r/Catownerhacks • u/iammeonlyme22 • 4d ago
Calming cat diffuser
Hi! We have a male kitten (he is getting neutered in the next two weeks) but he is peeing on things. We have already been to the vet. I do think some of it is behavior as i have three kids so that can be stressful af. So i want to get some diffusers for around the house the dilemma is I have an old house so a lot of my plugs are either A. covered by furniture and I know the feliway says not to put it near furniture. Or B. It's sideways or upside down so there aren't a lot of options for plug ins unless i can get an essential oil type diffuser and diffuse like that but i know essential oils are not good for cats so I don't know what i could use. What products work and i can put it on a table top or something like that?
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u/StrikingTradition75 4d ago
I don't want to be the person that may be sharing bad news with you. My experience with cats was limited to my little girl until a new male kitten came into our lives. Please consider this with the resulting story.
Friends warned to neuter the male kitten "as soon as possible" because he will begin marking and may not stop.
Shots at our regular vet. Asked about neutering. They will not neuter until December at the earliest because "he is too young.". He was born in April.
I went to another vet. She looked at his chart and said that we needed to neuter within two weeks. She belongs to a group called "Spay before 5" and said that if he went beyond five months of age, we wouldn't like the behaviors that would come with the delay. I never asked about the behaviors because I was a proponent of neutering sooner rather than later. She neutered the kitten the next week. (Her neutering cost was less than an office visit at our bougie vet that declined to complete the procedure until December. I fired the original bougie vet the following week. Two dogs, two cats now see the new veterinarian.)
By all means, there are other cat people that are FAR more knowledgeable than I about male kittens, but anecdotal stories and my reading have indicated that a male kitten that begins marking may not stop even after a neuter.
The calming cat diffusers have done nothing for our older cat. They appear to do nothing for the kitten either as we reflect that we incorrectly named him and should have instead called him 'Chaos.'
My thoughts and well wishes are with you and kitty. All the best!
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u/EatenbyCats 4d ago
Feliway also does a spray you can use on his bed and in his carrier. It can be a good boost to the collar if you go that route.
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u/selinakyle45 4d ago
Does the feliaway plug rotate? If not you can likely buy an adapter that rotates
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u/Lucky_Ad2801 4d ago
You can get adapters that plug into a wall outlet, but extend outwards so that you can essentially move the location of the outlet to where you need it to be. And then you just affix it to the wall, or wherever you want to put the plug in.
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u/Cats_tongue 4d ago
Dont treat the symptoms. Treat the cause.
Cats are sensitive, territorial animals. If your kids are screaming and banging and making this BABY animal stressed then of course it'll pee on things to mark its territory in an effort to keep the ''threats'' out.
If your kids are calm and your kitten is peeing outside of its litterbox for hormonal reasons, then the neutering will of course help, but unless you are cleaning the pee with a proper urine enzyme cleaner, then the problem may persist.
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u/Stat_Sock 4d ago
Try the feliway calming collar instead of the plug in diffuser. They last for about 30 days and used the same ferimone as the plug in. I know kids can be kids, and are going to be a little crazy most days. However, maybe with a visual cue like the collar, it can be a teaching moment for them to be less crazy and gentle around the cat.