What is the Vanilla Extract/Perfume trick?

What is it supposed to do??? I've heard references to then before but am clueless as to their purpose.

Cats are very smell oriented - for territory, for identification, etc. When you live in a multiple cat household, sometimes when one kitty comes home from the vet he/she smells "funny" to the other kitties and so it upsets things around the house for a while. Rubbing a couple of drops of vanilla on your hands or on a washcloth or paper towel and then rubbing that onto all the kitties, especially around the bum, helps confuse everyone by making them smell similar and it often helps them not reject their existing pal.

The other time to use this "trick" is when you bring a new cat into a home with another cat or cats already living there. Although separation is suggested, along with slow introductions to get them all used to the new smells, using vanilla can help speed up the process. Or, for those of us with homes where it is difficult to keep a new cat segregated, this can help the integration process.

Some use perfume with this trick, but perfume has alcohol and other ingredients which aren't good/healthy for the cat. Although vanilla extract has some alcohol in it, it isn't as bad for the cats as the perfume is (when they lick it off, which they will).

This trick is used usually when you are introducing a new cat/kitten to a household with other cats. A dab of vanilla extract is placed under the chin and at the base of the tail. Some also like to put a dab between the shoulders. This makes all the cats smell the same so there is less (or no) trouble with introducing the new kitties.

The perfume works in the same way but NEVER spray perfume directly onto a cat. Spray it into the air, wave your hands around in that area and then stroke each of the cats.

Snap, Laurie.

It's to trick the cats into either remembering each other, or to smooth introductions. Cats recognize each other by smell, so when one goes to the vet, for instance, s/he comes back smelling differently. The one who stayed home thinks the other cat is an intruder, not his/her friend, and hisses and swats or even fights with the returning cat who is understandable confused by his friend's reaction to him. With introducing new cats, the resident cat will think that the new one smells just like they do and will (generally) accept the newcoming more readily.

The trick is this: take a small dab of vanilla extract and put it under the chins and at the base of the tail (body side, not at their privates) of both cats. Or, take perfume that Mom wears, spritz your hands and let it dry, then pet/wipe both cats with the scented hands.

Hi Tania! I haven't been around much to get caught posting at the same time, LOL!

Well, hey....at least we all agree! LOL

Hi Heidi!

As usual - I'm "wordiest," LOL!

LOL you two!

Laurie, how's that sweet little white kitten going?

Hi TONIM68 (Toni?)! Sorry to have co-opted your thread, LOL!

Tania, she's doing GREAT! I actually posted an update thread here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...threadid=24953

and more pics, here: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...threadid=24955

I have never heard of this before, and I was wondering if this would do any difference with cats that have been living together for over 4 years?

Pollýanna (my older cat) is the dominant one, and the two of them (Feykirófa is 4,5 years old) always have a safe distance between them. Feykirófa used to "ask" Pollýanna to play all the time, but just got hit. I Feykirófa now comes to close, or is in a place that Pollýanna doesn´t want her to be, she gets hit, allthough Pollýanna is backing off a bit, more often now, if Feykirófa is sleeping in Pollýanna´s place, she comes checking often, walks restlessly around and then walked away.
- Was this to complicated, it´s kindof a mess how I tell this, I think

So, do you think the vanilla trick would change anything?

it works like a charm!! I did it when every I introduce new cats and there is normally hardly any hissing if any at all!

Hey! Thanks for the helpful information! This'll come in pretty handy, I'm sure.

Oh! And, No worries Laurie!:rednose:

Sesselja, there is also something called Feliway which helps enormously with cats who don't get along. Living in Iceland, I'm not sure where you'd get hold of some, maybe through the internet.

You´re right, Feliway is not available here, so the internet would be an option.
They do get along, just with safe distance They have this cold politeness between them If they meet they greet each other and kiss, and sniff a litle bit of each other behind but that´s it.

I wonder why they're like that. Did they just decide they didn't like each other all that much?

TONIM68 - what a cute smiley with that nose, LOL!

And Sesselja, if you can procure some Feliway via the Internet, I highly recommend it. We have one kitty who just isn't wired "right." He's a total love bug, and for the most part gets along with the other kitties - but he's moody, or just goes too far, and stresses easily. The Feliway is a synthetic pheremone that mimics the scent in cats' cheeks. This, to cats, is a comforting scent, not a territory scent. Spraying it everywhere in your home at about cheek level of your cats might really help. It did here.

I ran across mention somewhere of something like Feliway that's called "Felifriend" that's supposed to help cats accept people & other cats. I don't think it's available in the US, though. Most pages where I've seen it are British. Maybe it's available in Iceland? I use the Feliway plug-in at home & it really seems to help.

I used a perfume called "oh my cat?" that's OK to be used on cats. Of course you still don't spray it on them - you spray it on a cloth that it comes packaged with, then rub the cloth on the cat. I found it on Ebay.