Introducing Male Stray to resident cats.

About a week ago our two cats were acting funny by our front door. My girlfriend called to me and said the cats our being strange so I told her to open the door and I bet there's a cat outside. Sure enough there he was. We had been feeding him for about a week when we decided to adopt him.

About two days ago we took him to a local shelter and had him neutered, rabies vaccine, FIV vaccine, distemper, and flea treatment. We currently have him set up in a spare bedroom with all the essentials: food, water,litter box, scratch post, window to look outside and there is also a feliway diffuser plugged in his room. When he is in his "saferoom" he is so well behaved and uses the litter box without problem. We started putting our other two cats in their room and allowing our new cat, Dexter, to get familiar with the house. The only problem is he walks around the house and pees in boxes and on rugs. I'm guessing to mark his territory, or perhaps from stress. The shelter estimated his age at around two years old which I know is not ideal for a cat to be neutered after he has reached maturity because spraying and urine marking maybe ingrained in his behavior by now.

I expected there to be some adjustment period for everyone involved but I'm not sure how to get him used to the house and our other two cats without him peeing on everything he comes across. He also licks his testicles (What's left of them) a good amount of the time. Could he have a UTI? I'm not exactly how to proceed from here. He seems content hanging in his room and is happy there. I was thinking about possibly moving the feliway diffuser to the parts of the house he has peed and perhaps adding a few more. I just feel bad keeping him confined to one room all day. We both stop in and sit with him and pet him when we can and he really enjoys it. Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

It takes awhile for the testosterone to get out of their systems after neutering, so right now he's stil a full male and just doing what full males do.  His pee probably still smells pretty skunky also.  If you could confine him to one room all his own for a week or two, that should help a lot.  Our vets recommend that anyhow, just to keep them from over-exercising, so a large bathroom would be ideal - easy to clean, and keeps him quiet and confined.

As said it takes time for all the hormones to leave the cat's system, about a month, but some people are saying a couple months. Either way though he is still driven by the hormones and so will have the desire to mark for a bit.

Also, if it's only been 2 days since he was neutered then he isn't going to be fully healed. You want to discourage him from licking the area until the incisions are all healed up or he will likely get an infection. You may need to get him a cone if you can't get him to stop licking on your own. It's advised to keep them confined for about a week after neutering anyway, so just give him more time to adjust and let the hormone level start to drop.

red top rescue thank you for the response. He is currently in his own room. I will try again in a week to see how he reacts to being introduced to the rest of the house and if he continues to mark his territory by peeing. If he continues to pee I'll return him back to his safe room.

amethyst he does lick the area sometimes but it doesn't seem to be excessive usually after eating and while grooming the rest of himself but I will continue to monitor. Thank you for your response we as well it seems that more time is about all we can do at this point.

I do have one thing is like to mention as well. My in-laws are coming to visit in about two weeks and Dexter is currently set up in our guest bedroom. I'd hate to take him out of his safe room if he's not ready to adjust by then. We could offer them our bedroom and allow Dexter to keep his safe room, which would put us in the couch. Or we could move him to a bathroom for the duration of there stay, which is only about a week. I am going to see how he reacts again in a week. Thanks for both your responses.

Thought I should post an update on our situation. It's been two weeks now since we took Dexter in and he's doing great. He looks much healthier and and is starting to adjust to life indoors. His relationship with our two resident cats is still a work in progress. He's still in his own room but we are conducting supervised visits. My only worry is he still occasionally urine marks. He doesn't spray but just pees a little. I know he's still adjusting and working through the hormones but at one point do I stop blaming the peeing on the hormones and accept it as a behavioral problem?