This is a new problem for me, so I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to make it stop. I have a cat who has recently started spraying the walls of my house. He's not peeing, he's spraying. I've had litter box issues before and this isn't a litter box issue. He's using the box just fine. The spraying is just small squirts of pee onto the walls like he's marking his territory.
He's neutered, but his former owner had him neutered after he had reached sexual maturity, so I'm assuming thats part of the problem. He's sprayed before in the 2 years that I've had him but its been at very random times, and it didn't happen daily.
We recently moved into a new house, but he was fine in the house until last week. We lived in a hotel for 2 month prior to moving into the house and he was also fine - no spraying.
Then I trapped a feral cat. I'm working on socializing the feral because he's not truly feral, but I haven't taken him inside my house yet because I'm in the process of trying to find a vet who will deal with a feral act (this town is so backwards concerning animal care but thats a whole different issue), so I don't know if he's healthy or not. The feral is living in a large dog crate (he has plenty of room to move around - the crate is NOT a permanent home for him), under a covered area in our backyard.
Moe (my spraying cat) ran out of the house the other day when I opened the back door, and before I managed to catch him to bring him back inside, he had found the feral cat. The whole thing lasted no longer than 2 minutes, but he found the cat and both cats were staring at each other and growling. I scooped up Moe and brought him back inside immediately, but thats when the spraying started. He sprayed a wall almost as soon as I brought him back in. I assume that was obviously a reaction to seeing the "invader" cat outside, but it hasn't stopped. He sprays at least once a day now and this has been going on for over a week. The feral is far enough away so that Moe shouldn't be able to see him or smell him from the house.
So is this behavior ever going to stop? I know everything there is to know about litter box usage, but this definitely isn't a litter box problem. I have no idea how to break the habit of spraying my house.
I currently have two cats on prozac for litter box problems and its working wonderfully for them. But those cats were peeing outside of the box, NOT spraying, and after they went on the prozac I realized they also had some pretty bad anxiety issues, which the prozac is also helping. But Moe has no anxiety that I can see. He's probably the most chilled out and relaxed cat I've ever seen. He loves people. He loves the other cats. He bounces around the house happily every day and has to be in everyone's business all the time.
I really think this started because he saw the feral cat outside, but now I need to make it stop! I have a vet appointment for him today for a regular checkup, and I plan to talk to her about possibly adding him to my prozac bunch, but i don't want him to be on it forever. I've read that sometimes they only need a few months and the problem will be cured so maybe that will work.
Has anyone successfully stopped a cat from spraying their house, especially when you can identify the initial thing that triggered it?
And before anyone mentions Feliway - my house is a one story, very open house, and we have had 5 Feliways plugged into various rooms since the day we moved in. I know thats one of the first things people often suggest, but we've already been using Feliway and it isn't helping with the spraying at all.
I'd love to hear any advice or experiences with this!
He's neutered, but his former owner had him neutered after he had reached sexual maturity, so I'm assuming thats part of the problem. He's sprayed before in the 2 years that I've had him but its been at very random times, and it didn't happen daily.
We recently moved into a new house, but he was fine in the house until last week. We lived in a hotel for 2 month prior to moving into the house and he was also fine - no spraying.
Then I trapped a feral cat. I'm working on socializing the feral because he's not truly feral, but I haven't taken him inside my house yet because I'm in the process of trying to find a vet who will deal with a feral act (this town is so backwards concerning animal care but thats a whole different issue), so I don't know if he's healthy or not. The feral is living in a large dog crate (he has plenty of room to move around - the crate is NOT a permanent home for him), under a covered area in our backyard.
Moe (my spraying cat) ran out of the house the other day when I opened the back door, and before I managed to catch him to bring him back inside, he had found the feral cat. The whole thing lasted no longer than 2 minutes, but he found the cat and both cats were staring at each other and growling. I scooped up Moe and brought him back inside immediately, but thats when the spraying started. He sprayed a wall almost as soon as I brought him back in. I assume that was obviously a reaction to seeing the "invader" cat outside, but it hasn't stopped. He sprays at least once a day now and this has been going on for over a week. The feral is far enough away so that Moe shouldn't be able to see him or smell him from the house.
So is this behavior ever going to stop? I know everything there is to know about litter box usage, but this definitely isn't a litter box problem. I have no idea how to break the habit of spraying my house.
I currently have two cats on prozac for litter box problems and its working wonderfully for them. But those cats were peeing outside of the box, NOT spraying, and after they went on the prozac I realized they also had some pretty bad anxiety issues, which the prozac is also helping. But Moe has no anxiety that I can see. He's probably the most chilled out and relaxed cat I've ever seen. He loves people. He loves the other cats. He bounces around the house happily every day and has to be in everyone's business all the time.
I really think this started because he saw the feral cat outside, but now I need to make it stop! I have a vet appointment for him today for a regular checkup, and I plan to talk to her about possibly adding him to my prozac bunch, but i don't want him to be on it forever. I've read that sometimes they only need a few months and the problem will be cured so maybe that will work.
Has anyone successfully stopped a cat from spraying their house, especially when you can identify the initial thing that triggered it?
And before anyone mentions Feliway - my house is a one story, very open house, and we have had 5 Feliways plugged into various rooms since the day we moved in. I know thats one of the first things people often suggest, but we've already been using Feliway and it isn't helping with the spraying at all.
I'd love to hear any advice or experiences with this!
