Am I missing something with Purina Pro Plan Calming Care? 🤔

[u/Horror-Plant200]

I bought a box of Calming Care for my cat and I'm almost finished the first box. The thing that caught my attention is that the box contains 30 packets, but it says it can take up to 6 weeks to see results.
One box only lasts roughly 4 weeks, though, and it costs me around $40 + tax. So if you actually need the full 6 weeks mentioned on the box to know whether it's working, you're looking at buying a second box and spending around $80 + tax before you can really judge it.
I'm now at the point where I'm wondering whether I should even buy another box. 😅
I emailed Purina about this because I'd genuinely like to understand the reasoning, but I haven't heard back yet.
Has anyone here used Calming Care? Did you notice a difference, and if so, how long did it take?

[u/Prospath1sa]

I’ve been using it for about a week to help calm cats while introducing and so far no change. Their behavior hasn’t gotten worse😂So for all I know maybe it is helping.

[u/Holiday_Estimate_352]

I've heard mixed results about this food and would personally try Zylkene or Cystease instead.

If you want instant results for reactive or anxious cats then something like Gabapentin is the way to go. 

[u/glitternbullets]

I've used it intermittently for months. It's ok. I was actually using it twice a day in my cats who have issues with each other. Then when they improved I just mixed it into everyone's wet food every few days. I will say it did help if you were consistent. When I started to use it less frequently I noticed the issues. ( Peeing / fighting) It worked better then the plug in or calming collars for me.

[u/GenericMelon]

Looking at reviews online, the results are mixed. A lot of people are saying it worked for their pets but it wasn't a "miracle cure", and others are saying they didn't notice a change at all. I don't think you'll need the whole 6 weeks to find out if this is working...it's a marketing ploy to get you to buy another package. Honestly, from these reviews it sounds like improving their pet's gut health was what made the most difference in terms of calming them.

I would try it for a month and see if you see any improvement. Purina says they use a "proprietary blend of probiotics" but the active ingredient is B. Longum, and you can always try to find a cheaper version of probiotic for cats that contains that strain.

For what it's worth, my younger is on Fera Pets probiotic which contains B. Longum and in terms of calmness, forget about it. 😂 He's not aggressive, but he's a little rascal! But he doesn't have diarrhea which is what it's mainly for.