My nerves are shot, I dont want to kill my cat.(PLEASE READ!!)

Not once did you mention a vet call. Did you take your cat into the vet to be checked for urinary diseases?

I would do several things, I would introduce another litter pan for this cat. I would get a good enzyme cleaner AND a black light, and go looking for all the urine in the middle of the night. The black light will reflect the urine, and I would scrub every drop, otherwise, he will go every three days back to the exact spot and refresh the scent.

The plug in does work, but not overnight, it takes time. And when he does this, I wouldn't go off on him in anger, because that will make the behavior worse. Not saying you are, but there is some anger in your post, so if you are punishing him, don't because he is after all a cat. I would also take that black light outside and shine it on your outside walls to see if maybe a stray hasn't been visiting and stirring things up.

Yes there is anger in my post ( i just edited hit wrong button please read the rest )

I am not mean to my cat although i do yell "NO" at him if i see him spray.

I am angry and sad. I think its a severe behavioral problem since I see him exhibiting the spraying behavior so much even when he's not actually spraying. I just dont know what to do. I'll try the black light thing, dunno how much good it will do but I'll give it a shot.

yes Ive talked to the vet, but he has not seen the vet. I doubt its anything like a UTI since its been going on a couple years at least. The vet suggested Elavil, but he wont eat even his favorite food, Tuna, with this crushed in it. He also suggested a progesterone shot, but I dont see how this could help

Cleaning up urine is more work than you think. You will see what I mean the first time at midnight when you douse the lights and turn on the black light. You will see drops and spray everywhere. You need to neutralize these odors quickly by using a good neutralizer specifically made to clean up cat urine. If you go to Meowhoo.com and do a search for stain removers, you will find some pretty good products for that purpose. I use Nature's Miracle when my ferals let loose.

Even the faintest scent of urine that has dripped down into the baseboards or floorboards, or carpet will trigger a cat to spray. Has the vet actually seen this cat and ruled out LUTD and other diseases? Have you tried changing litter to see if that might be the problem?

Your cat is spraying for a reason and it is not to piss you off. He is either agitated, excited or stressed and sometimes a cat owner has to play detective to figure out what might be wrong. I would buy a bottle of Feliway and spray the areas he has marked after you have cleaned them up. Make sure the bottle is at room temperature and you shake it up well- spray once at each urine site- according to a leading cat behaviorist Pam Johnson-Bennett- you should spray twice a day for a month. Also spray around where the cat sleeps, where he eats, where he sits.

Actually, I would strongly suggest you invest in Pamela's book, she devotes several chapters to this problem, as this is the number one reason why many cats get dumped in shelters, kicked outside or killed. Her book is called Think Like a Cat.

Good luck, I know how frustrating this can be, honestly, I do!

thanks for you encouragement and insightful post.

I will try the blacklight tomorrow. I'm almost scared to turn it on and discover all the places he is spraying that I'm unaware of!!

I cant imagine what would be stressing him besides being bored and wanting to go outside on occasion(which cant happen where I live plus he's always been an inside cat)

I will clean everything thoroughly. i bought some of that nature's miracle spray last night at the pet store (10bux!!) damn stuff better work at that price hehe

The feliway spray i did religiously 2x/day for a month and it helped alot at first but the effect has worn off.

He has a clean litterbox in his own little private litter box room. Its a tile floor utility closet and he has it all to himself to use the litterbox. I cant imagine how this wouldnt be sufficient for his needs. Should I add another litterbox? He doesnt seem to have a problem peeing and pooping in the litterbox.. He leaves huge piles of clumped litter in it where he pees into it so I know he is using it for that and of course the turds are obvious. He never turds out of the box.

sigh...........i'll try not to be too depressed
thanks again for your responses!

Since these ladies have already added so much info for you. I just have one question, are you SURE there are not cats in the neighbor hood which visit? Your cat doesn't have to see them to know they are there. Having them around could defiently make him act this way.

I too use the Nature's Miracle for stain/odor removal. Asim used to have a bad behavorial problem and would only use the box about 40% of them time. It was very hard to keep up with, and you will need a lot of elbow grease to do this.

If the cat hasn't been to the vet for this, or for a follow up to say that nothing has worked, please set one up for the good of yourself and your home. You sound like you want to keep this cat, please don't give up. This cat does not deserved to be euthanized, I don't know what area you are in, but have you looked for rescue groups on Petfinder. I know many people who would rather drive 2+ hours to pick up an animal like this, then see it put down at a pound.

Yeah he's a super good cat besides the marking.

He is very, very effectionate and playful. You can actually flip him over and rub his stomach like a dog, scratch his chin, and play very rough with him and he loves it all. He loves to lay near you and loves to rub his face on you and lick "clean" your head. If he wasnt such a uniquely "human" cat, I wouldnt have kept him this long, I assure you.

There is a place here called "The House of Mews" that adopts cats and keeps them till they find a home but they are way overpopulated right now and arent accepting cats. The Humane Shelter is the same. The Pound is out of the question. They had an article in the paper how the city pound was cruelly euthanizing animals by injecting pure potassium into dogs and cats chests and letting them flop around for minutes before dying. They werent using and sedatives, just pure potassium. Jasper, and any other pet for that matter, deserves much more than that.

You can solve this easily enough without resorting to such drastic measures. When you first shine that black light, don't forget to check the ceiling! You think I am kidding? I am not!

I can make you feel much better though- LOL I rescue ferals and I have one that I cannot trap I have been trying for quite awhile. He will sneak in through the cat door in the middle of the night and spray my heat register! EWWWWWW! Nothing like cooked cat pee to gag you in the middle of the night! LOL Now do you feel somewhat better?

haha. yeah cooked cat pee.. mmmm ...

I have been reading through your posts. And i cant find if you mentioned if he is nutered or not. If not ,nutering would help alot.

In addition to the above suggestions you can try putting liquid St. John's Wort in his food. The liquid is in a base that is not unattractive to most cats. The SJW will have a calming effect though it will take a couple of weeks before changes will occur. You should be able to find the liquid SJW at WalMart or at your local health food store.

I agree that there may be outdoor cats you are not aware of. It is possible that you are tracking their scent in on your shoes!

Also, as Binky said...if your cat isn't neutered, having the surgery will be the biggest help!


Good luck! I know how very frustrating this can be!

My Sugarly has behavioural probs that are manifested in peeing and pooping in inappropriate behaviours. She is on kitty cat antidepressants and that usually works. When something stress her out we up the meds level (on advice of the vet) and isolate her until she learns to use her box again. She is in the middle of an "episode" and has been in the basement since Saturday. We are spending plenty of time with her there and she has a comfy set up. Talk to the vet about a drug called amityptolene (sp?) - it works for the most part if the issue is behavioural.

Good luck - I understand completely how stressful these situations can be!

My kitties used to pee in the dining room all the time. It's my fault though! When Peppurr was a baby, his litter box was in the dining room. He was so used to using it there that when I moved it he peed where his litter box was. When Peppurr was neutered, he stopped peeing in there completely. I was using a behaviour modification spray that smells like citrus. I scrubbed the floors, after shining a black light in there, and sprayed the stuff. None of them have peed in there since.

I have an uneutered male, I'm taking him to get neutered this payday, who used to spray constantly. If I brought anything new home, he got offended. Things like cat toys, new litter boxes etc. I often go visit a friend with three cats and they rub up against me. When I came home one night, Vader sprayed all over my new shoes ! I didn't yell at him because I knew that he was protecting his territory. Now when I come home from my friends house, I scrub my hands and change my clothes. He stopped spraying!

Moving to a new house can also make your cat act this way. He is marking his territory. Maybe the person that lived there before had a cat. If your kitty can smell ANY cats outside, or inside, he will spray!

Take your baby to the vet as soon as you can. He can give you advice to help stop the spraying. I have heard of pills that can take the smell out of your cats urine. Ask your vet!

Hope everything works out for you and your kitty!

The drug elavil, also called amitryptiline (sp?) can also come in a transdermal gel which you just rub on the inside of kittie's ear. I have a cat with behavioural issues on this who is hard to pill, and it works well. Ask your vet if meds can be made for you in the gel form.
Also, it sounds like you really do need to get a full physical done, possibly with a urinalysis or some bloodwork.

I just wanted to add my story to the amitryptiline (sp?) medication. Asim was on it for a while, he had it in the pill form (which was very hard, and even made matters worse having to pill him.)
At any rate, the medication didn't really work very well, and certaintly not as we had expected. For the most part he sat in dark rooms, kinda crouching down and foaming from the mouth most of the day, I don't think he realized where he was, or what was going on half of the time. Sometimes when he was a little more awake and he would try to walk he would sort of wobble.
We took him off the medication and decided to use no more for him, and that I personally would just deal with his behavorial issues and it has worked out pretty well.

If you do decide to try a medication, make sure you stay right on top of it, if your cat starts to act oddly, or look odd etc etc call your vet and discuss it with him, at the very least find out if it's normal.

Angel that is horrible how your kitty reacted to the drug. Sugie on the other hand behaves like a cat again playing and having fun. It makes her a lot less timid!

its amytriptyline(sp?) and its an fairly cheap anitdepressent. It actually can have a sedative effect even though most anitdepressents usually have a stimulant effect.

my cat would not touch it. i have 2months supply i cant use. its 5-10mg/day only cost about 20bucks for 2months.

yes my cat has been castrated. in my first post i state he was "fixed" at 6months old.

thanks for the replies

UPDATE:

well i used "natures best" or whatever its called to clean up all the spray places.. the black light helped to find some of it but I pretty much knew where it was. I also bought BOUNDARY repellent. I dont know how well this works for my situation but it seems to have a good effect. Jasper normally rubs up against everything, my couch, my expensive tower speakers etc. Now he avoids all the verticle surfaces i sprayed with it. I also have the comfort zone plugin going. I also found that his "spraying behavior" is massively accelerated when he's excited. He's always been an inside cat but I would let him out on the apartment balcony (2nd floor) so he could lay in the sun and looks at birds etc... The problem was he'd get really excited and try to get at stuff though he couldnt( he has thought many a time about jumping down let me tell you ) and then I'd see him come in and mimic spraying (and sometimes actually spray) So no more balcony for poor jasper, now I just let him look through the screen and thats it. He could see dogs in the distance but they are really far away (around 200 yards) so I dont know if this could have an effect.

I'll keep trying these interventions and keep ya'll posted. No evidence of spraying since yesterday, but sometimes he goes a few days without spraying so we'll see. thanks for all replies.

I do know what you are going through and it's tough . My cat that I rescued from the SPCA was going on my furniture. Basically , Sofa and my daughters bed . I took him back to the pond and re-adopted him cause my heart ached so much . But , I believe I can help you .

For one , have him checked again to make sure that he was properly neutered , it DOES happen , ya know ? A cat that age , unless he's a newly adopted kittie . Should not have those probs . BUT , if you are in a new Apt./Home , there may have been another cat inside that you don't know about .

In any case , I've tried all the products to keeps kitties off furniture , etc... The BEST thing that I've come up with so far , it to keep the kittie confined to a certain area , near the litter box . In the mean time place aluminum foil on all surfaces...THEY HATE THAT ! You can train your kittie this way . I know , It's a pain in the butt . But , depends on how much you want the baby . So far BENTLEY has not home on the furniture and is using the litter box !
Anymore questions , feel free to ask . I know I've slighted this message , but I don't want to take up too much space . Feel free to respond , I'LL HELP !

Good luck


Rebecca P.

P.S. Try rubbing Cayenne pepper in the areas that he sprays , surface wise . TRUST ME........They will NOT go near it again !

Vor-

You are a great Cat Detective! It was probably not just the birds getting him stirred up, but also the smells outside of other cats- that humans can't smell but cats sure can. Pheramones are playing in the air right now, and that too will get him stirred up. I am glad you found a workable solution.

When I moved into my new place(by myself), I kept him with a clean litterbox and a clean apartment. I thought surely he wouldnt continue with a clean litterbox, but he did. What I dont understand, is I see him doing the "spraying dance" CONSTANTLY!! I

What you have is a place thats been "owned" by other animals . Lady , ya got a tough deal to bear with there .

Might I suggest getting a water bottle and filling it with 1/4 Cayenne pepper and 3/4 water . Spray all areas where he "Pees" , weekly . In the mean time keep the foil on the furniture . I SWEAR , that foil works !
It's an inconvience , but , if you love that kittie , you'll do as I have to avoid having him put down . And have him rechecked by another Vet.
The Vet that neutered him might not have done a complete job . Like I said...It happens...

Rebecca P.

P.S. Just typing to help

thanks for all the responses.

I will take him back to the vet but I'm going to see how these new interventions pan out first. The Boundary repellent really seems to keep him away from the furniture and keeping him off the balcony seems to help as well. I havent seen him do the "spray dance" yet today but the night is still young and he's getting whiney (being whiney goes along with spraying behavior)

I like the idea of the cayenne since its a natural solution. What form of cayenne do you mix with the water?? whole peppers, powder or what?? I will use the foil if I HAVE to, but thats a last resort since I dont really want my place looking like a low budget 1950's sci fi movie