Hi all! This is my first post here, and like many others, I've become exasperated with the behaviour of one of my cats, who sprays incessantly. I've followed all of the recommendations in the stickied thread but none of them have worked. Here are some details.
I have two cats, a male and a female, that get along just fine. Two years ago I moved in with my girlfriend, who also has two cats. These are also a male and a female, although they tend to fight. The problem we have is with her male cat, a Persian named Ash. When we first moved in together, he sprayed everywhere, constantly. On the floor, in corners, on the wall, on the bookcases (ruining some of our books, DVDs and video games), on furniture, pretty much everywhere. He would often do it right in front of us, too! They were not accidents.
We got him checked out at the vet, but other than some crystals in his bladder, which we treated with medications, everything was OK. When we got some new furniture, we bought some Feliway plug-in dispensers and put them over the house, and kept them up for a few months. At this point he stopped for about a year, but started up again after that. We tried plugging in the Feliway again, but it didn't affect anything this time. We took him to the vet again, and they put him on a small dosage of Buspar. We kept that up for a month and that had no effect. The vet told us that the next (and only) step would be to take him to a behaviorist. We made an appointment, but the cost is astronomical - $400 for a single visit ($500 if they make a house call)! We can't afford that, especially if it doesn't work! This is compounded by the fact that we just moved to a new apartment and are still unpacking, and he's started spraying a lot more than usual, as we expected.
We have three litter boxes in different parts of our apartment. We also have a gigantic attic where each of the cats can have their own space. But the pheremones didn't work, the medication didn't work, the clean-up spray that's supposed to make sure they don't re-soil doesn't work. We can't urine-proof specific areas because he targets everything!
There are numerous other issues which seem intertwined. This cat, for example, is always harassing the other three cats. In particular, he likes to chase down the females and start licking their butts. One of them will take a swipe at him, the other just runs away. He usually just chases them or runs away but he does this constantly. He occasionally tries to start up fights with the other male cat, although those don't amount to anything. He seems very awkwardly socialized and does not get along with any of them. My girlfriend attributes this to him hanging around dogs all of them when he was growing up. He was spayed but he doesn't seem to act like it.
He is also completely obsessed with my girlfriend. He follows her literally everywhere, and he is always crying for her attention. We close the doors at night and he will often start crying outside the door, to the point where we had to lock him up in another room at night to get some sleep. His tail is always shivering and he always seems extremely tense. He is generally friendly but also very overbearing, especially compared to the other cats, who are much more independent.
So, like many others, we are being driven up the walls, and the price for a professional as suggested is just not affordable, especially if it takes multiple visits. Does anyone else have any more suggestions? The last last resort would be to give him away, but my girlfriend loves him a like a child, in spite of all of this, and I have a weakness for the little bugger too. Any help would be much appreciated.
I have two cats, a male and a female, that get along just fine. Two years ago I moved in with my girlfriend, who also has two cats. These are also a male and a female, although they tend to fight. The problem we have is with her male cat, a Persian named Ash. When we first moved in together, he sprayed everywhere, constantly. On the floor, in corners, on the wall, on the bookcases (ruining some of our books, DVDs and video games), on furniture, pretty much everywhere. He would often do it right in front of us, too! They were not accidents.
We got him checked out at the vet, but other than some crystals in his bladder, which we treated with medications, everything was OK. When we got some new furniture, we bought some Feliway plug-in dispensers and put them over the house, and kept them up for a few months. At this point he stopped for about a year, but started up again after that. We tried plugging in the Feliway again, but it didn't affect anything this time. We took him to the vet again, and they put him on a small dosage of Buspar. We kept that up for a month and that had no effect. The vet told us that the next (and only) step would be to take him to a behaviorist. We made an appointment, but the cost is astronomical - $400 for a single visit ($500 if they make a house call)! We can't afford that, especially if it doesn't work! This is compounded by the fact that we just moved to a new apartment and are still unpacking, and he's started spraying a lot more than usual, as we expected.
We have three litter boxes in different parts of our apartment. We also have a gigantic attic where each of the cats can have their own space. But the pheremones didn't work, the medication didn't work, the clean-up spray that's supposed to make sure they don't re-soil doesn't work. We can't urine-proof specific areas because he targets everything!
There are numerous other issues which seem intertwined. This cat, for example, is always harassing the other three cats. In particular, he likes to chase down the females and start licking their butts. One of them will take a swipe at him, the other just runs away. He usually just chases them or runs away but he does this constantly. He occasionally tries to start up fights with the other male cat, although those don't amount to anything. He seems very awkwardly socialized and does not get along with any of them. My girlfriend attributes this to him hanging around dogs all of them when he was growing up. He was spayed but he doesn't seem to act like it.
He is also completely obsessed with my girlfriend. He follows her literally everywhere, and he is always crying for her attention. We close the doors at night and he will often start crying outside the door, to the point where we had to lock him up in another room at night to get some sleep. His tail is always shivering and he always seems extremely tense. He is generally friendly but also very overbearing, especially compared to the other cats, who are much more independent.
So, like many others, we are being driven up the walls, and the price for a professional as suggested is just not affordable, especially if it takes multiple visits. Does anyone else have any more suggestions? The last last resort would be to give him away, but my girlfriend loves him a like a child, in spite of all of this, and I have a weakness for the little bugger too. Any help would be much appreciated.
contest "through" a window, and a breeder who'd accidently discovered it worked suggested putting basil plants where they were spraying. We planted some outside the window and put pots of basil inside on the windowsill, and both cats stopped. We're now using it in strategic spots to prevent neighborhood cats from spraying in the yard.
