Here’s my initial assessment of Feliway spray, based on about two weeks of use in our multicat household. This isn’t yet a true test because I started using an outdated bottle of Feliway of unknown origin, and am just shifting to a newer bottle of spray that has not yet expired which we inherited from my sister’s cat, Mr. Purrkins.

Feliway describes itself as a “synthetic copy of the feline facial pheromone, used by cats to mark their territory as safe and secure.”

In our household, Feliway had to meet a significant challenge. While it hasn’t been 100% effective, but it has proven a major success!

On to the details. Warning: If you’re not a cat person, proceed at your own risk.

We now have eight cats who spend most of their time indoors. Previously we had nine.

Leo, our male gray tiger cat who died suddenly earlier this year, was a pisser. He claimed parts of the house openly and directly, often while looking right at you. Sometimes claiming you, I can say from experience. Since Leo died, the clandestine pissers have emerged. Duke, Wally, and even Ms. Harriet and Mr. Toby have been caught eliminating in what the cat books would call “inappropriate places”. Like the toaster. Or behind a favorite chair. On on the bottom shelf in two different spots near the kitchen.

Things have gotten worse recently, which we attribute to the stress of a couple of unknown cats wandering the territory. Three of our males, Silverman, Romeo, and Duke, are trying to patrol the boundaries and repel interlopers. Major stress. And Duke, for one, has been caught relieving the stress by, well, relieving himself.

I’ve been buying “Nature’s Miracle” by the gallon to keep up. So when I discovered the Feliway tucked carefully into a closet, I had few hopes of it working.

The test: The “inappropriate places” where I have had to clean up messes repeatedly. During bad periods, I could count on having to grab the Nature’s Miracle and paper towels at least a couple of times a day.

Feliway arrives. I took half-sheets of paper towel and put one in each of these locations. Then I began spraying Feliway on the paper towels morning and evening, and sometimes, if I’m home and I remember, another time in between.

It’s been about two weeks since I started.

The result: a quick and dramatic decline in inappropriate behavior. Until yesterday, there had been only two small “incidents”. Yesterday, with the heavy rain restricting the cats access to the outside world, we had the first significant pee. That was a set-back, but probably understandable given the added stress of more cats inside together at one time.

So my multiple clean-ups daily were reduced to just a few over a two week period.

In my book, that’s an amazing record.

Feliway is available as a spray, and also via a diffuser that apparently creates a fine mist, like an air freshener.

It’s available at Petland’s store in Kahala. It’s not cheap, but according to folks at Petland, you can sometimes get a 1/2-price special on bottles past their pull date. From my direct experience, the product is still very effective after that date.

Rating: Based on this limited but intensive two-week test, I give this product a very high recommendation. Shall we say “Four Paws”?

[Note: This is an independent review. No promotional considerations were offered or accepted by myself or any of the cats.]