spraying

hi, i'm having a big problem with my two male cats spraying, i have 5 cats..
three boys all nutured(non pedegree) and two girls (himilayan persians)
two of my males are constanly fighting and they both spray all over in certain spots in my house, i spend half my life cleaning up behind them...i have been buying feliway but that is getting quite exspensive, does anyone have any other ideas on things i can do to stop this behavior? they are both 10 years old and i've had them both since they were kittens, they got along fine when they were young, but for years now they have not got along at all...
i'm at my wits end as to how to handle them..i treat all of them like children with fur, so i dont think its a jealousy thing.. any advise would be greatly appriciated...
jodi

Originally Posted by angelbaby518

hi, i'm having a big problem with my two male cats spraying, i have 5 cats..
three boys all nutured(non pedegree) and two girls (himilayan persians)
two of my males are constanly fighting and they both spray all over in certain spots in my house, i spend half my life cleaning up behind them...i have been buying feliway but that is getting quite exspensive, does anyone have any other ideas on things i can do to stop this behavior? they are both 10 years old and i've had them both since they were kittens, they got along fine when they were young, but for years now they have not got along at all...
i'm at my wits end as to how to handle them..i treat all of them like children with fur, so i dont think its a jealousy thing.. any advise would be greatly appriciated...
jodi

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Are your little girls fixed? I have 2 boys both fixed and I have never had a problem with spraying (fingers crossed) so I don't think I can be of much help. But I have been told that spraying is a territorial thing. I am sure you will find some kind of help from someone on this site. I am a new member and I have found this site to be great. Good Luck

Originally Posted by angelbaby518

hi, i'm having a big problem with my two male cats spraying, i have 5 cats..
three boys all nutured(non pedegree) and two girls (himilayan persians)
two of my males are constanly fighting and they both spray all over in certain spots in my house, i spend half my life cleaning up behind them...i have been buying feliway but that is getting quite exspensive, does anyone have any other ideas on things i can do to stop this behavior? they are both 10 years old and i've had them both since they were kittens, they got along fine when they were young, but for years now they have not got along at all...
i'm at my wits end as to how to handle them..i treat all of them like children with fur, so i dont think its a jealousy thing.. any advise would be greatly appriciated...
jodi

Click to expand...

Hey Jodi....Have they always sprayed or is this a new behavior? Have they been checked over by a vet? Do they have access outdoors? When were they neutered? I know those are a lot of questions....but in order to help....I think we need more information.

Katie

How to Stop Spraying

If the cat is spraying...he is marking his territory. Basically, he's saying this is my place, not yours!
This can be a difficult habit to break but it is absolutely possible to do so.

Try the following ideas. Hopefully they will help!

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. Since you haven't had luck with the Feliway -- and because your cats are fighting, you might find that the Comfort Zone diffusers are more effective.

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. (No one ever wants to do this because is looks so bad to have aluminum hanging all over their houses – but, once they give in and try the aluminum, they find it works wonders. Try it, youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll like it!)

3. If you see the cat getting into the spray position, yell "No!" and then (gently) 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.

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


Good luck!

That's good advice from lotsocats

I'd add something else too. How are you cleaning the area? Cleaning to spraying to human standards is not enough as a cat's sense of smell is far better than ours. DO not use a disinfectant as that smells exactly like old spraying to a cat & the cat will feel the need to replenish the smell.

If it's on soft furnishings, use a biological washing powder solution, then white spirit to remove the smell completely. (Try a small area first & remember that it is flammable.) If it's a hard surface, clean with a household cleaner (not disinfectant) then the white spirit. Be careful of white spirit on plastics & electrical items.

Once you've done that & have followed lotsocats advice & especially checked for external stress, you then have the habit to break. The silver foil & Feliway is good, also working out when the spraying happens & restricting access to that area during that time of day.

Be very very careful about the time-out area thing. Assuming that your cats understand that when you say "no" you mean "NO", a firm loud "no" if you see your cat positioning to spray should be enough. The cat should jump down/move away, in which case give the cat immediate praise for acceptable behaviour. A stroke & "good fluffy" is enough.

With multiple cats, the job is harder but it is possible.

Oh & get the cats checked for medical issues first - just in case.

Mr. Potato Head,

The term white spirits is not one I have heard before (us Americans must have a different name for these spirits). Can you clarify what this is?

Thanks!


Mr. Potato Head brings up an excellent point. You absolutely must remove the smell of the spray. If the cat can smell even the slightest bit of urine, he will return to the spot every few days or so to refresh his scent. So, removing any trace of scent is vital. When I had a territorial male who sprayed in my house I used Nok-Out enzymatic cleanser along. Using the Nok-Out along with the foil, Feliway, and behavior modification completely stopped this obnoxious behavior in my male cat.

Hi

White spirit is a colourless liquid distilled from petroleum. It's used as a paint thinner & solvent. It's sold in hardware stores (eg B&Q) in the UK.

There's a Wikpedia entry here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_spirit

To Angelbaby
If 2 of the males are fighting, you will also need to look at the cause of this. How, where & when do they fight? When did it start? How do you stop them fighting? You've had them since kittens, but are they from the same litter? Are all the cats from the same litter? As Raven asks, are the females spayed? Have you introduced another animal into the household? How many litter trays have you got?

You may have to look at reintroducing the 2 cats to each other, or possibly all 3 males. But first we need all the information you can give to be able to make a good judgement on the situation.

thanks for all the great advise, i will give everything suggested a try, something is bound to work...they have both been to the vet and checked for health reasons...both are healthy... they have just hated each other since they out grew kitten hood, they seem to go in streaks, i can go weeks without any fights or spraying then boom their both at it....thanks again everybody....

angelbaby,

One other way to stop this is to set up your household to keep them separated from one another. In other words, confine one or the other at various times during the day. Yes it's a pain, but as you say, you're spending half of your life cleaning up cat urine.

There's a couple other enzyme cleaners you can try - Dumb Cat or Simple Solution. I've had great results using both of these cleaners.

Keep trying the feliway. You can also put several drops of Bach's rescue remedy in their food and/or water to try to calm them down.

Take care,

Also be sure they don't share anything- not litter pans, not toys or food or water bowls. Even playtime with you should be done separate in another room, so they can have individual quality time with you without other cat distractions.

Spaying is territorial, brought on by the anxiety of having to share their space with other cats, to many sometimes. It is instinctual and not something that they should be punished about if you are indeed yelling at them to stop or doing other disciplinary measures, because this just adds to the anxiety.

Create spaces in your home where your cats can go that gets them away from each other. Be creative and share some of your space with them so this can be achieved.

Hi there....
You might want to invest in one of those black lights. Urine stains or smells that are not apparent to humans will show up under these lights...
Since you said that they can go for weeks without fighting or spraying SOMETHING must be triggering the behaviour... Since they are both male and of the same age what you are witnessing may be a power struggle for the position of top cat. Top cat is like the cat who runs the show... Some fortunate people get pairs where one is happy to submit.... Maybe you're a little unlucky and have to equally strong willed cats who are not prepared to back down.

some positive re-inforcement might also be useful. try feeding them near each other at the same time but keeping them more or less separate other wise...

I've read in some other forums of people having to re-introduce cats that have known each other for years all over again. Hope it doesn;t come to that for you guys.