Do neutered male cats spray?

I wondered if neutered cats ever spray? If a male cat has never sprayed in his life, even prior to neutering...what would be the chances that he would begin to spray at age 2 years old?

First of all, my cat is NOT doing this. I ask because I wonder if adding another cat to our home would cause him to start? I always hear so many people having problems with inappropriate urination, spraying when they have too many cats in their home. Would this be a likely response? Or...would it be rare?

What about inappropriate elimination from a female spayed cat? Would this be likely with the introduction of a new cat?

I have two cats (male and female both s/n) What is best? Introduction of kitten...male or female? Would introduction of an adult work? And again...male or female? What are the best choices?

Again, I am simply doing my research here. I have no plans currently of adopting/buying another cat. I just like to carefully examine all of my options and be prepared if the day ever comes that I got another cat.

Cindy W.

I dont know about that - I have heard that they dont spray if they are neutered at a young age. However, my mum's cat was neutered at a late age and he still sprayed. So I guess it varies.

Yes a neutered male can and will spray. He will do this if he has a urinary tract infection or if he was neutered after he started spraying. It is a natural way for a cat to mark his territory and warn others away. If a strange cat comes into his yard/home and sprays, the neutered male will go near the spot where the other spray is and leave his scent as well, marking out his boundaries, he will then go around and spray at least 3 times. A female will usually defecate to mark boundaries, leaving it uncovered if she feels threatened. That is why some cats will drag their waste out of a litter box and leave them on the floor when you introduce another cat into your home to quickly. But a spayed female will also spray if she is ill or she feels threatened.

Hi Hissy,
You said that if a male cat had sprayed prior to being neutered, that he again might spray. What if he had never done that prior to being neutered? Does that make a difference? Cindy

It is a natural behavior in cats. If the male has the pattern down and has sprayed before he was neutered, he could still spray after the surgery. If he has never done it, and was neutered and he is sick, or stressed or warning another cat off, he will spray as it is his tendency to do.

I dont know because my cats dont spray but my friends do

We have one neutered male and he has never sprayed. I guess it varies from cat to cat.

Snowball is an 11 year old neutered male who has never sprayed.

My neutered male cat Rocket is almost two years old and he never sprayed EVER until a month ago. There were definitely circumstances (which I could have controlled better) that led to this behavior. I consulted my behaviorist and she told me he was basically using the spraying to get my attention...the way a two year-old child would throw a fit. She told me to handle it the same way...put Rocket in time out if he threatened or actually did spray. This way he would understand the behavior was not going to get him what he wanted. It's been working pretty well. I haven't had any problems lately.

I think the key is knowing your cat and what will set him/her off. I had been fostering some kittens and poor Rocket had just reached his limit on the amount of chaos he could take. The last straw was a tiny kitten who was just a ball of energy. We're talking Tasmanian Devil here! Very cute but wow could she move! Rocket likes to be left alone and it was too much. The other cats were fine with her.

Each cat is different! But all cats will misbehave if driven to it, or allowed to get away with it!

If you do decide to get another cat, have a local cats-pert meet your cat and help you 'profile' his personality. (Those closest are blinded by love! ha!) This will help you select a cat who will be a good match. And I would certainly recommend you adopt an older kitten or young adult cat. It is very hard to determine the personality of a very young kitten b/c they all seem to race around the same way and who is to say how they turn out once they are older. At three to four months their individuality starts to emerge and you can make a better decision.

Good luck!

My first cat was neutered late and life and continued to spray afterwards. My next cat was neutered at 6 months and would just shake his tail, sort of going throught the motions but not spraying (he was healthy, didn't have an infection). He did it mostly at times where he was happy. Like when we came home, or when we were preparing his food.

Hi,

How do you figure out what is causing the spraying?  Example:  Marking Territory, Attention, etc....

Cindy W. said:

I wondered if neutered cats ever spray? If a male cat has never sprayed in his life, even prior to neutering...what would be the chances that he would begin to spray at age 2 years old?

First of all, my cat is NOT doing this. I ask because I wonder if adding another cat to our home would cause him to start? I always hear so many people having problems with inappropriate urination, spraying when they have too many cats in their home. Would this be a likely response? Or...would it be rare?

What about inappropriate elimination from a female spayed cat? Would this be likely with the introduction of a new cat?

I have two cats (male and female both s/n) What is best? Introduction of kitten...male or female? Would introduction of an adult work? And again...male or female? What are the best choices?

Again, I am simply doing my research here. I have no plans currently of adopting/buying another cat. I just like to carefully examine all of my options and be prepared if the day ever comes that I got another cat.

Cindy W.

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The short answer is yes, neutered male cats do sometimes spray.  One of my previous cats was neutered when he was about 8 months and I think he sometimes sprayed because he was a nervous little soul, so in his case I am sure it was a behaviour problem.  I noticed that when I lived in flats and he could perhaps hear people coming in and out this bothered him but when I moved to a property that was detached and you could not hear neighbours coming and going he did not spray.  I think in the flats he may have felt threatened and wanted to "mark his territory".