AIBU about male cats spraying

[TattyDevine]

I'm getting a couple of kittens from a breeder at around 13 weeks of age, a boy and a girl.

A friend of mine was all doom and gloom saying the male will spray everywhere and it will stink

Fair enough but I've googled it and it says they don't spray until they are sexually mature and Im planning on getting him neutered at 4 months.

Has anyone had a male cat who has sprayed at such a young age?

AIBU to think she is crackers? Bearing in mind spraying is something sexually mature male cats do to mark their territory...

[Ronsters]

My 5 year old neutered male has the odd toot, never indoors though, it's always on a specific bush outside.
He also does a weird thing where he runs to greet me then turns his back and mock sprays me, tail quivering. No wee/spray comes out.

[SpecialStains]

My male cat way neutered at 5 months - he's never sprayed. He's never even urinated or pooed anywhere outside his litter tray. He's also a lovely affectionate, chatty cat and an excellent bug/spider eater.

(We'll gloss over his tendancies to hide and savage your feet when you're not expecting it).

Enjoy your kittens.

[ReginaBlitz]

My old boy cat sprayed after the snip! It was really bad even sprayed people. The smell is hideous and you can't get it out of anything once it's done, I tried turps and even that didn't work. My neighbours male cat sprays still and he has been done.

[sykadelic]

My DSis had a neutered male and he DID spray, though she didn't seem to realise he did it. When she moved out (and our brother and I helped) it was all over the curtains. I wouldn't say the smell was vile, but the mess was. It was a PITA and we couldn't remove it all.

A friend of mine told me some will spray, and some won't. It really depends on the cat.

[UptownFlunk]

Lovely kittens, I hope you have many happy years together. You do get some males that spray after neutering but it's more common for them not to. If they do their spray is nowhere near as stinky as unneutered males.

I have three cats. No issues with territory guarding etc as they love one another, spend a lot of time together and play with one another. They are different ages and non-related too.

I always think that having more than one helps when they have to go to the vets or cattery as they have each other for comfort. I have a Ragdoll anyway and they can't be left on their own as they get lonely.

[TattyDevine]

Imagine if they started a thread on AIBU CalleighDoodle. What would it say?

"AIBU to think that my flatmate killed my ex male flatmate (it was platonic obvs but he loved me, I could tell) because she was jealous of the fact that he used to snuggle with me. Once I saw her trying to snuggle with him but he couldn't get away fast enough, it was obvious he was repelled by her, so she did something to his food or something probs. WIBU to shit in her litter?"

[CalleighDoodle]

My two female cats dont get on. They always sit separately. When i had my male cat too, before he died :( the male would snuggle uo with the females (sepatetely) for naps. My females dont. So id second one of each.

[TattyDevine]

I just find them amazing to look at. Imagine being that cute. Do you think they know?

It does suck when they die, they really are a member of the family. We had her since before our children were born and they don't know life without her.

Ah roll on April!

[TheFuckitBuckit]

Sorry for the loss of your chinchilla girl
It's horrible when you lose one as they really are a part of the family. So hopefully the wee critters will help to lessen the heartbreak.

I always wanted a chinchilla Persian but every time we are in a position to get a new addition(either intentionally or accidentally) we end up with a moggie!!!


I love all my mogs to bits, but am so, so jealous!

[TattyDevine]

I've never had 2 cats, I'm aware of the problems that can arise from having 2 - though I understand they are less likely to happen if they have known each other from the start, etc compared to say having 2 different rescue moggies arriving at different points in the household etc.

They'll have plenty of space, hopefully they will get along fine.

I think 2 boys together are more likely to be territorial than a boy and a girl, I've heard, not sure if that's true but it sort of makes sense.

Hopefully anyway!

[queenoftheworld93]

Oh, and he isn't a lone cat either. He plays with our other cat every day and no territory issues. They both came from the same mother, 2 months apart.

[queenoftheworld93]

I had my male kitty spayed at 5 months and he has never sprayed.

[Micah]

Spraying tends to be a territory issue, male, female, neutered or uneutered.

We had a male neuter that sprayed in a small city terrace he shared with his brother. We re homed him to a much bigger place, as a lone cat, and the spraying stopped.

As long as you have enough space for two, where they can have their own territories (even if they appear inseparable, they still need space of their own) they'll be fine.

Personally id never get two after seeing how happy and un stressed ours was on his own, even though we had thought he and his brother got on well-slept together, groomed each other etc. Our vet said its common in pedigrees and in littermates.

Oh and you spay females, its not a dog specific thing. You spay female cats too.

[Oldraver]

Oh that golden one has such a lovley face. My Mum had a white Persian and he didnt have the totally flat face

Yes as others have said I had a male that still sprayed, but it wasn't until he was about 5 ish I saw him out the kitchen window..I never got close enough to smell it

[TattyDevine]

I realise cats in general can spray, male or female, but I was under the impression that generally they don't if they have been neutered.

I lost my Persian Chinchilla on Boxing Day (she died suddenly in the night) and she never sprayed, then again she was neutered at about 6 months.

It was more of a "the boy one will spray everywhere and it will stink" type thing that made me a bit "eh?" because I was under the impression it was something that sexually mature cats did. (She knows I plan to have him neutered as soon as possible, mainly so he won't shag his sister and then we'll have to go on Jeremy Kyle )

Ah I'm sure he'll be fine, I cant wait to have little fluffy bastids prancing round the house bringing smiles back on faces

[TheFuckitBuckit]

Forgot to add, you can definitely tell the difference between a neutered and un-neutered cat spray smell. Un-neutered males smell like nothing on earth.

I don't always know when mine have done it indoors sometimes until i see the puddle, it really doesn't smell that bad.

[TheFuckitBuckit]

You do know that female cats can and do spray as well, not just males.
I have five cats. One of the males and one of the females spray both indoors and out. (Usually when stressed)
One male only sprays outside and the other two females I have never seen spray ever. All were spayed/neutered at the appropriate age so this doesn't guarantee that they won't spray.
Both my next door neighbours cats spray outside as well, she has one male one female and again both neutered/spayed.

I have owned several cats over the years and it's basically luck of the draw some will some won't.

But your kittens are absolutely gorgeous so don't let your friend put a dampener on your enjoyment of them. If you happen to develop a sprayer then you deal with it at the time. That way if they never develop the habit then you will have worried for nothing. 🙂

[mamacasshadahairyass]

Ooh I didnt know about newfangled microchip catflaps. We'd have to get the oldest one chipped though. We inherited him from MIL and she didn't hold with such witchcraft

[ghostyslovesheep]

I have 2 boys aged 18 mths - neutered at 5mths - never sprayed

[Lamaitresse]

Mama could you get a catflap that you can program with your cats microchips? I looked into that for ours as we have pine martens in the attic garden and I didn't want them in the house!

[Lamaitresse]

They are very cute

I have two boy cats - we had them castrated at 5 1/2 months, and never had any problems with spraying. Enjoy your kittens!!

[mamacasshadahairyass]

Our two,current ones are both neutered and dont spray. Our last cat was neutered and had a habit of spraying the living room curtains and my husband when stressed but it didnt smell.

We get a tom coming into our house regularly through the catflap that stinks the house out though. And he bloody miaows his head offf at 3 am to announce what he's doing

Any ideas how to keep the tom out but let ours come and go freely?

[StarlingMurmuration]

*hump, not jump.

[StarlingMurmuration]

Had my boy cat neutered at 4 months and he has never sprayed. HOWEVER, we had our family male cat neutered at the same age when I was child, and he did used to spray outside, I saw him do it many times. Never indoors though. He used to jump things too so I suspect they didn't quite do the snip right!