A pet is a wonderful addition to a household, but animals can sometimes present their own unique challenges to our lives. I have almost always had a pet of some sort in my house, from the time I was two years old and was given a kitten for my birthday. Today we share our home with a spunky little Siamese-cross kitten that my son named Racer. She is, quite frankly, the most perfect cat for our family that I could possibly have imagined. She is fiercely independent, shy around strangers and incredibly affectionate when the kids are in bed and I am still awake. She often curls up on my lap when I work at the computer and I love the way she cuddles up with me so peacefully.

There are times, however, when her skittishness can be a little upsetting, and she doesn’t do well in vehicles at all. I loved her personality, but I also wished that there were some way to calm her down a bit when she got too worked up. Fortunately, Calming Collars had the solution I needed. This online store specializes in collars filled with blends of calming herbs designed to provide a natural and effective solution to cat stress or anxiety issues in dogs. I couldn’t wait to see if the collar would help Racer calm down when she got upset.

I received the XS single channel Calm Me Down collar in the Brown Primitive fabric to review. The collars are available with one, two or four rows of herbs for different sizes of animals. While the two-channel collar is the most popular, Racer is small even by the standards of most cats, so I decided that I should choose a single channel collar. When the collar arrived, I knew I had made the right choice; two rows of herbs would have been far too wide for her slender neck.

The first step was getting Racer used to wearing the collar. She has never worn one before, so her first instinct was to paw at the collar to try to remove it. With the sturdy plastic buckle, there was no chance that she would be able to undo the collar, but I was concerned that she might put holes in the fabric with her claws so I held her quietly with the collar on so that she could get used to the feeling of something around her neck.

I noticed that she settled down very quickly in my lap and went to sleep within just a few minutes. Even though she didn’t care for the feel of the collar, she was definitely more relaxed than she had been before I put it on!

I have gradually been increasing the length of time that I keep the collar on Racer. She isn’t so anxious that she needs to wear it all the time; I simply use it for the times when she seems especially worked up. She does a little better with the collar now, but just to be safe I like to use the same technique of putting on the collar and then petting Racer until she is calm and relaxed. Usually when she’s feeling stressed, I can’t do anything to keep her in my lap, so seeing how quickly and easily she settles down comfortably with her collar is wonderful. And as an added bonus, it looks just adorable!

Calming Collars are available in five different lengths and three different widths, and can also be made in custom lengths upon request. There is a huge collection of beautiful fabrics to choose from as well so that these wonderful collars are as stylish as they are useful. There are even different herbal blends to deal with anxiety or motion sickness as well as innovative cooling collars for hot weather.

We’ll be taking Racer to the veterinarian to get spayed in the next month or so, and I will not be taking her out of the house until her Calming Collar is safely around her neck. I know that the drive and the stress of being outside of the house will be so much easier for her to deal with as long as she has her Calming Collar. If you have an overanxious pet or need a way to deal with your animal’s fear of loud noises, travelling or other commons stressors, check out Calming Collars. With a money-back guarantee ensuring your satisfaction, there’s no reason not to try one out!

Buy It: To purchase any of the useful collars from Calming Collars, shop online now

Win It: One lucky reader is going to win a Calm Me Down collar of their choice from Calming Collars

To Enter (mandatory): Visit Calming Collars and tell me about something you liked or something you learned there

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Giveaway ends 11:59 pm CST on March 31, 2011. Open to US and Canada

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