Female cat spraying, please help!

[Cheby]

Our 6 year old female (spayed) cat is spraying in the house constantly. We have tried everything the vet recommended. She is doing it on clothes, on walls, on drawers (so the pee is actually dripping onto clothes inside drawers). She does it on the kitchen worktops and even sprayed onto my baby’s bottles in the steriliser once. It’s become utterly intolerable.

We love her, but we can’t live like this anymore. We have 2 other cats, one is her male sibling, one is 3 years old and female, all spayed.

The vet has checked for physical issues and found none, and suggested we separate resources (food, water etc) which we have done, and we have tried various types of feliway but nothing stops it. She seems to do it in retaliation to something; eg her brother was injured and had to stay inside so we locked the cat flap. We were letting her out of the door whenever we spotted she wanted to go out and the cat flap was one way so she could come back in whenever. But within 2hrs of the flap being locked she had sprayed all over the wall in the hall.

She Seems to be in the middle of the pecking order with her brother at the top. If they ever get into a scuffle she is much worse at spraying for a few days afterwards.

We have beds for them and high places but she never chooses to go up high like the other two.

I’m desperate. We keep all the doors shut when we can but part of the house is open plan and I have two young DC who open them regularly and I can’t watch them 24/7. I keep finding cat piss on my children’s toys, I have a toddler who still mouths everything and I’m so so anxious about the hygiene issue.

Is there anything else at all we can do? We desperately don’t want to rehome her, not least because my DC will be devastated, but I am now considering it.

[AnnaMagnani]

Cat behaviourist?

I had a spraying cat but not nearly as bad as yours and solved it by fervent reading of Vicky Halls cat books.

However your cat may really be telling you that she doesn't like living in a multi-cat home and would rather be somewhere less stressful.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Which litter do you buy for them?.

If she’s this unhappy I think you have to put her needs first and re-home.

[Cheby]

We get catsan litter but all of them refuse to use it and just go outside, have done since they’ve been allowed out. Litter trays are just for decoration it seems.

Maybe we can try a behaviourist as a last resort before we rehome. Are they very expensive?

[Fluffycloudland77]

So they don’t like it then. Try catsan gold. It’s hideously expensive (£5-6) and scented like talcum powder but mine loves it.

The catsans quite fine but it could still be too rough for their paws.

[Fluffycloudland77]

For 3 cats you’ll need 4 large trays, on that bbc cat behaviour program they used ultra clumping with a 50ltr storage container as a tray.

It was huge, but it stopped it happening.

[AnnaMagnani]

I suspect a cat behaviourist is not as expensive as repeated vet trips and endless carpet cleaning.

Agree, none of your cats like the cat litter. Being too rough on paws is an issue in the Vicky Halls books. Doesn't matter what you pick, as long as they like it. I have Cat's Best, they are all happy with it. Beware, what you like isn't necessarily the same as what cats like.

[Cheby]

We have tried loads of different kinds of litter over the years. They just don’t seem to like going inside. We kept them all inside until they were fully vaccinated and had recovered from their spaying operations, so around 7 months. Successfully used the trays until then without issue. Literally from the first day they could go outside, they stopped using the trays.

I will try something else though. Willing to try anything at this point.