We’ve come across some great accessories to help us make this feline relocation less stressful, but this one is the most promising yet.
I first heard about ThunderShirts when I saw them at our local vet’s years ago. I inquired about them and was told they help dogs in stressful situations, like during thunderstorms or fireworks. I never imagined that one day we would be buying eight of the feline version for our cats!
The idea behind the ThunderShirt is that it provides gentle, constant pressure to help calm the pet, similar to swaddling an infant. We were skeptical – what cat likes to be clothed?! – but we figured we’d order one and give it a try on each cat to see how they did.
The result was astonishing! Once the kitties got past their initial surprise of having something hugging their torso – which involved falling over and stumbling drunkenly for a few minutes – they really did seem to be calm and content!
We were able to give it the true test when we took our nervous kitty, Valentino, to the vet for a blood pressure recheck. He did better in the car and at the vet than he’d ever done before. Even the vet techs were amazed at how different he was from his visit a few weeks before.
But really, the most amazing transformation was when we put the ThunderShirt on our semi-feral cat, Calvin. Calvin was completely feral when we trapped her six years ago (yes, Calvin is a “she” – we didn’t name her!), and over the years she hasn’t really warmed up to us too much.
I was able to catch Calvin and I got the ThunderShirt on her without too much trouble. Then I just sat and held her for a while (on one of the fabulous puffy blankets, of course!). She did so well!
After just a few more sessions of wearing the ThunderShirt she is now a calmer, happier cat. She will let us pick her up or pet her without running and hiding – even without the ThunderShirt on. In fact, she is lying next to me and I’m petting her as I type this post!
Given the successes we’ve had so far, I think putting the cats in their ThunderShirts for the trip to Portugal is going to be incredibly useful as a safe and effective calming tool. We’ll be continuing to try them out at all the upcoming vet visits! I think I’ll also try out their calming chews and see if those make a difference.
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