Stray cat and peeing in our house

We have a cat we 'adopted' from outside that keeps peeing all over the house. I don't think it's the usual reasons I've been seeing all over the net, that he doesn't understand where his box is. He keeps doing it in the same areas but these areas seem more like he still trying to 'mark' his territory. He's been neutered for as long as we have known him (we were feeding him and had a 'cat house' setup for him outside previously). he peed all over those things and on our porch too while he was outside.

We try to keep him in the basement but it's really starting to reek down there. I'm personally just tired of dealing with this all together but my girlfriend won't allow us to get rid of him, and I don't mean kill, I just think he needs to go back outside or something.

Short of that is there anything we CAN do to change his behavior? When he's not peeing he's actually a really nice cat.

We have other cats in the house (5 other cats) and with our work schedules we are both out of this place for 8-10 hours about 5 days a week, so we can't really catch him in the act most times. When we do he's reprimanded and sprayed with water but it doesn't seem to stop him.

Lastly, the only reason he is in the house is that when we took him to the vet to make sure he was neutered they said he tested positive for FIV, but he's looked totally healthy and the other stray we brought in (that he fought with) tested negative, so I'm thinking that he showed a false positive.

The best way to calm him down is restrict the territory he feels responsible for. Right now it's too vast and he's trying to claim all of it.

Is there a room downstairs where he can chill out? He can be reset, but it takes time and patience. And it sounds like he's people oriented, that's a huge task already done for you.

I've used the big dog kennels in cases like this; they have room for a litter box and food and a sleeping spot, and that's about as much as they can handle. It also makes them feel secure; it's all theirs, and they don't need to defend everything in sight.

It's not forever; it's just to let him get a handle on the situation, and you too. Isolating him in some way will let you clean up the place with enzyme cleaner and take away the scent triggers that will keep him at it.

It's also possible that having so many other cats is a big stressor for him. Has he made any friends? If not, he might have trouble with that, as well.

Well, you might try something like Cat Attract in the litterbox. (It is meant to attract your cat to the litterbox when he/she isn't using the box.) Your next problem is that the kitty smells his pee all over the house. I would purchase a black light and use it all over the house. (You need to find all of the areas he peed on.) Once you find all the spots, use a special enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle or Nok Out. This will truly remove the smell. I would also think about enclosing him in a small room for awhile with food water toys and a litterbox. Finally, you might try to get a urine sample and get it to the vet to ensure he doesn't have a UTI. I hope this helps - good luck!

I really don't know, at this point he might just be a sprayer. Have you tried Feliway? Have you talked to your vet about other options? You are going to have to try to really clean the areas that the cat is spraying on.

Remember that FIV not nearly as hard to spread as FeLV. I would have him tested again to be sure. Hopefully he did test falsly, but he can still live with FIV- cats if he didn't. I know many many cats with FIV who live with those without it. Its FeLV thats the easy to spread one.