One year ago today, a Russian Blue rescue cat named Francesca had six kittens. Two weeks later, Francesca and her kittens became official Backdoor Friends' fosters. During this past year, all the kittens were adopted, but Francesca is still waiting for her perfect home. Happy Birthday to all those sweet and interesting kittens, CJ, Brittany, Samantha, Bill, Bob and Casey.

Semiochemical messages of fear or peace?

Cats communicate with each other by leaving semiochemical messages called pheromones in the environment which other cats “read” in much the same way people get information by reading a newsletter. What if we could speak cat? What if we could write a “cat message” in cat language and send it to the cats and change their behavior?

Theresa DePorter, a Veterinary Behaviorist from Oakland Veterinary Referral Services is be accepting volunteers for a clinical trial on “Improvement of Aggression Between Housemate Cats”. In this trial, the effectiveness of a pheromone message being utilized to promote amicable interactions will be evaluated. Cats communicate fear and distress signals and leave these messages in the environment which likely perpetuates the feline hostilities. Cats naturally are socially independent and lack the inherent skills to reconcile once hostilities have tainted feline friendships.

Since March, 2014 over 100 households have participated in this 7 week clinical trial. The enrollment phase will close on July 29th.

The final enrollment opportunities: 
July 8th Oakland Veterinary Referral Services - Bloomfield Hills, MI 2pm 
July 10th The Anti-Cruelty Society-- Chicago, IL 9am, 1pm or 5pm 
July 22nd Ann Arbor Animal Hospital – Ann Arbor, MI 2pm or 6pm 
July 29th Oakland Veterinary Referral Services - Bloomfield Hills, MI 2pm or 6pm 

Volunteers only attend one meeting and they must be prequalified. Interested volunteers should contacting Theresa DePorter by email [email protected] or call Oakland Veterinary Referral Services at 248-334-6877. Please share the study flyer (www.OVRS.com).

Cats deserve more research! Please help. Please share. How much can we learn from more than 500 fighting felines? Maybe we will learn we can send a message of pheromone peace which the cats will translate into their own cat language resulting in a change their behaviors. It’s like sending a newsletter directly to the cat.

Theresa DePorter, BS, DVM, DECAWBM, DACVB

Oakland Veterinary Referral Services
1400 S. Telegraph Rd.
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302
Ph:1-248-334-6877 Fax:1-248-334-3693
www.OVRS.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheresaLDePorter