Female cat spraying everywhere! Help!

Hi, I'm new here and am desperate for help. My female cat Binky, is spraying everywhere. Here's some history:

We brought Binky home when she was 8 weeks old, she is now seven years. She was spayed at 6 months. We have always had a multi cat household. Last December, we adopted two 4 year old brothers from a shelter, both were neutered at 6 months.

Binky did not like the new boys at all. She fought with them every chance she got. At some point, Binky started spraying in the house. We determined it was her by setting up the video camera at night in the areas where we found marking. We also caught one of the new boys spraying. Last month, after a particularly vicious battle that sent Binky to the vet, I found a new home for the two boys. While Bink was at the vet's, I had her check for medical problems that may be causing the spraying. She did have blood in her urine, but no crystals. Complete blood workup came back normal. X-rays showed no stones. The vet is thinking that the stress is causing the blood in the urine and advised me to wait 2 to 3 weeks after the boys left to see if she calmed down.

It's been 3 weeks and it seems the spraying has gotten worse. Since there has been so much marking, we set the camera up again last night and to make sure it was just Binky. We were shocked to watch her spray the same wall 4 times between 1 AM and 4 AM.

We are thinking that we will have to confine her to the "cat room", but I really hate to do that to her. Does anyone have any suggestions for us. BTW, I have been cleaning the marked areas with Simple Solution and have tried Feliway in the areas that she marked, but it seemed that she started in new areas after I used the Feliway.

Thanks for any help!
Kat

From what you describe, it has got to be stress. Wow is she mad. With the Feliway you MUST follow directions exact and it can take as long as a month or more. A few things you can try are taping wax paper or aluminum foil in those areas. You can provide a wood post to scrath in those areas to try and releive the stress in other ways. Sometimes they will go ahead and leave their scent that way.
You may want to put her in a room by herself just for a week or so. Let her cool her jets. While she is in there, maybe do a good overall neutralizing on the house. You may even want to try another product besides the natures miracle.I have started using NOKOUT and it seems to do the trick even with whole male urine. She may still be able to detect the smell. You can also give her catnip to see if it gets some pent up frustration out.

Sandie,

We are still trying to rule out anything medical. I am taking her for an ultrasound of her bladder on Tuesday. I have had her confined to the "cat room" since Saturday evening. I hated to do it to her, but I think it's the best thing. We are going to try to find a cheap screen door this weekend so that everyone can see her and not forget her.

With the Feliway, am I supposed to spray it every day on every single marked area? Believe me, I would be going thru a bottle every couple of days. When I first started using it, I would spray it every day on all the spots. It seemed to help at first, or so I thought. Then I realized that she was just marking different spots all over the house.

My friend reminded me the other day that I had recently remarked that I was so lucky, I have never had a problem with any of my cats peeing out of the litter box. I just had to open my big mouth....sigh.

Thanks for your help.
Kat

It sounds like you are doing the right things so far. The screen is an awsome thing. We decided to do this in our house as well. Of course it is in the nursery(my queen). Once the medical results are back, let us know. Maybe we can toss around some more ideas if it is 100% behavioral.

Well, Binky and I had our little adventure today. They did the ultrasound of her abdomen. The results: no stones or masses in her bladder. They did find some damaged areas in both her kidneys. The vet seems to think that she has had blood clots in the kidneys and small areas have died due to lack of blood. One area appeared to have happened very recently and she believes this could account for the recent blood in the urine. Binky does have a heart murmur and the cardiologist thinks that it's possible that the heart is throwing clots and they ended up in the kidneys. The fact that only the kidneys have been damaged is very unusual. Most of the time, the clots go to the legs and cause paralysis.

The vet doesn't think that this problem is causing her to go outside the litter box. She believes that this is a definite behavior problem. She recommended that we shampoo ALL the carpets in the house to get rid of the smell of the boys, not just the areas that have been marked.

They also recommend an echocardiogram within the next two months to check the damage to her heart. This is getting really expensive.

Kat

WOW, I hope she is going to be okay. It is very possible she is spraying because she is in some kind of discomfort. Sometimes they lash out when something is wrong or they aren't feeling well.

Sandie,

You are so right, she may be feeling some discomfort. My regular vet is closed on Wednesdays, so I couldn't talk to her today about the results from yesterday. I will speak with her tomorrow and ask her if poor l'il Bink is in any pain. I feel so bad for her, I try to spend as much time as possible with her in her room, but it never feels like enough, you know?

I feel like my cats and I are cursed. In the 14 years I have been owned by cats, I've had three die....very young. The first was 5 and her kidneys failed. The second was 5 and died from FIP and the third was only 3 when FIP took her from me. My 14 year old has diabetes. Now Binky with this heart/kidney problem. Oh, and the vet detected a heart murmur in our 5 month old kitten. She's hoping that she will grow out of it. It's very frustrating, especially when I hear people talking that they never take their cats to the vet and they live to be 20 years old.

I like to think that these cats with special needs find me because someone, somewhere knows that I will provide whatever is necessary to keep them safe, healthy and free from pain.

Kat
(rest in peace my sweet little Ebby)

Dear Kat,

What a special soul you must be to have had so much to give to such needy little kitties!! It is obvious to me that these cats knew just who to look for when they were choosing their humans, and I am certain they have all had much better lives because of your compassion.

Blessings,

Gaye

You know, that may be true! You are a great role model for cat owners. I just hope that she's going to be okay.

Thanks Gaye and Sandie. I try to be the best mom. However, they are really trying my patience.

Binky is still confined to the cat room. Last night we discovered that someone else is peeing in the house!
Hubby and I are planning on running away from home so we don't have to deal with this anymore.

This is all so frustrating. I can't get the smell out of the carpets and as soon as I get one floor scrubbed down, it gets marked again. At this point, the carpets have been so saturated, I think the only way to get rid of the smell is to replace the carpets, but I can't replace them until I get the cats to stop peeing everywhere.

I have set the video camera up again to see if I can catch whoever in the act.

I am taking Binky in for the echocardiogram on 7/13/01. I'll keep you posted.

Kat

I have read that if you put food dye in the cat's food it will turn the urine a different color. So, to see which cat is peeing on the rug, you put dye in only one cat's food. That way you can tell who is breaking the rules according to the color of the urine.

Just be sure that the food dye won't stain the rug!