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How To Get My Male Cat To Stop Marking

How To Stop A Cat From Spraying

How To Stop Your Cat From Spraying

If you have a problem with cat spraying, it’s time for more than just another round of furniture cleaning. You need a solutionfast. Not only do you need to know how to remove cat spray, but also what caused your cat to start spraying in the first place, so you can help stop the bad habit.

When your cat sprays, he’s telling you he’s stressed or fearful, and that can cause significant stress for you and your household. Thankfully, you can help reduce feline spraying if you understand why it’s happening. For best results, it’s important to make a proper determination between ordinary urine spraying and behavioral urine spraying.

How Do I Clean The Place My Cat Is Spraying

If your cat has sprayed on curtains or upholstery, then you can use an enzymatic cleaner specifically sold for removing urine stains and odour. Some items may need to be professionally cleaned. You might then want to move these items out of the way while you deal with the issue of your cat spraying. For example, you could remove curtains or secure them above the level of your cat, cover furniture with plastic or use disposable incontinence sheets which will absorb any future spray before it gets to the item underneath.

Just cleaning the area your cat has sprayed may not resolve the problem, and your cat might simply find new areas to spray. As well as cleaning you can also apply a synthetic pheromone such as Feliway®, which your cat will find reassuring. Clean the area with warm water and then some surgical spirit before applying the pheromone.

Seven Ways To Stop Your Cat From Spraying

Spraying when your cat sprays urine anywhere and everywhere other than in her kitty litter is a problem many cat owners have to deal with. Its a common myth that cats spray primarily to mark their territory in fact, it can a sign of something completely different.

Its one of the most testing moments between you and your four-legged furball when you come home and find an unexpected damp patch on your sofa, despite fresh cat litter sitting mere metres away. Your cat spraying in the house can be a sign that she is stressed or insecure peeing helps increase her self-assurance. Here are five strategies to stop your cat spraying.

Desex your kittyFemale cat spraying is just as common as male cat spraying. The first step to putting a stop to this behaviour should be getting your kitty neutered as hormone levels diminish, so too will the urge to spray.

Get to the source of the stressIf your pet is spraying because she feels anxious, you need to find out what is causing the problem. Check that there are no feral cats lurking outside threatening your kittys authority, and if you have other pets, try to determine if there is any animal bullying going on.

Keep your kitty activeA regular schedule gives your cat a sense of stability and structure. Leave your pet some educational and interactive toys to keep her busy while youre not there, and enjoy some regular play sessions when you come home so she feels loved and cared for.

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Make The Marked Spot A Happy Place

After the cleaner has done its work and dried, consider repurposing the space for play or for feeding your cat . If your cat marked an object, move it to a place thats harder to reach or even store it away for the short term. This action will help change your cats perception of the area and may help reduce the chances of re-marking.

How Can I Stop My Cat Spraying

Spray To Make Cats Stop Peeing Male Cat Spraying Clean Up ...

Cat spraying can be tricky to resolve on your own as spraying can be caused by a number of different things.

The most important thing that you can do is ensure your cat has everything they need and keep an eye on the spraying and their general behaviour. This is particularly important if you have other cats in the house as there is a risk that there may be issues between them that you havent noticed. Here are some practical things you can do to help stop your cat spraying:

  • Ensure your cats needs are being met. There are certain things that all cats need to be happy and healthy and providing this kind of environment will help to reduce any stress your cat may be experiencing.

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What To Do If Your Cat Is Spraying

First, determine whether your cat is spraying or urinating. Cats urinate by squatting onto a horizontal surface spraying occurs standing up. The cat makes a treading motion with her back feet and quivers her tail, leaving her scent mark on a vertical surface.

If your cat has begun urinating outside of her litter box, be sure that the box is regularly cleaned. If the behavior persists, take her to the vet to check for lower urinary tract disease and cystitis. A urinary tract infection can cause your cat to urinate while standing, confusing the act with spraying. Cystitis can also cause symptoms of lower urinary tract disease, including frequent attempts to urinate, straining to urinate, crying while urinating, and blood in urine. Cats who suffer from recurrent cystitis often benefit from increased fluid intake, which may require switching your cat to wet food. Consult your vet for nutritional management.

Consider recent changes to your household that may be affecting your cats behaviorespecially if she spends most of her time indoorssuch as the arrival of a new baby or pet, a house move, schedule changes, or even rearranging furniture. To deter threats from other household or neighborhood cats, block access to cat flaps or doors. Once your cat feels that her territory is not threatened, she will no longer feel the need to mark it.

Once your cat has urinated or sprayed in your house, she may return to that spot again if the area isnt thoroughly cleaned.

How To Stop A Male Cat From Spraying

This article was co-authored by Jessica Char. Jessica Char is a Cat and Dog Trainer, Behavior Consultant, and the Founder of Feline Engineering and Canine Engineering. She specializes in modifying challenging pet behavior problems, such as fear and aggression, using positive reinforcement training protocols. Jessica is a Certified Fear Free Trainer, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, and a Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer. She is also a member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. Jessica received her BS and MS in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 13 testimonials and 83% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 420,861 times.

Spraying is communicative behavior male cats engage in for a variety of reasons. As the urine emitted in spraying is pungent, and can cause stains to furniture and carpets, spraying can be a problem for many cat owners. If your cat is spraying, there are a variety of ways to correct the issue.

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How Do I Tell That My Cat Is Bored

Well, due to our busy schedules at work and the modern lifestyle, we are not able to spend much time with our cats. This means that you may not be able to tell when he is bored or not. In return, you will not be able to curb the inappropriate elimination behavior in your cat. However, you can be able to examine your cat for boredom and look for the following signs.

Over-eating is a common sign of boredom in cats. You will notice that your cat cannot get enough of his meal. However, you should not encourage this behavior as it may bring along obesity. Other cats will experience loss of appetite on the contrary.

A bored cat will also experience difficulty in sleeping as well as engage in other destructive behaviors. Peeing everywhere and anywhere in the house is a common characteristic of boredom in cats.

Could The Cat Be Stressed

How To Stop Your Cat Spraying Indoors | Blue Cross

If no medical cause is found for spraying behaviour in a neutered cat, the most likely reason is stress. Cats are very independent animals and dont readily show signs of weakness causes of stress may also not be easily apparent to us. Common causes include:

  • Disruption to the cats territory
  • A new cat moving into the area.

Spraying is primarily a territorial marking behaviour and cats are not naturally sociable animals. Unfortunately, this means another common cause of stress is households with more than one cat. Often conflict between individual animals is subtle to spot and doesnt always involve direct fighting.

Ultimately, the best solution for stress-related behaviour is consultation with a specialist veterinary behaviourist. This can be expensive but is often covered by pet insurance. In the meantime, the following tips may help:

  • Make sure all resources in the house are spaced apart, and provide one per cat plus one extra to avoid competition
  • If stress could be caused by a dog or small children, give the cat a safe area away from them such as using a baby gate
  • If your cat can see other strange cats outside though glass doors, consider applying an opaque cover over the lower portion
  • Clean sprayed areas with a solution of biological washing powder before spraying with surgical spirit
  • If feasible, move a positive item to sprayed areas such as a food bowl or favourite bed

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Urine Marking In Cats

The most common behavior problem reported by pet parents of cats is inappropriate elimination. Its estimated that 10% of all cats will eliminate outside their litter box at some point in their lives. Quite a few of these cats have issues with some characteristic of their litter box , but approximately 30% dont have litter box problems at all. These cats are urine marking, and urine marking isnt a litter box problemits a communication problem. Urine marking is a form of indirect communication used by cats.

Why Did My Cat Pee In Front Of Me On My Bed

On the other hand, Cats urinate on their owners beds for a variety of reasons. Its usually due to a health or behavioral issue that causes cats to pee on their owners beds. They can do a urinalysis and a physical exam to see whether your cat has a bladder infection or other underlying medical conditions.

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Which Cats Are More Likely To Urine Mark

Both male and female cats can mark with urine. Urine marking is most common in intact male cats. When an intact male sprays urine, it will have the characteristic tom cat odor that is strong and pungent. Castration or neutering will change the odor, and may reduce the cats motivation for spraying, but approximately 10% of neutered males and 5% of spayed females will continue to spray. While cats in multiple cat households are often involved in spraying behaviors, cats that are housed singly may spray as well.

“Neutering will decrease the odor of tomcat urine.”

Why Do Cats Pee In The Bed

How To Stop A Male Cat From Spraying On Furniture Image JPG

From a cats point of view, a bed makes the perfect toilet because it is absorbent and clean however, a cat may be using your bed for several other reasons:

  • : Its comforting for the cat to mix her scent with the humans scent if, for example, her parent has been gone for too long, she might be soothing herself.

  • Confrontation: If a new significant other is sharing the bed, the cat might be sending a message.

  • Stress: If the cat doesnt feel safe in the house because of renovation work, new people or another unexpected change, she may choose to stay in the bedroom for safety reasons.

  • Unacceptable litter box: If the cats toilet is dirty or set at a new location, shell look for a new spot and the bed meets the requirements.

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Cat Spraying: Why They Do It And Ways To Tackle It

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You notice a wet spot on the side of the sofa, or the drapes, or maybe running down the front door. Hmmm, is that . . . ? Yep, it looks and smells like cat pee. Uh oh. Whats going on? Is your cat trying to tell you something?

Actually, when your cat sprays, they are trying to send you a message! Its usually either, I was here/”this is my home, or Im stressed out.

You see, spraying is all about communication for cats. Its different from fully peeing or pooping outside the litter box which, though could also be due to stress or problems between the pets in your home, is most often related to a problem with your cats litter boxes . And, just to keep things interesting, both spraying and inappropriate elimination can also be brought on by, or worsened by, an underlying medical problem or infection , kidney failure, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, or a host of other problems). This article is going to focus on helping you with a cat thats spraying or marking. Read on to see if that might be your cat, and what you can do about it.

There Are Many Reasons Why Cats May Mark Their Turf

Amy Shojai, CABC, is an animal behavior expert and award-winning writer with over 25 years of hands-on experience training and caring for cats and dogs. She has written 27 books on animal care, been named CWA Friskies Writer of the Year, and appeared on Animal Planet as a pet expert.

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A cat urinating outside the box can be marking behavior, where a cat feels the need to mark its territory. But there are some underlying health conditions which may cause a cat to urinate outside the litter box and some environmental causes as well.

If this behavior has happened more than once or twice, you may want to bring your cat to the vet to rule out any health issues. If it is, in fact, marking behavior, there are steps you can take to curb it.

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Clean The Area And Restrict Access

Thoroughly clean the area the cat has sprayed. Use a product designed for pet odors, such as Anti-Icky-Poo or Equalizer. If the cat smells the previous mark he may decide to re-mark it. If there is one specific problem area, try to eliminate the cat’s access to the spot. Keep the cat out of the room, rearrange furniture, or place an upside down spiky carpet runner or aluminum foil on the floor next to the area being sprayed. After a week, slowly allow the cat supervised access to the area again. Removing access to the problem area may help, but sometimes it will cause the cat to start spraying in a new area instead. Be vigilant!

What Exactly Is Cat Spraying

How To Stop Your Cat Spraying Urine

Inappropriate urination, whatever the cause, can manifest with cats squatting and peeing on a bed, rug, or pile of laundry. Or in the typical spraying scenario, the cat will stand, back up against a wall, door, or piece of furniture, and spray urine on a vertical surface.

To understand this behavior and stop it, cat parents need to think like a cat, Dr. Lund says. Cats are control freaks. They like to feel in charge, she notes.

That is why stress and anxiety, which bring on insecurity, fear, and timidity, can cause your cat to spray, the doctors say. What they are doing is trying to feel more secure, Dr. Lund explains. So the important concept for cat owners to realize is that their cat doesnt think their urine smells bad. makes cats feel more content.

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Treating Urine Marking Caused By Conflict With Outdoor Cats

You can try the following recommendations to remedy urine marking behavior caused by conflict with an outdoor cat:

  • Close windows, blinds and doors. Prevent your indoor cat from seeing other neighborhood cats.
  • Attach a motion-detection device to your lawn sprinkler. Set the sprinkler by windows to deter the presence of neighborhood cats.
  • If your cat is intact, neuter him or spay her.
  • Use a synthetic cat pheromone in areas where the cat has marked. Products like this deliver a synthetic pheromone that has been shown to have some effect in relieving stress in cats. Deliver the pheromone through a diffuser plugged in close to where your cat has seen the outdoor cats. This type of product is typically available as a spray or through a diffuser, and can be found in many pet stores and online.
  • Use medications. Because marking is often a sign of stress or anxiety, medication might provide additional treatment help. Always consult with your veterinarian, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist or a veterinary behaviorist before giving your cat any type of medication for a behavior problem.

What Is Cat Spraying

Spraying is essentially your cats way of marking his territory, much like how some dogs urine mark. But whats the difference between spraying and urine marking?

Essentially, its in the position your cat assumes. When cats spray, theyll back up to a standing object. It might be a wall, a chair leg, or another piece of furniture. They raise their tail erect and squirt urine.

When cats urine mark, theyll squat just as if theyre peeing normally and theyll do this on a flat surface, like your carpet or your bed.

In both scenarios, the behavior is intentional, and not a matter of their inability to hold it. Its purely a behavioral issue. So why do cats spray?

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