Help! Our cat has started spraying!

Hey all,

My 8 year old cat has started spraying recently. When it first happened in the fall, we took her to the vet thinking it could be a UTI, but as it turns out its behavioral. Since then, she has done it sporadically - sometimes once a week and sometimes once a month. Lately however she has been doing it more and more. Its always been in the basement near her litter box, but recently she has started doing it in other places. We have cleaned up every time and are diligent about scooping her box. We even bought those pheromone plug-ins thinking they would help, then she sprayed right next to it! We are at a loss. She has always been so well behaved and there have been NO changes to our lives in over a year (spring 2013 we bought a house). She is an only child, we have no other animals or children. I've read that her doing this can be stress related, but Im not sure what is causing her stress?! Does anyone have any good methods to deter them? We put tin-foil down and that seemed to help for a while, then she just found another spot to go in. Im worried Im going to have to tin-foil my whole house! Any advice!?!? Thanks!

Are there any strays or ferals, particularly ones that haven't been fixed, hanging around that weren't there before?

Is she spayed?  If not, do that asap.  Also, it could be stress induced, so a Feliway diffuser might help.

Denice - there are no stray cats that hang around our house. She is indoors, so she doesnt ever come into contact with other cats.

Stephanietx - she is spayed. We have one Feliway plugged in where she started spraying, and I got home today and she had sprayed RIGHT next to it. We bought another one and plugged it in upstairs, hoping two may be better than one. We'll see. Thanks for the response!

She needs to be seen by a vet to rule out any medical issues.  Then, look to environmental issues.  Has it been stressful in your home recently?  Have you had a change in routine, people coming in/out of your home, schedule change, or are you stressed about something?  Cats pick up on those things.  Something else to try is to check out Spirit Essences from Jackson Galaxy.