Kasha.....thanks for sharing your observation!

It's sad to think of all the animals that suffer from products & chemicals that we use within our home because we, and the veterinarians, don't first consider that many illnesses are due to allergies/sensitivities to litter, food, supplements, herbs and synthetic products such as Feliway.

You should post your findings on any forums with discussions about hyperesthesia and other neurological disorders.

Thanks Annztoo, yes that's exactly what I thought - as I read about hyperesthesia I had a real sinking feeling because the recommendation is to put the cat on tranquilizer drugs without any consideration to environmental causes.

Feliway is, for all intents and purposes, a DRUG. One that is administered nasally via the scent receptors, but a drug nevertheless. Kinda like an inhaler, no? We don't know dosage, and how much is being taken in compared to how much a kitten might be receiving from its mother. I suspect its highly variable depending on size of house, whether windows are open, etc.

It could be that its highly useful and beneficial to the great majority of cats - indeed, Ive had great results from the REGULAR formula. And it could be only a very few cats have bad reactions. Kinda like a small minority of depressed people have severe bad reactions to SSRI anti depressants, while at the same time they're helpful to many other people,

If that's the case then we ought to be aware and perhaps possible side effect warnings should be on the label Certainly VETS ought to be aware - there was one only one account I came across while googling of a possible bad reaction to the regular formula Feliway - same twitchy cat symptoms and the cats owner asked "could Feliway be causing this?" The vet replied saying no he didn't think so - arghhh!! Im bothered for 2 reasons - the vet didn't say, try stopping it and see what happens. He had to be a freakin know-it-all and say he didn't think so. And whats this guy doing asking an internet vet in the first place- why didn't he think to just try stopping it himself!!!!?? You can do that, you know! Don't need the vets OK.

Sadly, this web page from 2009 didn't have anything about what happened to the cat, was it in fact the Feliway or something else.

We really do need to step up to the plate and be strong advocates for our pets - no one else can do it like we can!

Thabk You for this. I have used this only one week and saw a dramatic ( not good) difference in one of my cats. We have unplugged it this morning and he’s already back in his front door...could it be this that has triggered such an illness or just coincidence?

Just returned from the emergency vet after my cat was having a similar reaction as yours!

My cat, Mowgli, has a URI - returned from the vet on Friday. My other cat, Bagheera, wasn't too fond of the new alien scent, so the vet recommended I purchase the Feliway Multicat diffuser.

Now at the time, I didn't piece the 2 together, but almost immediately after plugging it in, Bagheera started acting weird. Lethargic, a little bit of dry heaving, breathing and drooling from the mouth...2 days went by with her hiding and not eating/drinking.

The emergency vet asked if I had brought anything new into the house, but I didn't even think of the diffuser. Said no, I think she's just suffering from a pretty severe stress response to Mowgli being sick. They gave her fluids, an antibiotic for a URI (?!!?!?), and sent her home. Bagheera immediately went to my room, where I followed to plug in the diffuser in hopes that it would calm her down and encourage her to try eating again. SHE IMMEDIATELY THREW UP.

I now have all windows open and tossed that crap in the garbage where it belongs. I'm so worried this will effect how my once close and loving cats will act towards each other. Nice to know I'm not crazy, seeing reviews like this. I understand the regular Feliway isn't all bad, has great reviews...but, if Feliway can give a reaction like this, even with a slim chance of it happening, I believe we have a right to know from the doctor. I'm very disappointed.

I’m so sorry to read this.please kow, we are all back to normal. I pray in a couple days you guys are back to your normal!! So sad that we tried this to help, and it made things so much worse. Prays for a quick recovery!!!

Katharine, how is your cat now, did the symptoms clear up after you removed the plug in?

Since my original post, my cat was diagosed with hyperthyroidism and I can't rule out that that might have exacerbated his reaction to the plug in. On the other hand - I know what I saw, and there was a clear cause and effect. I actually tried it one more time and the same thing happened - panting and twitching that subsided within acouple hours of removing the plug in. Something in that plug in certainly triggered the response. He never had that response to the original formula, only the multi-cat. However its possible the hyperthyroidism could have set him up to have that extreme of a reaction

Anyway I would just strongly encourage you - if you havent already - get your girl well checked out. Yes. do of course mention her reaction to vet, but maybe there is something underlying as well. My huge regret is I kept putting off getting my cat the routine senior cat blood tests my vet was recommending ie thyroid, diabetes, kidney, etc. His hyperthyroid symptoms were not typical and pretty mild and not noticeable ..... until suddenly they werent and he was in pretty bad shape. Best regards to you and your kitty!

I know this is a really old post but I am wondering if this is the problem with my kitty Daisy. She won't eat and has diarrhea, she was diagnosed with cecal cancer almost three years ago but is essentially in remission (she still takes meds). We added a kitten to the household 6 weeks ago, she doesn't hate him but doesn't love him either - she is fine sleeping with him but is annoyed when he is awake doing kitten things). I added 2 of the multi-cat plug ins about 3 weeks ago.

We brought Daisy to ER on Wednesday - all her bloodwork is fine except sugar is high (she is negative for diabetes, so they think it is stress related. She saw a cardiologist, mild heart disease but nothing serious. The oncologist did an ultra sound and the it does not appear the cancer has returned. At the end of a long 12 hours - she ate some food from the vet's hand. They prescribed a bunch of meds to decrease nausea, stop the diarrhea and encourage her to eat - also a dewormer (just in case).

We were sent home with the same food but she would not eat it. This morning we dropped her off at ER again - she is seeing an internist, and then they are going to insert a feeding tube (she is down to 5.9 pounds from 6.8 in a week).

At this point, they think her lack of appetite could be stress related - it certainly could be the kitten, but she has been fine the first 5 weeks. The only thing I can think of that changed was the diffuser - I am waiting for the vet to call me and I will mention this - I have unplugged them and have all the windows open so when she comes home tomorrow (hopefully) the scent is gone.

We had the same issue, once inthrew then away, he was back to his okd self

Sorry to hear of your kitty’ experience. I’m not a fan if the multi cat formula either. We tried it after it seemed regular Feliway seemed to lose its effectiveness. My cat refused to go in his “ safe room “ when it was plugged in. He went back in a few hours after it was unplugged. Stopped using it. No problem with regular Feliway.

Daisy is almost back to 100% now after 4 days at the hospital. They found nothing wrong with her and she actually ate on her own while at the hospital. I threw the diffusers away just in case they were the problem.

I finall found this post and think this Feliway cat difuser has been pur problem. Not only has our Oreo suddenly started having trouble with seeing, my eyes have been waering like crazy too. Ive never had allergies before. we got back from the vet yesterday and the bloodwork was fine. We’re going tomorrow again to check Oreo’s bloodpressure. Suddenly over the weekend she lost her eyesight. ive had this unplugged just a couple hours now and hoping and praying we both have our eyes go back to normal.