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We've all smelled
it...it's an unmistakable urine odor, unique to cats, and let's face
it folks, it's nasty. An owner's love and affection for their cat
can be severely tested when Tom or Tabby starts whizzing all over
the house. I have even had cats who took to peeing on the elements
on my electric stove.....imagine my chagrin when I'm trying to heat
up dinner and instantaneously smoke starts filling the kitchen and
the entire house smells like burnt cat pee....the kids are running
outside telling everybody within earshot, "Eeww, our house smells
like cat pee!" Needless to say, we ate out A LOT back then! This
same cat also peed on every single electrical outlet and in all the
sink drains.
Indoor spraying is the
number one reason a person gets rid of a pet cat, but fear not! A
little perseverance and some understanding as to why cats do this
can help eliminate the habit and save your human/cat relationship.
Remember, kitty isn't doing this because he or she is bad and wants
your house to smell like urine. It's an involuntary reflex, and no
amount of you yelling "bad kitty!" will help.
Don't confuse spraying
with regular urinating. Regular urination is the cat squatting and
peeing. Spraying is when the cat stands upright, sticks his or her
tail straight up in the air, and backs up against something (bush,
fence, car tire, your favorite armchair) and shoots out a stream of
extra-pungent urine, sometimes from several feet away. Often their
tail will shake a bit first. It would be fascinating to witness if
the cat wasn't wetting on something that belongs to you!
All cats, male or
female (yes, females do it too), whether whole or fixed, will spray
outside. Spraying is a complex form of communication with other
animals, a way of saying "This yard belongs to Dexter", or even "Tomasina
walks by this tree every evening". It has to do with marking of
territory, along with their confidence that they belong somewhere,
and the security that goes with it.
Usually, neutering a
male cat by six months of age will negate its need to spray, because
it won't be competing with other toms for the affections of a female
in heat. However, this does not guarantee that the cat will never
spray. As mentioned before, even females spray. A cat is most
likely to be a sprayer if it is a cat that does not deal well with
change. These cats are usually a bit nervous and do not like
unfamiliar things. Things which are simple and nice in the human
world, such as getting new furniture or carpet, remodeling part of a
house, moving to a new house, or even a new baby, is enough to get
certain cats tweaked out enough so that they feel they need to spray
everything new around them to feel safe.
It is this
scent-marking of new things which make the nervous kitty feel more
secure in their environment, because anything new, to these cats, is
a threat.
An indoor spraying cat is a
definite sign that kitty is feeling stressed-out by new things.
Sometimes, even a person visiting and bringing a strange smell in on
their shoes is enough to send more nervous cats to the nearest piece
of furniture to spray it. Thankfully, cats that are fully
socialized with humans are unlikely to be this sensitive.
The most common causes of spraying are:
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Aggression from other cats outside.
-
New kitty in the household.
-
Another cat in the household spraying.
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A new baby or new person living in the
house.
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New furniture, new decorating,
construction.
How do you solve this
very unpleasant problem? Understanding and persistence is the key!
First, try to define what it is the cat is feeling insecure about?
In my case, it was a sudden and traumatic move halfway across the
United States. Well, you can't exactly remove the problem as a
rule, so the solution is to make kitty feel safe and secure again.
All cat spray will
degrade after time, and your cat will feel the need to re-spray the
same area again as the smell fades (and whether your cat or another
cat did it doesn't matter, it's the smell of the degrading urine
odor which causes them to want to re-spray over it again).
Therefore, you have to wash the entire area with a water/baking soda
solution, and then scrub over it with pure alcohol, or even vodka
(just be careful not to have too many sips while you're doing it!).
If it's on upholstery or fabric, wash an inconspicuous area first to
make sure the color doesn't run or fade. Dry the area with a
hairdryer and make sure kitty stays well away from that place until
it's completely dry. Stopping the cat from re-marking an area for a
few days will usually break the habit.
DON'T use anything
with ammonia, as it smells too similar to urine and the cat will
continue to spray there.
If you have a
newly-decorated or remodeled room, it would be wise to leave kitty
out of it for a few days until the smells from the old, familiar
part of the house mingle with the new stuff.
There are products now
that have cat pheromones in them which you can spray around on new
things (like all over your new house if you've moved). These
pheromones are supposed to make your cat feel calm and not feel the
need to mark their territory, and smell just like the friendly stuff
in their spray (friendly to THEM, unpleasant to US). The most
popular brand is "Feliway", which can be found and ordered online
(Feliway Spray 75 ml ,
Comfort Zone with Feliway Plug-In).
There are other brands as well.
With indoor spraying
cats,
it's all about stress-reduction to eliminate their need to mark
their territory. This in turn will eliminate our stress at having
our nice things peed on.
Any cat that is still
spraying after these measures should be checked by a veterinarian to
rule out other causes.
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