About Vetoquinol
Vetoquinol is a family-owned animal health company founded in 1933 in Lure, France, when pharmacist Joseph Frechin began using an antiseptic compound to treat animals alongside people. Nearly a century later, the company operates in 24 countries across Europe, North and South America, and Asia-Pacific, and employs roughly 4,000 people worldwide. Its US arm, Vetoquinol USA, has been headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas since 2009.
The brand's catalog spans behavior support, gastrointestinal care, joint mobility, oral hygiene, and nutritional supplements for cats and dogs. Zylkene, its calming supplement, is built on alpha-casozepine, a milk-protein derivative with feline-specific published research behind it, while Laxatone has been a reference hairball lubricant in veterinary practices for decades. Both sit alongside a broader line, including Flexadin joint support and Azodyl kidney care, that is routinely stocked in veterinary clinics rather than sold purely as a consumer brand.
Brand website: vetoquinolusa.com
What Vetoquinol makes
Vetoquinol's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Zylkene
Alpha-casozepine calming capsules for cats and dogs, non-sedating and dosed by body weight. — featured on House of Mittens
Laxatone
Petrolatum hairball lubricant gel with added omega fatty acids, in tuna and maple flavors. — featured on House of Mittens
Flexadin
Joint mobility supplements for cats and dogs.
Azodyl
Kidney support supplement for cats and dogs with chronic kidney disease.
Dentahex
Oral rinse formulated to support dental hygiene in cats and dogs.
Nutri-Cal
High-calorie nutritional gel supplement for cats and dogs.
Why we recognized Vetoquinol
The House of Mittens Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our vet-reviewed category guides. Vetoquinol earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: assessed against feline-health criteria, used with real cats, and judged on merit.
Vetoquinol products we rated highly
Vetoquinol Zylkene Calming Oral Capsules for Cats & Small Dogs 11-22 lb, 30 Count
Built on alpha-casozepine, a milk-protein derivative with more published feline research behind it than any other calming ingredient in our testing, Zylkene is completely non-sedating, so a cat taking it stays calm but fully alert rather than drowsy. The capsule opens into a nearly flavorless powder that mixes into wet food, and it's dosed by body weight rather than one-size-fits-all. In our reviews it stood out as the best-evidenced calming option available without a prescription, best suited to a planned stressor like a move or a long trip rather than a same-day fix.
Read the 10 Best Cat Calming Treats of 2026, Vet-Reviewed guide →
Vetoquinol Laxatone Oral Hairball Lubricant Gel for Cats, Tuna Flavored, 4.25 oz
A reference petrolatum lubricant gel with decades of veterinary use and a formulation clinicians already know. In our reviews, owners of senior cats, the group that grooms slowly and clears swallowed hair least efficiently, reported the most success with it, and its tuna flavor is well accepted for a gel format that cats often refuse outright. It carries one of the larger review pools among the gels we cover.
Read the 12 Best Cat Hairball Treats and Remedies of 2026, Vet-Reviewed guide →What earned Vetoquinol the recognition
- Vetoquinol has manufactured animal health products since 1933, one of the longer continuous track records among the brands in our calming and hairball coverage.
- Zylkene is built on alpha-casozepine, the calming ingredient with the strongest published feline research base among the products in our calming-treats testing, and it is completely non-sedating.
- Laxatone has decades of use in veterinary practices as a reference lubricant for hairball management, with a review base in the thousands on Amazon.
- The company's broader catalog, including Flexadin and Azodyl, is stocked in veterinary clinics rather than marketed purely direct-to-consumer, a different distribution model than most of the other brands we cover.
- Vetoquinol placed products in two separate categories in our testing, calming treats and hairball care, each addressing a different feline need.