Kitten urinating issue

We have a somewhat new 12 week old kitten, Figgy, in the house. We also have a 14 year old house cat, Checkers. Both females.  Figgy has been confined to a bedroom that we set up for her. She was feral when we found her, approximately 6 weeks old. Figgy has made excellent progress toward becoming a pet, so we have started letting her come out so that she may meet Checkers. Checkers is an older cat who wants nothing more in life than peace and everything to herself. Things have been going as you might expect. Checkers hisses, but not with bad intent. 

Now the problem.

Figgy has begun urinating on places where Checkers hangs out. Now we have to keep such a close eye on her that it has reduced the time she can spend socializing. I don't like keeping her in a room. She needs to develop.

I've talked to my pet sitter friend who is knowledgeable about cats, and I spoke with the vet yesterday. They both seem to think having her spayed will help stop this behavior. We made an appointment to have her spayed in a couple weeks. 

Now the question. 

Are there any other ideas ? What is the risk ? A big part of me doesn't like running straight to surgery, especially at that age. She'll be 14 weeks at the time. 

Any ideas are appreciated. 

Like your petsitter said. Get her spayed asap. You could also trygetting the Comfort Zone towelettes to rub on Figgy. It may calm her. Also, the Comfort Zone spray and plug ins may help. I did have a similar problem with the same type of situation and it turned out that Raven was overwhelmed with the amount of space once being let out of a bedroom. I started with keeping doors to bedrooms, bathrooms and basement closed so she had less space. She just had family room, living room, kitchen, and dining room. It took about a year before she could handle the entire house. She is a nervous little kitty, so we did add Fluoxetine to her food (kitty prozac) and this has helped her a lot. Hope the spaying helps, but it may take a while for the hormones to leave her system, so don't expect overnight change. Best of luck!

pgalore said:

 
Like your petsitter said. Get her spayed asap. You could also trygetting the Comfort Zone towelettes to rub on Figgy. It may calm her. Also, the Comfort Zone spray and plug ins may help. I did have a similar problem with the same type of situation and it turned out that Raven was overwhelmed with the amount of space once being let out of a bedroom. I started with keeping doors to bedrooms, bathrooms and basement closed so she had less space. She just had family room, living room, kitchen, and dining room. It took about a year before she could handle the entire house. She is a nervous little kitty, so we did add Fluoxetine to her food (kitty prozac) and this has helped her a lot. Hope the spaying helps, but it may take a while for the hormones to leave her system, so don't expect overnight change. Best of luck!

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Two of my cats were spayed/neutered at 10 weeks old by the shelter we got them from.  Having the hormones in her system will make getting both cats together more complicated.  Many vets say it is actually better to do it earlier since recovery time is less and they heal a lot better. 

If cats have a chance to go through their first heat before spaying they become more likely to have health problems later in life, like cancer.  Not to mention the problem that a cat in heat is a cat who will soon be a mother.  I believe you should definitely have Figgy spayed as soon as the vet is comfortable doing it.

Margret

Thank you for your replies. I'm feeling reassured that it is well to go ahead and have her spayed. 

Well, Little Figgy was spayed last Friday. She had quit the urinating after the first few times. Hasn't done it for a couple weeks. Last night she did it again.

   

She did it again today. 

At 12 weeks, I doubt spaying is the issue.  Chances are, she is just a tiny baby and her bladder is small and when a baby has to go, she has to go NOW.  I would first thoroughly clean the peed on areas with Nature's Miracle for Cat Urine.  I mean really saturate these areas then wash everything that is washable.  Secondly, I would add additional litter boxes to the house.  Maybe 3-4 extra ones depending on the size of the house.  A 2K sf house should probably have 3 while a 5K sf house should have 6 or so.  Tiny babies sometimes need help with extra places to go potty.  A dishpan from Dollar Tree makes an excellent temporary extra litter box and can be tossed with baby gets bigger.  

Figgy should certainly be spayed but I don't think it's as necessary right now as cleaning and adding extra litter boxes but certainly schedule it before she is 6 months old.

Catmom Marcia said:

 
At 12 weeks, I doubt spaying is the issue.  Chances are, she is just a tiny baby and her bladder is small and when a baby has to go, she has to go NOW.  I would first thoroughly clean the peed on areas with Nature's Miracle for Cat Urine.  I mean really saturate these areas then wash everything that is washable.  Secondly, I would add additional litter boxes to the house.  Maybe 3-4 extra ones depending on the size of the house.  A 2K sf house should probably have 3 while a 5K sf house should have 6 or so.  Tiny babies sometimes need help with extra places to go potty.  A dishpan from Dollar Tree makes an excellent temporary extra litter box and can be tossed with baby gets bigger.  

Figgy should certainly be spayed but I don't think it's as necessary right now as cleaning and adding extra litter boxes but certainly schedule it before she is 6 months old.

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 @Catmom Marcia she's been spayed.  Good advice, though.

@KittyPa I'm just wondering about the possibility of a UTI.  Did the vet check her out for one?

Mani said:

 
@KittyPa I'm just wondering about the possibility of a UTI.  Did the vet check her out for one?

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They check for fever, which is a sign of infection, but beyond that I don't think so. 

my experience with female cats is you have to keep their litter VERY VERY clean or they won't use it all the time.
also, maybe get an extra cat box. some times cats prefer one box per cat. or more.
good luck.

Totally. Our 2 females have 3 boxes. Two upstairs & one in the basement which they use to poop.