Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Calm Formula dry cat food

Has anyone used this product? It is suppose to really help keep multi cat families calm and living in so called harmony. My vet mentioned it to me this morning when I was talking to her about problems I am having with two of my four cats not getting along. It is quite costly but it might be worth it. I have tried everything and I mean everything to work this out. It has been five months and counting.

It would help to know what you have already tried? Proper, slow introductions? Feliway? Rescue Remedy or Spirit Essences, or anything along those lines?

I am not really familiar with this food, but the prescription diets (especially dry) tend to be 1) not very good nutrition for cats and 2) very expensive. I would personally prefer to find out the active ingredient and if possible add that to species-appropriate food.

I think it would be better to go at this from the behavior angle with things like doing introductions again and something like the Feliway diffusers.  Even with proper introductions and something calming like Feliway some cats just never get along.  Usually though you can at least get them to the point of mutual avoidance and tolerance.  For those few cats that can't coexist it would mean keeping them separated.  Jackson Galaxy calls it permanent site swapping.  Each of the cats gets their time in the prime space like the bedroom at night.

The only thing I could imagine being put into the food would be something like the Spirit Essences extract.  I too hadn't heard of a food that is supposed to calm cats.

Denice said:

 
I think it would be better to go at this from the behavior angle with things like doing introductions again and something like the Feliway diffusers.  Even with proper introductions and something calming like Feliway some cats just never get along.  Usually though you can at least get them to the point of mutual avoidance and tolerance.  For those few cats that can't coexist it would mean keeping them separated.  Jackson Galaxy calls it permanent site swapping.  Each of the cats gets their time in the prime space like the bedroom at night.

The only thing I could imagine being put into the food would be something like the Spirit Essences extract.  I too hadn't heard of a food that is supposed to calm cats.

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and also Ditto what Vball said. 

It took me 5 LONG painstaking months to integrate "the boys" into our household, and still our resident female only tolerates one of them.  For some reason, she dislikes Darko, but she's okay now with Tinky.  She and Darko give each other a wide berth .  But at least they don't draw blood every time they pass each other in the hall.  BTW, "the boys" have been with us for over 4 years now

I did the slow introduction for about a month. That did not work. Maybe that was not enough time. We have since tried reintroduction and are using  Feliway  diffusers, swapping scents, cages, calming treats, feedings in close proximity, communal brushing and keeping them separate.  I am looking for anything that might help.  When the vet mentioned this I just wanted to find out if anyone else has used it. Maybe I should have posted this in the behavior forum.

It looks like they use hydrolyzed casein (milk protein) and tryptophan as the calming ingredients. I'm sure you could find those ingredients in something cheaper, maybe some calming treats or buy the supplements separately. They're way down the ingredient list so there isn't much of those ingredients in the food anyway. Because yikes that's expensive. The ingredients aren't the worst I've seen but for that price I think you can find a better alternative.

I just looked up the price on amazon,  $76.99 for 8.8 pounds.  That stuff should have flakes of gold in it for that price.  I would definitely look into some calming supplements.   I know Jackson Galaxy has some supplements for specific issues on his site and pet stores usually have some calming supplements for cats.

In reading the reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Canin-Veterinary-Diet-Calm/product-reviews/B009H92LG6   It sounds like it really didn't help their fighting problem. 

They use  alpha-casozepine, isan amino acid chain derived from milk,  and L-tryptophan and nicotinamide (Vitamin B3).  The food is expensive but you have to be careful administering supplements to cats and you have to make it palatable. I would talk to a naturopathic vet and see about getting a supplement formula. I live in Portland and there are all sorts of alternative health options. Not sure if that is true as much elsewhere.

I used the pheromone infusers and they didn't change any behaviors.

Have you tried the flower remedies? Whisker city has a liquid called calm down which has all the same essences. My friend and I have tried the actual flower essences in the water and noticed a huge difference. I'm not sure if the calm down works as well but it might be cheaper.

Know what you are going through... I have three cats, Boo, Peanut & Spook, all males, all about the same age (almost 4)

Boo and Spook get along for the most part but Boo has his moments and likes to "stalk" Spook.

Peanut and Spook do not get along at all, Peanut is too aggressive and attacks Spook and bites hair out of him.

I tried everything also, finally came to the conclusion that they will have to be permanently separated in order to have any peace.

Spook goes upstairs around 11:00 am .I have two rooms upstairs separated by a door. Before I take Spook upstairs I get fresh water, exchange litter box (spook likes his very own), take his bed up that he likes and food.

I then take Peanut and put him in the other room and close the door. I bring Spook up and then bring Peanut downstairs.. They have no contact with each other.

I let Spook come downstairs in the evening (around 8:00 pm) after I have brought Peanut upstairs and put him in the other room that Spook isn't in.

It is a lot of work but honestly I had to come to the conclusion that they probably will never get along and it was causing Spook alot of anxiety and stress which probably contributed to him having Urinary issues (Cystitis and struvite crystals).

I have been doing this for over 5 months now and it has been nice to not have to keep my eyes on Peanut every minute and not see Spook cowering under the bed.

Tried Pet Naturals of vermont calming treats, rescue remedy, feliway, separating them temporarily , etc... did not work...

Peanut knows Spook is in the other room and will run to the door and try to put his paws under the door to agitate Spook..

We have a system and Peanut actually comes right upstairs when I open the door, they have it made, a regular bed, litter box, food, water, toys, three windows to look out and I go up periodically through the day when I can and spend a little time with Spook ...

They are all males and males will compete with each other to be the Alpha cat, so fighting and aggression I believe is not uncommon.

I read that if you see a fight starting that you can pick up a pillow or item and throw it , not at them but past them and that sometimes will diffuse a potential fight.

I also read that if a fight starts you break it up and don't look at the aggressor but go to the cat that was attacked and pet it and say "are you alright ?", did that cat hurt you?", next time you let him have it".... You can then turn to the aggressor and say "you are a bully", "shame on you"...

What good this will do, I don't have a clue but who knows.. It was even suggested about using a squirt gun at the aggressor but never squirt at the face... hmm...

Sometimes I don't think there is a solution. Vets sometimes will suggest meds like Elavil or Prozac and I guess there has been success with some animals.

Good luck, I sympathize with you as I know how stressful this can be and all you want is for them all to get along in Peace and Harmony...

Oh, Btw, if you would separate the two, feliway does seem to give some calmness plugged in the room that the separated cat is in.. at least it seems that way for my two cats when they are upstairs by themselves..

Try some Bach Rescue Remedy, 3 drops/cup of water. It reduces the hostilities in my cat household.

Separating the cats will also help.