cat spraying and nothing will stop him

I have a 2 yr old male cat. He was neutered at 5 months. He began spraying after I had him fixed. I have tried everything to stop this behavior and nothing is working, I'm at my wits end. I have tried the following: Feliway- didn't work with him and I spent alot of $$ buying it, Tin foil- he didn't care, he walked right on it and went, Amitriptyline from the vets-slowed him down a little but still sprayed, changed location and litter type in the litter box etc. etc. etc. This cat will spray 5 times or more a day, sometimes right in front of me, I yell NO and he continues to spray. I really don't know where to go from here, I will not give him up, but this has got to stop. Please if someone has a suggestion I'd love to hear from you!!

I would really suggest a full work up on this cat at the vet's. Sometimes it is a serious health issue working that is not a UTI that causes a cat to spray.

Originally Posted by susanmly

I have a 2 yr old male cat. He was neutered at 5 months. He began spraying after I had him fixed. I have tried everything to stop this behavior and nothing is working, I'm at my wits end. I have tried the following: Feliway- didn't work with him and I spent alot of $$ buying it, Tin foil- he didn't care, he walked right on it and went, Amitriptyline from the vets-slowed him down a little but still sprayed, changed location and litter type in the litter box etc. etc. etc. This cat will spray 5 times or more

a day, sometimes right in front of me, I yell NO and he continues to spray. I really don't know where to go from here, I will not give him up, but this has got to stop. Please if someone has a suggestion I'd love to hear from you!!

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Throughly clean the place, and all known targets with a pet odor cleaner, like Natures Miracle.

Get him checked up at the vet for a Urinary Tract Infection.

Get a Feliway Diffuser and the Feliway Spray. Use the spray in places that he targets, AFTER cleaning them. And let the diffuser work it's magic.

If you have to confine him to a smaller area until his habit is curbed some, and let him progress back to a larger space.

Spotz

try cleaning with cheap cheap Vodka on his "spots". I had a friend with the same problem and the vodka cured it. (She put it in a spray bottle).

But also take him to the vet just to make sure he's okay.

Welcome to TheCatSite!

Please click here to read a lengthy thread about someone in your same situation. Her nerves were shot and the thread starts out with some real anger (in fact, part of it was accidently deleted in her effort to remove some of her angry remarks). Despite her distress and hopelessness, she finally had some good results in stopping the spraying.

I wish you success!

I'm going to try using a black light, maybe I'm not cleaning as good as I think I am. I really don't think this will solve the problem. I do have other cats but they've all been together since he was a kitten and they all seem to get along. He has been to the vets several times for this problem and has been given a clean bill of health. He was really bad yesterday, just in the time I was home he sprayed 3 times. I really don't know what to do!!!

Whatever you do, don't give up. Work with your vet to figure this out, and try the suggestions you find at this site.

My cat Fluff became a seriously aggravating inappropriate urinator. Anything on the floor he felt shouldn't be there, he peed on. On the plus side, this kept me from leaving clothes laying about the floor, but on the negative side if we didn't keep closets shut we'd find puddles in shoes, my brother rugby gear would be a whole new kind of stinky, and I went through 2 laundry bags.
This went on for a couple of years, and then he decided peeing on the floor beside his litter box was close enough. My mum was ready to get rid of him - but thank god he was MY cat, and while I couldn't bring him to me at the time, I could convince her to wait just a little bit.

Things we did: changed litter to clumping litter (we had been using Yesterday's News for it's dust freeness - but some cats will decide they don't like it.) Used Feliway on really important areas (ie around beds, christmas tree...it was expensive, even at cost, so used it sparingly) and stocked up on cat urine cleaning products to ensure we got the smell out when he "missed" the litter box. Finally, we put him on clomipramine during stressful times (eg. when I left to go back to school) as though times seemed to be the worst for him.

I finally got a house here in Guelph where I could bring him and Charlie down here, and did so this January. He was on clomipramine for about a week after the move, and there hasn't been a single instance of him urinating outside of the box, and I haven't given him the medication since.

best of luck, and hang in there!

.maggie

I purchased a black light, some natures miracle and a feliway diffusser on ebay. I'm anxious for them to arrive. I'm willing to try anything at this point.

Please let us know how it works.

Hi there!
This is the most frustrating problem faced by cat owners and one of the most common reasons for a cat to be surrendered to a shelter. There have already been some great suggestions. Good cleaning to get rid of smells, a full urinalysis to rule out a UTI and Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease, moving the litterbox etc... One thing I wanted to mention was that feline practitioners reccomend one litterbox per cat. How many cats do you have? If you have a multi-cat household you may want to get more litterboxes and spread them throughout the house. This is what worked for one of my cats when she started to pee on my couch. A $20 litterpan and she was happy again. Again when my roomate and I lived together we had 9 cats. There were no problems until the winter when the cats no longer wanted to go outside very much. The increased number of cats in the house resulted in a "pissing war" between three of them. After 3 trips to the vet and three urinalysis, a new, large, well placed litterbox did the trick. No More Peeing!!!
Cats are also very cleen and don't like to use a dirty or smelly box. I like a good quality clumping litter and I scoop every day. Adding baking soda Or Arm and Hammer litterbox freshener helps keep the smell down.

I have a bengal cat who has the same problem. He waited about 6 months after being fixed before he started again, but I hate the spraying. I have just ordered feliway and I am thinking of restricting their ( I have three cats) space while I am working. Is restricting their space while out a good idea, I heard it might be?

You also could put trousers on him. I know such special trousers exist, but I have never tried it or even seen it in use. But if you have to confine him to a cage or a separate room, it might be possible to let him out more often with trousers on.

How would the cat use the litter box?

I've heard of those pants, I believe they're called Stud Pants. I considered them but wasn't sure how they worked either. If all else fails it might come to that.