My cat keeps spraying in the home.

[Pancakeflipper]

I have a cat and he is 4 yrs old. He had a tough start to life ( was left to starve as a baby) and he was homed to us when he was about 4 months old.

He is a lovely cat. But he has issues. His poo issues seem (fingers crossed) to have improved as he has matured.

But 1 issue keeps returning ? Spraying in the house. This used to occur when a new cat is on the scene (our house over looks a field and woods and cats travel far and wide to come to explore and play). He used to spray around the door in the kitchen. But for ages he?s been ok.

He sprayed in the kitchen in the early hrs of Monday morning. So I deep cleaned the kitchen Monday at 6.00am.

This morning he has sprayed in my 2 yr olds bedroom. I haven?t told him off but I was furious cos? stuff is ruined and I don?t have time before work to be deep - cleaning rooms and trying to work out exactly where he has sprayed.

He has a magnetic cat-flap and comes and goes as he wishes. In the past when we have had issues we have tried to keep him in over night with a litter tray and boarded up the cat flap but he smashes through the cardboard and breaks the cat flap ( he is a big cat). He wants to be out.

I am presuming there is another cat on the scene (but why spray in the bedroom? 2 yr old was not in the room ? by chance he?d ended up in bed with me at 1.30am and I heard the cat come in about 2am).

I would welcome any ideas how to help my cat and stop him spraying because he?s going to be living in the kitchen at nights for now on. I can handle cleaning the kitchen better than I can the bedrooms in a morning.

Any excellent products out there to clean or calm him down? I currently clean with detergent, then bio-washing liquid, then spray with a mix of surgical spirit and water which a cat-rehomer told me to do ages ago.

Is it the ?Season? for cats to be frisky at night? He?s certainly in giddy mode ? charging around the house, jumping in the bath and out chasing games.

Some simple steps you need to take before you consider if there could be a bigger problem.

1. Is your cat neutered? Male un-neutered cats are more prone to scenting their homes and spraying. They also stray further from home which can be dangerous depending where you live.

2. Stress can cause your cat to spray. If the spraying is being caused by stress then you could try to invest in some feliway diffusers and place these around your house. You could also buy an individual spray to spray in areas your cat spends the most time. It is a herbal remedy so has no negative side effects and only relaxes your cat. It really does work, I was able to transport my cat 250 miles with the stuff and she usually cries the whole way.

3. I have been told cats dislike the smell of lemon so you could try to deter the cat from spraying in the same place again by cleaning with a lemon based cleaner. Unfortunately this never worked with my cat and I had to accept she wanted her litter tray where she kept pooing and I let her win that one.

If you try these things and the cat is still spraying constantly then you need to speak to your vet. They can rule out any other issues with your cat and may be able to offer you other alternatives.

Thank you 1Catherine1.

I think it is stress.
I think it's to do with other cats as I noticed a few one hanging around lately this weekend - and now he's started spraying.

I am going to look at the diffusers etc. And he's sleeping in the kitchen at night for now.

Thanks

There are two excellent websites out there with fab advice on stressed cats.
www.thatpurplecat.co.uk and www.fabcats.org both of these have really sound advice on how to identify and manage stress in cats.