Inappropriate Peeing Problems Answered

mjoseph50

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I am having an ongoing problem with my family cat. He constantly marks his territory in the house and we have tried everything we can think of to put an end to it. We really love this cat, and wish he wouldn't do this, we don't want to get rid of him, but can't live with him behaving this way, we have noticed he seems to do this at random and can't see a real pattern in the behavior, one night in particular he even sprayed the back of my leg, while i was busy in the kitchen, has anyone ever experienced this problem , or know a reason to why he does this, and ultimtely how to stop it. Any input/advise/help is appreciated. like we said we want to keep our family cat
 

hissy

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Hi mrjoseph,

I took your question out of the old thread you stuck it in, so others would see it quicker. How old is your cat and is he neutered? Spraying is a typical reaction of a tomcat, or a symptomatic problem of a cat who is having UTI. It is also a way they have of marking their territory when new cats are a threat.
 

hissy

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It was double posted sicy, and I removed one and then split it off the original thread so it wouldn't get buried. The thread it was in, has been in Behavior for a very long time. I did not see your response to it. Perhaps you were responding as I was moving it?
 

lotsocats

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If the cat is spraying...he is marking his territory. Basically, he's saying this is my place, not yours! When he sprayed you, he was claiming you as his own!

This can be a difficult habit to break but it is absolutely possible to do so.

This is what I did to stop spraying in the neutered adult male I rescued.

1. Use Feliway to help him not want to spray. Feliway mimics the friendly marking that cats do when they rub their faces on things. When a cat smells a friendly scent, they are unlikely to mark with urine. The Feliway box will give detailed instructions on how to use it....follow the instructions carefully. The Feliway plug-in (Comfort Zone) works wonders with helping to curb spraying.

2. Hang aluminum foil on the places the cat likes to spray. Cats usually will not spray on foil because it makes an unpleasant sound when hit with the urine and it makes the urine splash back on the cat. Each day that the cat does not spray, tear about an inch off the bottom of the foil until the foil is completely gone. Don't remove the whole strip all at once because the cat may interpret this as you saying it is okay to spray here again.

3. If you see the cat getting into the spray position, yell "No!" and then grab him and put him in time-out (in the bathroom for example) for only 2-3 minutes. Do the same if you caught him in the act.

4. Check to see if there are stray cats hanging out outside your house. A cat will often spray in response to strange cats around the house. Make sure you don't walk through outside cat spray and track that smell into the house. This was what was happening in my house. I put a Comfort Zone plug-in at the back door where the outside cats were hanging out and made sure I avoided anything that might bring in their smells. This made a huge difference in controlling Chester's spraying.

5. Be patient and persistent. Breaking the spraying habit can take a while, but it should work.


Good luck!
 

hissy

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Oops good catch Sicy- I thought you were talking about the other thread. The one you just referenced is gone now, as this one has more information with it.
 
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