Help - cat spraying indoors

[Anjelika]

Background is I have 2 sibling cats - brother & sister - who are coming up to 2. Last June my dad's female cat came to live with us and since then I have been feeding her in the sitting room and my 2 in the utility room. I have kept it like that as my dad's cat is 13 so has different food - for elderly cats. Anyway for the past few months one or more of the cats has been spraying in the sitting room right by my dad's cat's food. We can't work out who it is. I have caught my 2 in there stealing food before now. Today we tried to keep the door shut as much as possible but just gone in now to find at least 3 separate new sprayings. Has anyone got any suggestions for improving the situation? My cats and my dad's cat don't get on and I can see that this is territory marking but I just don't know what to do to improve things. Our sitting room bloody stinks despite me going round on my hands and knees cleaning the skirting boards and all vertical surfaces a few weeks back.

Poor old 13 year old cat.
If you can’t completely separate a space, where the old cat feels safe and the young cat’s don’t feel challenged so are not spraying, then someone needs to be rehomed.
I think in the old cats shoes I’d rather be euthanised than live in a house where I was constantly in fear of a challenge/attack.
They may be physically separated but the scent would be enough to cause alarm.
Please try to rehome the old cat where there are no other cats so they can live out their old age in peace. Or euthanise, it would be kinder.

One of them is marking territory, because they feel threatened or just want to be the dominant cat. Are they all neutered? This helps reduce spraying. Do they have a litter tray each, plus an extra one? Have you tried a Feliway plugin diffuser to help calm them down? Cleaning the areas with an enzyme spray or non biological washing powder. Some people say spraying white vinegar is good as well. If they caen smell urine, they'll caution spraying. Is there somewhere else you can put the 13 year old at feeding time, so that her food is out of that room. Cats like to spray food as well. Have a look at videos on YouTube. It's a real pain dealing with this issue. Good luck.

continue not caution*

Hi. They are all neutered yes. Rehoming is not an option - I promised my dad I would care for his cat and I'm certainly not going to get her put to sleep! I had been thinking about trying Feliway but it seems to get mixed reviews. The situation has got worse over the past few months for some reason rather than getting better. My 13 year old cat is not massively unhappy from what I can see. She would prefer to be in her old home with my dad for sure but she sits on our knees every night and is not terrified of my other 2.