Phérosynthèse s.n.c., Le Rieu Neuf, 84490 Saint Saturnin les Apt, France.
Urine marking is an important behaviour problem in cats. Another common way to
mark the territory is the cheek brushing of objects. Facial secretions seem to be combined
with urinary pheromones to inform of the female cat sexual receptiveness. Facial marking
could also have a function of visual communication. We analyzed facial secretions and
created a structural analogue. Pheromones of Mammals vary a lot from an individual to
another. So we worked with cats of several breeds, ages, in both sexes. Their secretions
were analyzed using classical GC/MS technics. 13 out of the 40 found components are
common to all the cats. The recolt of secretion has shown that the cat never excretes the
whole secretion. Thus we can think the pheromone is a code. A mathematical model of this
code was created to determine the different chemical messages of the facial secretion wich
we named "functional fractions". In the facial secretion of the cat we found 5 functional
fractions F1 to F5. Their screening has shown that F3 has three of the effects of the natural
facial secretion:
* inhibit urine marking
* enhance feeding in an unknown area
* enhance exploration behaviour in an unknown area
We can conclude facial secretions are urine spraying antagonists. It seems that using
them is an interesting way to treat this behaviour in the cat. Structural analogues seem
more efficient in this treatment. These analogues are able to enhance feeding and
exploration behaviour in an unknown area.Pheromonotherapy could become a way to
treat behaviour problems.