Pets & Pheromones

When your pet experiences stress, fear or anxiety, he may express his feelings through aggression, persistent barking, excessive scratching or marking. Pheromones, which are chemical compounds your pet makes naturally, can help relieve this stress and the unwanted behaviors. Pheromone-based animal products, which often contain herbal blends that stimulate the natural pheromones produced by dogs and cats, are available as diffusers, sprays and wipes.

  1. The Basics

    • Animals have a much greater sense of smell than humans -- as much as 50 times greater in some dogs. Pheromones, which are secreted by glands and found in your pets' saliva, feces and urine, contain a scent that allows animals to communicate with each other. Some pheromones also trigger behavioral and emotional reactions, like aggression, fear and avoidance. According to the University of Michigan, animals release pheromones in response to stress, alarm and danger and in times of fertility. Dogs and cats have an organ called the vomeronasal organ located between their nose and their mouth. The vomeronasal organ picks up pheromones released by other animals or by the pet products that you set up around the house.

      The pheromone products found in your local pet store, which contain substances that mimic natural pheromones, are meant to calm your pets and alleviate stress. Although you may not be able to detect pheromones, your pets can.

    Dogs and Pheromones

    • The most well-researched dog pheromone product is dog appeasing pheromone, or DAP, which is a synthetic version of the pheromone that mother dogs release to calm their newborn puppies. When your dog's brain senses this pheromone, he is brought back emotionally to his nursing days -- a time when he was close to his mother and felt secure and safe. Because of this, DAP helps dogs with general stress, separation anxiety and intense fear of noises, like fireworks or thunder, according to Wayne Hunthausen, a veterinarian and pet behavior consultant at the Westwood Animal Hospital in Kansas City. DAP can also help dogs adjust to strangers or a new environment, but it does not reduce aggressive behavior. According to "The Wall Street Journal," dogs respond best to pheromones when they are used in combination with training.

    Cats and Pheromones

    • Feliway, a synthetic version of the pheromone that cats place on surfaces when they rub them with their cheeks, is the best-researched pheromone product for cats. Feliway gives cats a feeling of security and helps reduce stress, anxiety, aggression and excessive scratching. Feliway can help with marking and spraying problems on vertical surfaces like walls or doors, especially with cats that live together, but does little for spraying on horizontal surfaces, such as beds or couches, according to WebMD. Gary Landsberg, an animal behaviorist, says this is because spraying on horizontal surfaces generally has more to do with a cat̵7;s unhappiness with the litter box than stress.

    Safety

    • According to WebMD, no reports exist of adverse side effects from pheromone products. Because pheromones are species-specific, they have no effect on people or other types of pets in the home. Furthermore, even if you have several pets but only one has behavioral problems, the other pets may benefit from the calming effect of pheromone-containing products.