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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

10 yr old male is STILL spraying - please help as my husband wants to get rid of him

18 replies

rosebud5678 · 10/05/2022 21:28

So - the problem has been made worse recently by the arrival of a female kitten in October... but to be honest this has been a problem for many years.
This cat has sprayed in the hallway (making the wooden floor rot), on the PC and printer, on children's toys, and many other places.
Tonight things came to a head when the BT vision box stopped working, and my husband discovered that it was literally dripping. He said that the cat has to go, unless I can solve the problem another way.
I have tried pheromone sprays / plug in devices but to no avail. I think my next move will be to ring the vet for advice in case there is a physical problem, but in the meantime - has anyone out there had a similar problem? And if so, what was the solution?
Feeling very defeated tonight - I would be so sad to have to let our boy go :(

OP posts:
gamerchick · 10/05/2022 21:31

I'm with your husband. The cat obviously isn't happy with you and maybe would feel more comfortable in a other home. I couldn't put up with that level of spraying.

Crazycatlady202020 · 10/05/2022 21:31

Is he neutered?

Itshothothot · 10/05/2022 21:33

You’ve put up with this cat pissing in your house for 10 years?

Your house must stink!

PumpkinsandKittens · 10/05/2022 21:34

I would want to as well I’m sorry I couldn’t put up with that cat pee stinks and really bad if you have kids

FrankGrillosFloof · 10/05/2022 21:35

This has been going on for years and you haven’t even bothered to see a vet?

3luckystars · 10/05/2022 21:36

You should have rang the vet 9 years ago!! How are you putting up with that??

StarDolphins · 10/05/2022 21:38

10 years of this? Or from oct? Has he been neutered?

MintyMoocow · 10/05/2022 21:39

Our old boy did this, he was neutered and there was never a smell problem. It is still awful. My DH is batty about cats so we just put up with it really.
The vet may be able to do something.

Reallyreallyborednow · 10/05/2022 21:40

New kitten will make things worse. You may need to rehome one.

are there many cats locally?

ours only stopped when we rehomed our other cat (to family, it was actually their cat!). moved from a high cat density area where most houses had two or more cats to a street with big gardens and he was the only cat. Plus a course of antianxiety drugs.

spraying is a territorial thing. He’ll likely be worried about cats in his area.

Original poster
rosebud5678 · 10/05/2022 21:42

Yes, he was neutered as a kitten. To clarify, the problem has been much much worse since Oct, so part of me is hoping that over time he will get used to the kitten and things will settle down again.

OP posts:
Original poster
rosebud5678 · 10/05/2022 21:43

There are actually very few other cats in out area, so I don't think this is the main reason for the spraying.

OP posts:
Original poster
rosebud5678 · 10/05/2022 21:44

Sorry, that should say OUR area

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 10/05/2022 21:58

My cat sprayed for 10 years, my house didn’t smell. You clean it up.

Ours was on Cystease sprinkled in his food, he had two a day. He also had very particular litter preferences and only ultra clumping baby powder scented would do, it also had to be ankle deep & clumps removed as soon as possible. Cat behaviourists always suggest ultra clumping litter if they don’t use the litter tray.

If you have a clean container and a syringe/dropper you can suck the wee up for a urine sample check at the vets. It’ll be £10 or so. Ours is same day and will tell you infection is present. Like humans they can have a UTI with no temperature.

PumpkinsandKittens · 10/05/2022 22:23

Trust me it does smell other people just won’t tell you, cat pee stinks and even when you clean it the smell rarely goes especially if it’s repeated, I have a cat that use to do it and even after washing the clothes in the machine they still stunk the smell just wouldn’t come out, thankfully don’t have him anymore

coffeecupsandfairylights · 10/05/2022 22:50

rosebud5678 · 10/05/2022 21:42

Yes, he was neutered as a kitten. To clarify, the problem has been much much worse since Oct, so part of me is hoping that over time he will get used to the kitten and things will settle down again.

Unfortunately, I doubt it will.

Cats who spray are generally very anxious and/or territorial. Adding a new cat to the home won't help that kind of behaviour - in fact, as you've seen, it's likely to make it much worse.

What medical checks has he had done? I assume you've had him tested for things like diabetes and cushings?

StarDolphins · 10/05/2022 22:56

You can get a stress plug in for cats called Feliway that’s really good if he’s feeling stressed about the new cat.

I would rehome the kitten before the 10 year old. He was there first,

StarDolphins · 10/05/2022 23:00

Also for where he’s wee’d - get a product called ‘simple solution’ urine - it breaks downs the enzymes in urine to stop it smelling & it really works. You can also get some liquid for his food that stops stress, I had it from the vets for my old cat.

Original poster
rosebud5678 · 11/05/2022 06:30

Thanks everyone - I'm going to ring the vet later to talk it through.

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