Female cat spraying

[chemenger]

My elderly (16) female cat has started spraying around the house. I don't mean just peeing, I mean standing on the arm of the sofa, looking me straight in the eye and spraying stinking pee horizontally on to the curtains. She is also yowling in the night, not sleeping as much as I would expect of an elderly cat, and somewhat paradoxically has become more affectionate towards me.
We've just been to the vet to get vaccinations and discuss this. Unfortunately she's so aggressive that they weren't able to get a good look at her (I will be going back to see the specialist feline vets, who can usually handle her, but she may need to be sedated to be examined ....again). This is normal for her, she's a deeply unpleasant character. They don't think she's got signs of a urinary infection.
She's never been nice to have around the house but destroying curtains, carpets and walls is making things unbearable. The smell is like a tomcat spray smell and frankly the whole house stinks.
I'm off to buy (more) litter trays in the mean time, although she's not using the ones we have.
Anybody have any idea what is going on in her dense little brain? We have two other cats who we have had for a year, they are outside most of the time or asleep and don't really bother with her (she makes it very clear that she hates them).

My female (neutered) cats did this too, although they were younger than yours. No idea though why I'm afraid. Could be age, stress? Anything happened recently that could have triggered it?

Forgetfulmog did they ever stop doing it? It would be nice to think this is just a phase.

As far as I know nothing significant has changed, no new cats in the area, no changes in the house.

I've never come across that. It could be the start of dementia I suppose.

If it carries on for a long time, and if the vet is unable to pin point a cause, you might have to consider having her pts. There are some behaviours that you just can't live with and that sounds like one of them. I'm sure you will exhaust every possibility first but if that is the only solution then you shouldn't feel guilty about it and you've obviously given a difficult cat a good home for a very long time, which is more than most people would.

Let's hope the vet can come up with something though.

Seniorboy started doing this as a dirty protest against The Lodger whom he loathed and despised despite the fact that The Lodger was a friendly and courteous cat. They had lived together in the same house for about a year and a half - but separated by a door - and then moved to another house where the cordon sanitaire wasn't quite so precise and Seniorboy only had total control of his own room. (The Lodger didn't go upstairs much but that didn't matter to SB.)

It seemed that everything just built up inside him until he snapped and started spraying against walls - by his trays, luckily. He would look me in the eye as well, a sort of 'Take that then, Mum'. (He mainly seemed to do it while I was there to watch - not invariably but mainly.)

As soon as The Lodger left the house (and he'd verified it by checking every inch) he stopped.

Could you maybe review the last little while to think whether there are any other potential causes of stress apart from the other two cats? (Presumably, the specialist feline vet will give her a thorough check to exclude illness.)

One of my three started doing that - I think it was stress, as it was in the 6 months after a house move. We had issues at first with my other two not going out, and so she didn't get her alone time in the house. Also, when I did open the catflap it let the neighbour's cats in, which massively upped the stress levels.

I sort of fixed it by adding more litter trays; two upstairs and two downstairs, and by letting the outdoor cats out in the morning and back in in the evening - they get to do what they like; run around outside and explore the world, and she gets her peace and quiet. I also put a Feliway diffuser in the room she tends to hang out in as I've had good results with that in the past.

She still exhibits other stress signs (over grooming - she'll clean herself until some of the fur comes out) if the litter trays don't get cleaned quickly enough, or if the other cats have opted not to go out, or more recently when the puppy arrived. Again, Feliway seems to help with the stress, and I fix the bits I can fix; i.e. the litter trays and the keeping of the puppy away from the cats' sanctuary (luckily the two outdoors cats like the puppy; it's just my recluse who is a bit unsure of him)

x post - I'm a slow typer on this thing.

If there's no other cause like illness, I would be thinking that she's fed up with the other two - and how you sort that beats me in your situation.

As a coincidence, Seniorboy was 16 at the time.

No, they never stopped I'm afraid, although we did have to rehome them a couple of years later (unrelated to them spraying) so mo idea if they carried on after that.

Lonecatwithkitten has mentioned a fairly natural tranquilizer called zylkene with which she has had good results in her practice if I recall. I don't know whether that would be any use here but she may see this thread and comment.

Have just shot myself in the foot, I fear. As I was reading the messages above I heard that tell-tale sound of peeing , turned round to see what was happening and frightened her as she was using one of the new litter trays. She shot out of it like a rat out of a drain.

Cozietoesie I have to say how much I appreciate your first message, I really hope it doesn't come to putting her to sleep, but there is a limit. In a lifetime of owning cats I have never known such a determinedly unpleasant one in so many ways! Even so, I would like to continue to give her as good a life as I can. I don't believe that I could find a new home for her even without the smell.

I can't help but think it is because of the other cats. We got them so that the children could experience the joy of having cats and they are lovely. Maybe they have stopped being intimidated by her and she is feeling threatened for no. 1 spot. Unfortunately if the choice comes we would keep them.We did have an older female cat when this one came to us and though they were never friendly they mostly ignored each other.