I have 5 cats in a very large house. Each have their own bedroom with beds, toys, etc. They have a large play room with an abundance of toys and high shelves. This room starts from the front door to the back door. The cats have fresh food 6 times a day and 24/7 dry food. We ensure that all the cats get a minimum of 3-4 hours play time each day. So one of my Ragdolls is constantly spraying on my furniture. He has being fixed and as far as I know he has no threat in the house from the other cats, infact he gets more attention than the others do. Any ideas were I'm going wrong?
Your cat may have stress or wants to dominate his territory. Maybe because you have 5 cats he wants a space of his own. You have to neutralize the odor so they don't go back to the same spot. Make sure there is no physical reason the cat is spraying. If your cat is anxious, there are anti-anxiety medications. Finally, there is a product called Felliway. I got this from the website: Feliway is a synthetic copy of the feline facial pheromone used by cats to mark their territory as safe and secure. By mimicking the cat's natural facial pheromone, Feliway creates a state of familiarity and security in the cat's local environment. ... Feliway helps reduce or prevent unwanted behaviors caused by stress.
Jackson Galaxy, from the great show My Cat From Hell, has a lot of experience dealing with spraying cats.
What he says is along the lines of the answer above, cats mainly spray because
1) illness of some sort
2) territorialness
3) stress of some sort (which canhave something to do with being bullied by other cats)
4) odour
You have to make a huge effort to eliminate the odour from the area, first of all. Clean and even replace furniture if you can.
Secondly, to take care of any possible bullying or territorialness, you can 'catify' your house, which basically means giving your cat lots of opportunity to get away from the other cats by giving him places to perch above everybody else. All this really entails is installing shelves and cat trees everywhere. Jackson Galaxy provides more info on that here jacksongalaxy.com/
Here he is also offering some herbal products that can help with that: jacksongalaxy.com/
How may other males do you have? It may be a way to tell the others he is the top cat. I would also have him checked by the vet, to make sure there is not a health issue.
i always have been told that a cat might have a urinary infetion when do ing that. might want to call your vet : good luck
If the cat gets plenty of attention and has no stress, it could be health related. A vet may be your only answer if you want to keep the cat.
I have heard that the plant star of Bethlehem will reduce stress in a female cat that is spraying. Is there any truth in that? I have tried the Comfort Zone thing in the store, but it is very expensive. And doesn't last very long.
By MG
I have 4 cats. They got along famously until I bought a kitten 4 months ago. All of them are used to her now accept one who is really annoyed, as she is constantly chasing him, so he spits and loudly hisses. He has been fixed, as are all the others and my new kitten was fixed two weeks ago.
By Joan from Toronto, Ontario
My 11 year old male indoor cat, has recently started to spray all over my house. I've been single for 5 years and now have a new live in boyfriend.
It is the only thing I can think of why he would feel threatened. How can I get him to stop?I have an 18 month old desexed male inside cat and a 10 month old desexed female who also is not allowed outside. 3 months ago she has started spraying and weeing in all different parts of the house. I can be standing in the kitchen and she will just come in and wee in front of me. I have 2 litter trays which both cats use. Someone suggested that she may not like the odour of the male's urine in the tray, hence won't use it, but the trays are cleaned daily.
I know she is about to spray because she runs around like a maniac and then jumps up on the couch and sprays over the wall. I have bought the spray "Urine Off" and regularly spray where she has sprayed, but this is no deterrent, as it just doesn't work. I have taken her to the vet many times to eliminate a bladder infection, etc., but she is perfectly healthy. Unfortunately my next step is to give her "Valium" or a similar drug which I don't want to do. Any suggestions would be really appreciated as I just don't know what to do next.
By Sandra
We adopted a rescue cat when he was an 8 week old kitten and he has been a great cat. We have 2 others, in total we have 2 males and 1 female cat. They are 15yrs, 10yrs, and 5yrs in age. When Tank was a kitten we had him neutered, just the like other male cat, and the female is spayed. They all get along and on occasion the male cats with get into a scuffle, but get over it quick. We do live in the woods and they spend time outside.
When we go to bed or leave for work for the day, we call the cats into the house like dogs and they respond well. What I am saying is that Tank behaves and we have no issues with him except for the fact that he sprays everywhere in the house. He also sprays all over the place outside, which is what we wish he would only do outside.
We have tried everything and we always clean it up and he goes right back to the area and sprays again. I have tired the aromatherapy, collars, candles, etc. that everyone swore worked and it did nothing. He sprays even if there are no cats around outside. He has been to the vet and he never had an urinary track infection or any other problems. He is healthy and physically active. We do not want to get rid of the cat being he is like one of us in the family, but I am running out of options and it is not healthy for the cat or us humans in the house. Other than maybe keeping him outside all the time ~ what else is their to do?
It is extremely difficult to stop a cat from spraying once the behavior is entrenched. However, if you give the cat to a shelter no one else will want to deal with this behavior either, and with good reason.
Our female cat is fixed, and there is lots of love in our home. We have two litter pans for her. She is 2 1/2 years old. These past few months I have been finding she is spraying up the walls and onto our carpet. I've cleaned with the proper cleaners for cats. Yet it still continues. She has been peeing in the tub and on our tile floor on a landing.
We are becoming very frustrated. We have taken her into our vets, and she is healthy. They say it's not normal for a female to do this even after she's fixed.We clean her box, and clean up her messes daily. And it has been very stressful. We don't know what else to do. Nothing has changed in our home, her temperament is the same. Please help us.
By Louise D.
You could consider another vet's opinion of your cat's behavior?
I have an adult male cat named Smokey. I had him fixed when he was young, and he stopped spraying for some years. I recently moved, and he has started spraying again. Help! I don't want to get rid of Smokey, but I can't stand the smell. Can I get him fixed again?
By Cynthia C.
If he has been neutered, he cannot be neutered again. The testicles are removed. Once they're gone, they're gone. There is nothing to remove again.
Smokey is probably stressed out from the move. Do you know if any animals lived there before you moved in? Perhaps their scent is still there and he's marking his territory. You should try an enzymatic cleaner. I've bought it both at Petsmart, and in the pet supplies area of Wal-Mart. It will actually break down the residue so that the scent is gone, and the cat isn't attracted to the same area again. And you can always consult with Smokey's vet. Sometimes medical problems will cause undesirable behavior.
Best of luck! I hope you find something that works for both of you!
First, have him checked by the vet to be sure he is not suffering from a medical problem. Male cats especially can develop urinary issues especially if they are fed dry food. It could just be a coincidence that he started the problem after the move. Once a medical problem has been ruled out, make sure you have not changed brands or style of litter. Did you buy a new litter box when you moved or did you bring along the old one? Where have you placed the new box. Perhaps he doesn't like the new location. Did he have privacy in the old house but now his box is in an area where there are more people around?? You might try confining him to one room-maybe the guest room with his litter box. Once he starts using it again you can give more freedom to roam the entire house.
My male cat is fixed and spraying all over his litter box. What can I do?
By yolanda
Hello,
Please take him to his Veterinarian, there could be a urinary track problem going on.
Talk to your vet first to rule out any underlying medical issues. If all checks out fine, then you need to ask yourself some questions. Do you have any other cats? If so, cats can be territorial. Rule of thumb: Always have one more cat pan than you have number of cats. Also you may need to have the cat pans spread out away from each other. Kitties like their space. Next question. Any changes in the household? Cats can be easily upset and react accordingly. Some changes can be easily adapted by your cat. Some can't. New people, new furniture, different scents, people relationship problems?
If it is a new pet, some pets, just like people don't really like the other one's personality. You may have to have your vet help you with this one. You say the cat is spraying all over his litter box. Not quite sure what you mean. If he is spraying over the top of the edge, try different litter pans to help contain the problem. If he is spraying outside the litter box and not inside the litter box. Could be multiple things. Is it being kept as clean as he likes it? Some are real picky and won't tolerate much waste in the pan. I scoop my pans 2X a day (4 males and 1 female) and I don't have any problems.
Does he not like the litter that you are using? Some are large pellets and some cats don't care for the feel on their feet. Experiment with different types of litter. I use a cracked pine. Cats seem to like it, pleasant smell, easy to clean and it keeps the odor down. It comes in scoopable and non-scoopable forms. If you are using a litter pan liner, he may not like that. Personally, liners never worked well for me. Good luck, just don't give up. Trying to find out what the problem is can take persistence. Until you can speak "cat" you will have to play Sherlock Holmes to find out what he is trying to tell you.
My female cat was spayed 1 year ago and is now just starting to spray in my house again. She is also lifting her buttocks up in the air when you talk to her and meowing all the time. We have two outside "barn" cats that come on our porch (one is male).
They do not mark anywhere, they just lay on our porch and then walk away. They have been here from the time I got my indoor cat. Why is my cat starting to spray again and what can I do to stop her?
