So I have this wonderful cat. For whatever reason, my roommate elected never to have him nuetered. Well, my roommate has moved, entrusted me with the care of his cat, and I’ve just moved into a new apartment. the cat has NEVER sprayed before, and to my dismay, I caught him doing it in our living room the other day. There must have been a cat owner in the apartment before us. I dunno. Well, my question is, if I take in the cat to get nuetered, will this stop his drive to do that? Or is it something he’s just going to continue to do?
IANAV, however, here’s my situation:
I have a 9-year-old male, neutered when he was about six months.
I have never, ever, ever seen him spray–although I’ve always seen him go thru the motions of backing up against something and twitching his tail. But he always shot blanks. That is, nothing ever came out.
Until recently. Somehow, the addition of a new kitty four months ago, he just in the past couple of weeks has started spraying for the first time.
Maybe he was doing it all along, but I never saw it until recently. But I think it might also have to do with the fact that he’s in a new neighborhood with at least two male un-neutered male cats.
Good luck, but I doubt that it will stop him from spraying.
Spraying is a way for a cat to mark his territory, so I’m not surprised yours felt the need to mark when he found himself in a strange place.
Neutering helps keep cats from spraying, but it works best if you have it done before the kitten reaches puberty. I had both my males neutered at 6 months and neither of them sprays.
But getting it done now would probably help. It’s hard to predict what reaction an individual cat will have, but if this were my cat, I would definitely get him neutered. I have taken in an adult and had him neutered, and after the procedure, he only sprayed once. So I’d say that the procedure might stop the cat from spraying, or at least reduce the problem.
But, honestly, it’s not that expensive, and you really ought to have it done. An unaltered tomcat is just less pleasant to live with for a variety of reasons, only one of which is spraying.
An ex-girlfriend inherited her brothers cat from his ex-girlfriend. Turns out he wasn’t fixed, he pissed all over everything, it was all he did. She had him fixed and he still pissed all over everything, she eventually had him put down.
Another cat I lived with, who was fixed sprayed, usually the refrigerator door, but he was just a jerk. Every morning he would wait until you woke up and took the morning leak, and then when you went to get your clothes to take a shower he would take a dump on the bathroom floor. Miserable, mean cat.
I would get him fixed, and hope that it is a new habbit if nothing else it won’t smell as bad.
Getting his nuts cut off will not stop this behaviour once it has already started. This behaviour is likely regulated by endogeneous hormones early on. That is they are playing an organizing effect as opposed to activating effect.
I would respectfully disagree that that is always the case. My old male cat was well into spraying and adulthood, when he finally sprayed my wife’s leg. Welcome Mr. Eunuch, farewell Mr. Piss On Everything. He never did it again.
IANAV, either, but my experience has suggested that neutering is most effective before the cat is too old and set in his ways. I had a mature cat fixed and it seemed to have little effect on his spraying habits. All my other cats in my lifetime had been fixed while young, and it always worked for them.
So it may not fix your problem (or his), but it’s better to neuter than propogate.
thanks for the replies. As mentioned before, he never has sprayed before, and he’s only a year and a half old, if that. He has appointment for tomorrow morning at the humane society. To become a eunuch, not get put down. Thanks again
Here are some statistics:
(From Neutering the Male Cat)
ROAMING
> 90% will reduce this behavior with neutering
Approx. 60% reduce this behavior right away
FIGHTING
> 90% will reduce this behavior with neutering
Approx. 60% reduce this behavior right away
URINE MARKING
> 90% will reduce this behavior with neutering
Approx. 80% reduce this behavior right away
Actually, on rereading your post, I realize that this may not be “spraying” at all. As everyone else has said, neutering is a very good idea anyway, so go ahead by all means.
If this does not solve the problem, however, you can address other possible causes.
From this site, for example:
Under the section headed “Urine Marking/Territorial Anxiety”
The site goes on to give possible solutions, including certain medications or a “cat pheramone” spray.
Good luck!
My neutered male cat sprays. He usually does it to get attention when he feels he’s being ignored. Bastard. He’s been forced to become an inside cat due to his stupidity around cars and he doesn’t like that one bit. I tried taking him out on a leash and it just made him worse. I had adopted him from the SPCA after he lost a battle with a car and received serious head injuries, which may explain his obsessive tendencies around the house.
Anyways, I clean it his markings with Nature’s Miracle & block off the areas. He just finds a new place.
So has anyone here ever tried the “Feliway” product? That’s my next attempt at stopping this before I start talking meds with the vet. I love this little bastard to death and euthanasia isn’t an option.
What is the disadvantages to neutering/spaying, besides inactivity?
If not it’ll make him wish he had
Respectfully acknowledged. It is possible that spraying is actually regulated by an activational, rather than organizational mechanism. My knowledge of cat behaviour and mediating hormonal mechanisms is rather scant.
You can add “new baby” to list of environmental changes that’ll turn ole Tom into a pisspot.
Our guy pissed in the baby’s cradle (baby was not in it) but it was ruined and my wife wanted to strangle him (and it’s her cat too!)
Eventually he realized the baby wasn’t another cat and has stopped but we’re always suspicious.