be stress releted over-grooming and treated her with Frontline Combo every 5 weeks to ensure there was no possibility of FAD, used a Feliway diffuser and introduced Zylkene. Within 5 days Ruby had ceased the frantic grooming. I continued with both therapies for 2 months, gradually reducing the Zylkene throughout the 2nd month. I now do not use either, but would not hesitate to start again in other stressful situations. Ruby now follows me everywhere within the house. She never sits on my knee when we are downstairs, but sits close to me on the back of the sofa. Upstairs she is a different cat - sits on my knee and even lies on me in bed! Complex creatures aren't they?! I believe the combination of therapies work synergistically and therefore more effectively than when used alone.

Recently I have used Zylkene in my stressy chestnut Arab Welsh cross mare. She had begun to spook in a certain corner of the sand paddock when being ridden or lunged/long-lined . Her behaviour was escalating so I was delighted to hear about the trials of Zylkene in equines. I started her on 2 x 450mg "dog" Zylkene befor the equine powder was available and used this dose for 10 days, then reduced to 1 x 450mg per day. Her behaviour improved, she became more amenable to "work" and less likely to spook at "unseen" things. I then reduced to 1 every other day with the same effect. Her behaviour began to deteriorate when I missed 2 days therapy, so I started back on 2 daily and gradually worked back down again. I intend to scale dow to the lowest possible amount, and obviously would rather stop Zylkene altogether, but Ellie has now become safer to ride and this is the most important thing in my book.

I do not think Zylkene is the answer to all behavioural problems, but I have certainly seen excellent results with my 2 stress-heads! Maybe I'm the one stressing them out in the 1st place!

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Caro Laithwaite VN — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:12:24 GMT

Lucy l can think of at least one person a "HAP" (human appeasing pheromone) would be no use on only thing works for them is a 2x4 round the back of the head.

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Mac Feather — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:55:05 GMT

Think we all have 'bad typo days', I certainly do! And some of mine are waaaay too embarassing to share! [quote user="Lucy Brett"]

oh and I'm sorry about the spelling. I'm dyslexic and the spell check can be very unhelpful at times. .

Lucy

[/quote]

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Arlo Guthrie — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:17:02 GMT

StephB

I think you are being thoroughly disingenuous here. In an earlier post, you say

[quote user="StephB"]No offense taken Lucy, I just don't agree with you that's all. I am allowed an opinion Vicky and there was no need to imply I was being rude as I was not.[/quote]

and then you contradict yourself here

[quote user="StephB"]I sorry my candy coated filter is broken today

the fact that Lucy took the time to write up that long explanation and then to also pedantically correct my misuse of a term and then to misspell my name well.. just seemed a bit odd. so if i snapped back that my name wasn't Step but Steph... sorry! but my name is not Step. So i corrected her as she corrected me.[/quote]

In the first post you're feigning innocence. In the second you appear to be saying that you were offended and snapped back (i.e. were rude).

In my opinion, you're completely out of order here. Lucy made a helpful post. It is bad manners to criticise someone for what was obviously just a typo (your name), and it was rude to call her post pedantic when it clearly was nothing of the sort.

Lucy has a very considerable amount of experience with and knowledge about this product. You are absolutely entitled to disagree with her. But you should do so in a way that shows a little more respect.

Yellow card for that one.

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Mrs Dot Dot — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 06:44:36 GMT

[quote user="Vicky SVN"]

[quote user="Lucy Brett"]HAP (Human Appeasing Pheromone)!![/quote]

Now THAT would be amazing!!!!!!!!

[/quote]

We should all put it in the waiting room!

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

christinam — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:03:16 GMT

[quote user="Stuart McQueen RVN MBVNA"]

[quote user="christinam"]Just started using RCW's calm food for a couple of clients, one bad response, 3 good so far....[/quote]

When you say "bad response" do you mean it didn't work? Or made other behaviour changes?

[/quote]

No change in behaviour, but changed facial expression - if i remember correctly the face looked tight and drawn back.

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Mac Feather — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:27:37 GMT

[quote user="Mrs Dot Dot' Tracey Plant RVN MBVNA"]Hi Lucy... I would be very interested in a webinar please[/quote]

Me too- its a fascinating subject. I have only ever used DAP on a pet of mine- a total and utter bonkers collie pup- didnt seem to do anything for him but he was a 3d nutter. Have heard of plenty of great success stories where DAP and Feliway have made a huge difference.

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Mac Feather — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:23:17 GMT

[quote user="Vicky SVN"]

[quote user="Lucy Brett"]HAP (Human Appeasing Pheromone)!![/quote]

Now THAT would be amazing!!!!!!!!

[/quote]

One of my V.N pals and I used to joke VNAP (vet nurse appeasing pheromone) would be good for those stressy moments! Or Mumaway- to be used around meal times to stop your mum phoning! My mum has some innate sense of being able to phone me whenever Im getting something out of the oven! lol!

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Steph Phillips — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:06:41 GMT

Lucy - I too would be very interested in a webinar on feliway/Dap! xx

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Lucy Brett — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:18:26 GMT

Sorry Steph. I'm a pheromone nutter. I am afraid I spend most of my time talking about them. I'm promise I'm harmless. I'm just very enthusiastic about my work. I'm very dull at parties. I realise I must have come across as pedantic. I spend far to much time with my head in journals. I have to admit I find the fact that these work without effecting the conscious area of the brain fascinating. I'm afraid you just mentioned the specific area I am totally captivated by.

I really am sorry about spelling your name wrong.

Lucy

Re: Best to get rid of stress (in pets - not nurses)

Vicky RVN — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:11:16 GMT

I am not a pot stiring person. I just think sometimes the way things are put can upset people and being blunt can do so, even if it's not meant in that tone.