Feline Pheromones Can Lower Your Cat's Stress

As loving cat owners, we want to do everything we can to optimize our cat’s happiness. Keeping a cat’s stress levels at a minimum means a happier cat, but also a cat with fewer stress-related behavior issues.

Stress is often misunderstood in cats. Some levels of stress are normal and a vital component of a cat’s healthy well-being.  For example, a lightning fast stress response can save the life of a cat when they need to escape from a predator.  As cat owners, much more often our experience is to see cats that are overly stressed in their normal day to day lives.  This stress can be a major contributing factor to many common behavior problems in cats.

In my decades of working with cats and their owners professionally, I’ve come to categorize feline behavior problems into seven basic classes.  Many of these behavior issues can be helped by using Comfort Zone® pheromone products because of the calming effect they have on cats.

The Four Classes of Behavior Problems

There are several different forms of feline aggression -- many triggered by fear.  Petting your cat for too long, bringing home a new puppy, or inviting guests over can trigger a cat’s fear response which can lead to aggressive behavior.

Cat-to-Cat Tension

You bring home a new cat and your existing cats want nothing to do with the new addition unless it involves hissing.  Or cats in your home begin to move into adulthood (around 2 years of age) and begin structuring their social hierarchy which can include major stress due to territorial activity.  This can cause cats to have conflict and even unfriend each other, which in turn can cause even more stress because they still live in the same home together.

Aggression

There are several different forms of feline aggression -- many triggered by fear.  Petting your cat for too long, bringing home a new puppy, or inviting guests over can trigger a cat’s fear response which can lead to aggressive behavior.

Urine Spray-marking

Territorial thinking or social tension with either an outside cat they see through the window or an inside cat they share space with, is the number one reason for vertical urine spray-marking.  There can be extremely high levels of stress that come with this behavior issue. Finding urine marking on the sliding glass door or the bookcase may be the only sign your cat is stressed.

Excessive Cat Scratching

Your furniture or carpet is shredded due to your cat’s excessive cat scratching activity. Some amount of cat scratching behavior is normal. It's an instinctual way for cats to release stress, mark territory (claw marking), exercise, and to keep their claws healthy (sharp!), but excessive clawing behavior can mean your cat is overly stressed about something.

Comfort Zone® products replicate a cat’s naturally occurring friendly pheromones that help them feel safe and calm in their environment.  At the Cat Behavior Clinic, my cat behavior clients report to me a much calmer and more confident cat after they begin using Comfort Zone® products in their home.  This can mean a huge reduction of excessive clawing behavior, urine spray-marking, and aggression. They also see improved relationships between their cats if they have multi-cat households. 

Comfort Zone® products not only can help change a cat’s behavior, but it can improve a cat’s emotional well-being. With over two decades of working with cats and their owners, I routinely see the profound and life changing results with Comfort Zone® products.  Most cat owners didn’t realize their so-called “unfriendly” or “aloof” cat was instead stressed.  Once they implemented Comfort Zone® products, they observed their once timid cat become the cat it was meant to be – a more calm, confident, and affectionate feline.

Comfort Zone® calming products are available at Amazon, Petco, Chewy, and other retailers. Find a retailer near you here.

Comfort Zone is a registered trademark of Farnam Companies, Inc.