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- Nov 28, 2014
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My cat Pim (now 6 years old, neutered) , sprays in the house since a couple of months.
He's pretty anxious by nature (not socialized well when he was a kitten), and is therefore more sensitive to changes; I try to keep things the same as much as possible.
However, he has been through some changes over the last 2 years. I moved two years ago and Pim has moved with me. A few months later I adopted a second cat, called Daisy (2 years old). There were no problems and they get along pretty well.
Last year, in August 2014, I have had a litter foster kittens in the house with their mommy. This were my first foster cats (I foster cats for a local shelter and this is the only litter I took care of so far).
They stayed here with me for about 10 weeks. They stayed in a separate room which I specially designed for cats.
My own two cats could smell the other cats of course, but they couldn't see each other.
In October 2014, when all the kittens were adopted, I decided to keep the mother cat. She is about 3 years old and is a very sweet cat.
Daisy and Lily get along well. Only Lily and Pim ... Their relationship is a bit complicated. Sometimes they lay next to each other on my bed, and the next moment Pim acts very frustrated to Lily. Lily wants to play sometimes and then chases after Pim. Pim doesn't like this and he runs away, upstairs. But Lily likes that and keeps chasing him until Pim found a place where he can't be disturbed (usually the attic, on a shelf or something, and he growls. I have never seen them fighting. As Pim growls, it is eventually clear to Lily and Lily just walks away.
Lily did this first with Daisy too, but Daisy showed Lily that she doesn't always like this behavior, so she quickly stopped chasing after Daisy. She never stopped chasing Pim , possibly because he is somewhat insecure (?) and his limits aren't clear for Lily.
Anyway, a few months ago I started to notice that one of my 3 cats occasionally sprayed in my house.
I saw Pim doing this a few times and also knew pretty fast that Pim is the one who is spraying.
First, I let his urine checked and he had cystitis. This could explain the problem. He had antibiotics.
Last week I went to the vet and did an urine check again, accompanied by a bladder ultrasound, so they could see if the bladder looked normal and the urine could take sterile. His bladder looked fine. Result urine: No bladder stones, no cystitis etc. Everything looked fine.
A medical cause is therefore excluded; it is behavioral.
I got this feeling that this spraying behavior has a lot to do with Lily's presence. Because he does this approximately since Lily lives here, and because he often sprays against places where Lily often walks or sleeps. For example, I just bought a new cat tent and about an hour ago I saw him right there, spraying against the new cat tent. The only one who has lain in that tent is Lily, so far.
The vet also talked about a cat behavior expert. I keep this in mind, but I'll try things myself first, and try to reduce his stress as much as possible.
Placing Lily somewhere else is not an option.
There is never a fight or something, but obviously it is a big source of stress for Pim.
I also use Feliway plug-in since 5 weeks. I think this works a bit, though he still sprays. Not much though but this behavior did not stop..
Does anyone know what might be helpful?
It's not that my house is too small for three cats. I have a living room - kitchen and hallway downstairs. On the first floor I have three bedrooms and two of them are pretty big. I also have an attic with lots of space, I sleep here myself.
The cats are able to go outside whenever they want to and Pim also loves to be outside (not because of Lily, he always loved being outside)
The Feliway Plug-in is placed on the first floor, since I think the cats spend most of the time on the first floor and the attic. He usually sprays in the living room.. perhaps it is an idea to use the feliway plug-in in the living room?
Does anyone have tips, advice and maybe experiences?
(English isn't my native language so I hope you all understand this whole story)
He's pretty anxious by nature (not socialized well when he was a kitten), and is therefore more sensitive to changes; I try to keep things the same as much as possible.
However, he has been through some changes over the last 2 years. I moved two years ago and Pim has moved with me. A few months later I adopted a second cat, called Daisy (2 years old). There were no problems and they get along pretty well.
Last year, in August 2014, I have had a litter foster kittens in the house with their mommy. This were my first foster cats (I foster cats for a local shelter and this is the only litter I took care of so far).
They stayed here with me for about 10 weeks. They stayed in a separate room which I specially designed for cats.
My own two cats could smell the other cats of course, but they couldn't see each other.
In October 2014, when all the kittens were adopted, I decided to keep the mother cat. She is about 3 years old and is a very sweet cat.
Daisy and Lily get along well. Only Lily and Pim ... Their relationship is a bit complicated. Sometimes they lay next to each other on my bed, and the next moment Pim acts very frustrated to Lily. Lily wants to play sometimes and then chases after Pim. Pim doesn't like this and he runs away, upstairs. But Lily likes that and keeps chasing him until Pim found a place where he can't be disturbed (usually the attic, on a shelf or something, and he growls. I have never seen them fighting. As Pim growls, it is eventually clear to Lily and Lily just walks away.
Lily did this first with Daisy too, but Daisy showed Lily that she doesn't always like this behavior, so she quickly stopped chasing after Daisy. She never stopped chasing Pim , possibly because he is somewhat insecure (?) and his limits aren't clear for Lily.
Anyway, a few months ago I started to notice that one of my 3 cats occasionally sprayed in my house.
I saw Pim doing this a few times and also knew pretty fast that Pim is the one who is spraying.
First, I let his urine checked and he had cystitis. This could explain the problem. He had antibiotics.
Last week I went to the vet and did an urine check again, accompanied by a bladder ultrasound, so they could see if the bladder looked normal and the urine could take sterile. His bladder looked fine. Result urine: No bladder stones, no cystitis etc. Everything looked fine.
A medical cause is therefore excluded; it is behavioral.
I got this feeling that this spraying behavior has a lot to do with Lily's presence. Because he does this approximately since Lily lives here, and because he often sprays against places where Lily often walks or sleeps. For example, I just bought a new cat tent and about an hour ago I saw him right there, spraying against the new cat tent. The only one who has lain in that tent is Lily, so far.
The vet also talked about a cat behavior expert. I keep this in mind, but I'll try things myself first, and try to reduce his stress as much as possible.
Placing Lily somewhere else is not an option.
There is never a fight or something, but obviously it is a big source of stress for Pim.
I also use Feliway plug-in since 5 weeks. I think this works a bit, though he still sprays. Not much though but this behavior did not stop..
Does anyone know what might be helpful?
It's not that my house is too small for three cats. I have a living room - kitchen and hallway downstairs. On the first floor I have three bedrooms and two of them are pretty big. I also have an attic with lots of space, I sleep here myself.
The cats are able to go outside whenever they want to and Pim also loves to be outside (not because of Lily, he always loved being outside)
The Feliway Plug-in is placed on the first floor, since I think the cats spend most of the time on the first floor and the attic. He usually sprays in the living room.. perhaps it is an idea to use the feliway plug-in in the living room?
Does anyone have tips, advice and maybe experiences?
(English isn't my native language so I hope you all understand this whole story)