I’ve got a cat that just started spraying. If he doesn’t stop real soon, he’s gone. I would really like to keep him, 'cause he’s a good cat otherwise.
Jack appeared out of the woods behind my place of work about 3 months ago. He was fixed, and declawed, so he did belong to someone at some time. Any houses would be across the street, not behind the warehouse. He always came out of the woods, so I assumed he didn’t have a home. (He was always pretty hungry too). We took a liking to each other, and our other fat cat at home likes company, so after about 2 weeks of him hanging around work everyday, I took him home.
Other than getting into the garbage when he’s out of food, he’s been perfectly behaved since we’ve had him. Now a couple of days ago, he all of a sudden started peeing in one spot in the downstairs bathroom. We sprayed the area down with vinegar, and hoped he would stop. That nasty cat pee smell doesn’t fly in our house. If he did it again, he’s gone. Well today, my wife and I were finishing up painting our daughter’s room. The cat walks in, sniffs around, and starts peeing right in front of us! He didn’t stop, even when we started yelling at him. It took a shoe to make him move.
He’s gone in a day or two, unless I can come up with ideas to make him stop. I know you can’t rub his nose in it like a dog. I know the usually won’t spray where they smell vinegar. Other than that I’m out of ideas.
Any advice anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated. If I’m lucky, he’ll get one more chance. If it happens again though, he’s gone.
If this just started after 3 months of good behavior, something is up and I sure hope you can take care of it so he keeps his home, and your other cat keeps his bud.
Is he peeing, or spraying? They are different behaviors and might point to different solutions.
Any changes to the litterbox arrangements recently? Especially if he is peeing, have you considered adding another litterbox?
Also, there is a product called PetZyme that seems a lot more powerful than vinegar at getting rid of the odor. YMMV, but I’d give it a try.
No changes to the litter box. When I brought him home, we added a 2nd litterbox, but both cats always used the same one, so after a couple of weeks we ditched the one they wern’t using. After we realized that one of them was peeing, I’ve been diligent about cleaning the cat litter everyday.
I think he’s peeing, but to be honest, I don’t know the difference. I know they spray to mark their territory. He’s peed a few times in one spot in the downstairs bathroom. (Right by the shower). When he peed upstairs today, it was in a freshly painted room. One that he hasn’t been inside of in a while.
My guess is that the strange paint smell and the fact that he hadn’t been in that room for awhile might make him think it doesn’t belong to the house. As ‘fresh territory’, he’s trying to mark it.
If he’s simply peeing, you might want to take him to the vet, and fairly quickly. Male cats are very prone to urinary tract and kidney trouble. It can kill them in a really short time.
When you kick him out, I hope you’ll consider taking him back where you picked him up. There’s a chance he’ll find his original family, but if not, at least he’ll be in familiar territory. He’s (probebly?) not going to quit spraying.
Peace,
mangeorge
recently I lost a cat of 8 years due to kidney failure triggered by a urinary infection. He had been acting strangely, but I couldn’t tell what was up, then one morning he peed in a box in the kitchen. I was angry and yelled at him, but when I got home he was in obvious abdominal pain. I took him to the vet, but it was too late. I don’t mean to scare you, and urinary infections ARE treatable, my cat just had weak kidneys that were destroyed by the stress of the infection.
Here’s a page with some factual information as to various causes of this problem and some ideas on how to stop it, including medication and a cat “pheromone spray” depending on the cause.
Spraying is a fairly distinctive behavior where they back up to something and twitch their tail as they spray. As compared to regular peeing, which is what he’d do in his litterbox. The advice to see a vet is good. In my experience, spraying is more likely to be psychological and peeing is more likely (but not 100%) to be a medical problem. A good vet can help with both.
He is peeing on vertical surfaces, but I didn’t see his tail twiching when he did it today.
I’ve been told to take him back to work tomorrow morning. He’ll be OK there for a few days while I show & tell the wife all the advice I’ve found here. She’s the one that I’ve got to try to convince to keep him. I’m willing to take him to the vet, and try some things to make him stop, but her mind is made up already.
If he’s doing this for the first time after being well behaved its more likely in reaction to some change in his enviornment rather than him just being bad. Cats do this kind of thing from time to time. I had to clean up my cats barf off the couch this morning after he threw up his breakfast, comes with the territory.
My Wife took him to the vet today. It is a urinary tract infection. Plus, he’s got crystals in his urine. The vet says he’s still critical. We have to watch him for the next 2-3 days. If we catch him trying to pee, with nothing coming out, he’s a goner, there’s nothing they can do. But he’s got medicine, and special food for the next 2 months or so. (Food that the other cat can’t eat, so it’s gonna be real interesting feeding these two).
Thank you all so very much for the advice! If it wasn’t for all of you dopers out there, he wouldn’t have a home, and he’d probably be dead in a few days!
