About Us
The genesis for Feline Focus began with "Rusty", a red & white Cornish Rex feline. Rusty was our second cat -- a "reject" from a litter of show cats, born August 10, 1998. We brought him home at the age of eight weeks, hoping that his short hair would be kind to our cat allergies.
Rusty happily shared his home with his "brother" Sylvester, a former stray with Maine Coon features. With only one other cat in the household, Rusty did not spray. In March of 2000, Rusty began to share his home with rescued foster cats. This culminated is an array of 10 kittens residing in one bathroom for a long period, recovering from many health problems. Several of these kittens joined the household, including a longhaired tortoiseshell named Luna.
Rusty decided that sharing his home with other cats, particularly Luna, was a bad idea and began spraying. By the time we realized what he was doing, he had severely damaged an upright piano.
Thus began the task of developing an electronic product to know when and where Rusty was spraying, by his human father, an Electronic Engineer by trade. The development of the SprayAlert Alarm began with a crude handbuilt prototype and proceeded through several generations of products over several years. All were thoroughly tested by Rusty. An important milestone was the design of the Spray Sensor, a relatively simple solution to a difficult problem -- a moisture sensor that is durable, easy to clean, reusable, and relatively low-cost (and most importantly can withstand cat urine).
Rusty continues to struggle to control his spraying. He doesn't respond to Feliway and would simply prefer not to share his home with other cats. Rusty's progress is still monitored, with several SprayAlert Alarms in favorite spraying spots, and SprayAlert Strips in less sprayed areas. He has been trying low dose drug therapy as well as several behavioral therapies recommended by his Animal Behaviorist. Rusty may never completely stop spraying, but by monitoring his behavior any further home damage is virtually eliminated.
Feline Focus was formed in late 2004 with the intention of marketing SprayAlert products to Cat Lovers dealing with cat spraying problems. Our mission is to help cats -- by giving cat owners means to manage cat spraying, as opposed to getting rid of the cat.
