[shan841]

Has anyone had any luck with these?

I am still working with Minnie(former stray) and introducing her to my other cat, Banjo. I am taking it very slowly, and they are to the point where they can sniff through the door and I can hold Banjo and Minnie will sniff his tail/feet without hissing. I am very reluctant to let them interact though because Banjo is just a big baby, and Minnie is a former street cat- she's not one to mess with and doesnt seem pleased with him. I am terrified that she will hurt him. Especially since he is not shy or aggressive at all with other cats. I could see him just tackling her, wanting to play and her freaking out on him.

I have a feliway diffuser, and I am not really sure if it has done anything, but I am just looking for anything that can possibly help to calm Minnie's nerves.

She seems to have a few triggers-

if i move my hand too fast or pet her in the wrong place she will snap at me.

she is TERRIFIED of the vacuum. Even if I just roll it accross the floor, not turned on, she will chase after it hissing and clawing at it!

thunderstorms- she hides inside the closet whenever there is a storm or heavy rain


She seems stressed a lot, i feel like she was neglected/mistreated and is having a hard time adjusting. Just wondering if anyone has tried spirit essences and if they actually do anything? I like Jackson Galaxy, he knows his stuff, I just have a hard time beleiving that these essences are going to be some kind of miracle cure

here is the link if you've never seen them
Our Remedies

thanks!

 

[Jacq]

I think they're total bunk. It makes me sad because Galaxy knows his stuff behaviourally, but then shills something so obviously made of wishful thinking and hooey.

From their own webpage:
"[Spirit Essences] cannot be overused or misused, and they cannot interfere with any other treatment, conventional, alternative, or otherwise. Even if you give the wrong remedy, it will not have any negative effects, but it will simply have no effect."
How Do Essences Work? | Spirit Essences Blog
You can replace "Spirit Essence" with "nothing" and it would have the same effect, wouldn't it?

The website also says the process of creating the 'mother essences' is similar to Radionics. That's a fancy name for voodoo magic (ie - using a piece of someone, like a hair or drop of blood, and healing/harming them without interacting with them directly.) Whether you're down with voodoo or not, the question remains how they expect to work on cats they don't have any bits of?

I know it's not exactly the most popular opinion here, but I really think these kinds of quack remedies are dangerous, in their own way (not to the cats, but to the owners and to the perception/reputation of non-traditional medicines). I think there's a very good reason the Spirit Essences have never been mentioned on Jackson's show.

Traditional medicine has its shortcomings, we all know that. But I think these kinds of products prey on the desperate and it makes me really angry that people charge money for this.

 

[cinderflower]

if there's money to be made, you can almost always find someone who has found a way to relieve people of theirs. i'm not as much a pessimist as i am just pragmatic. sometimes unconventional stuff works, but lots of times, it's just snake oil.

amazing the prices "wishful thinking" garners, huh.

 

[Sinatra-Butters]

My friend bought some and it didn't do anything. Weirdly though she also got an animal communicator and it worked wonders.

 

[marie73]

They're definitely not "total bunk." They just don't work for everyone. There are some members here who have great success with them. The same with Feliway and Rescue Remedy. Just because they didn't work for me doesn't mean they don't work.

 

[Sinatra-Butters]

Marie has your love for Jackson Galaxy influenced this opinion at all?

 

[marie73]

No. :grin:

I'm sure they wouldn't work for me any more than the other stuff did.

But that was pretty funny....

 

[artiesmom]

got a couple, plus rescue remedy and nothing worked!

 

[shan841]

hmmm... i feel like maybe they have more of a placebo effect than anything. I do believe in the healing powers of positive energy, and maybe if you believe they work, then they do, type of thing. But I dont think I can justify spending 20 bucks on this little teeny jar of...whatever it is...thats the other thing, i cant really figure out what an "essence" is- the ingredients say essences of fox and buffalo, how does one bottle "essence of buffalo"? do I want to know? lol

 

[jadis]

hmmm... i feel like maybe they have more of a placebo effect than anything. I do believe in the healing powers of positive energy, and maybe if you believe they work, then they do, type of thing. But I dont think I can justify spending 20 bucks on this little teeny jar of...whatever it is...thats the other thing, i cant really figure out what an "essence" is- the ingredients say essences of fox and buffalo, how does one bottle "essence of buffalo"? do I want to know? lol

I wondered about that too, I looked on the site and I tried but I just couldn't see any basis in science. But I thought maybe it had a placebo effect on the human, if the human is part of the problem, like if you felt more confident and relaxed, that would relax your animals too.

 

[Ritzpg]

I use Rescue Remedy and Feliway and I think they work, they help Ritz relax in stressful situations, like moving in two days to a place twice as big as where I'm living now. With a new foster cat. I have Feliway plugged in 24x7, and begin putting RR in her food a few days before a stressful event is/will be occurring.
If you can hold her for a while, I would also suggest accupuncture treatment by a qualified accupuncturist. That can do wonders.

 

[Jacq]

They're definitely not "total bunk." They just don't work for everyone. There are some members here who have great success with them. The same with Feliway and Rescue Remedy. Just because they didn't work for me doesn't mean they don't work.

This is what I mean about the "danger" to owners about stuff like Spirit Essences, though. You can't really compare/conflate them with Feliway. As far as I understand it, Feliway's acive ingredients are some synthesized analogue of cat pheremones, and catnip extract. It's "non-traditional" in that it hasn't (yet) been put through a rigorous scientific study. However, you can read here that Feliway at least ha its basis in science.

My point is, I guess, that Feliway has active ingredients. Spirit essences don't. However one feels about some of the non-traditional healing aspects of positive energy, it's dubious to think that someone else, many miles away, that's never met you or your cat, can bottle up those good vibes and sell it to you (for a price).