Please help - my spraying cat is making my life a misery

[inky1991]

Has anyone got any advice on something by that actually worked for them?

My 6 year old cat has been spraying around the house is whole life. He's ruined furniture, flooring, everything. It's costs us hundreds and hundreds. We've tried literally everything, microchip cat flap, feliway, he's even on anti anxiety meds now. He's a very small cat and gets constantly bullied by neighbouring cats. One in particular who seems to be the neighbourhood bully. We also are at the vets around every 3 months for either a stress induced UTI or a cat fight wound.

We've had one last ditch attempt at fixing a garden gate today to our side entrance, which all the other cats mostly use to access our garden. I really hope it has some affect

I love him so much, and really don't want re-home. However I have a newborn now and I really can't go on like this abs feel like it might be the only answer. 🙁

Stupid question, sorry, but you didn't say. He is neutered, isn't he?

I'm guessing he's neutered?

Sounds like he's marking his territory because of the other cats (I sympathise!). Hopefully the new gate will do the trick.

Make your garden his safe place and keep other cats out and him in.

Cat proof your garden and neuter him if he isn’t already neutered (when was he neutered? Before or after the spraying started?). What are you using to clean the spray marks?

Yes sorry, he's neutered. Hard to completely cat proof the garden as it's quite big. But we'll see how the garden gate goes. Have stuck one of those cat repellent sonar things on the front on if too

What’s the fencing like? You can get wire for the top that stops cats climbing over I think? Not harmful to them (not spikes or barbed wire or anything) just makes it impossible.

https://sanctuarysos.com/cat-fencing/fence-mounted-cat-fences/?gclid=CjwKCAjwvpCkBhB4EiwAujULMpSnyLj3ZVHEjqkdRsc9eUsWbIqA05YzY8XYMbMDap2rvegYwClvXBoC1UQQAvD_BwE like this ?

A super soaker helps too!

He sounds scared.

Are you cleaning up his marking with proper pet enzyme cleaner?

If you can't cat-proof your garden, what about a catio?

Are you sure it isn't the babies arrival which is making him spray l?

He was neutered at 6 months, and spraying would have started afterwards as he wasn't allowed outside till then.

Thanks, I'll have a look into that. We've got quite a lot of fencing so I imagine this would be yet another huge expense for this cat 🙁

Yep I'm using the simply solution enzyme cleaner every bloody day. Helps with the smell a little, but he just re sprays the area.

Does he have a litter tray? A house cat isn't ideal, but maybe if you resign yourself to it the spraying will stop.

The baby is only 7 weeks old and my cat has been spraying for 6 years.

There's honestly nothing more disheartening, then the fact my husband and I have refurbished our house from to bottom over last 6 years since we bought, and everything is just ruined. All our spare money goes into doing up the house.

I'm embarrassed to have people round cause I'm scared the house smells. I spend huge chunks of my day trying to clean and get rid of the smell. Life is really not enjoyable. It's sad, cause he's the most lovely affectionate cat and experience means I'll never get a male cat again.

He'll carry on spraying cause he still feels threat from looking out the windows. I really don't want a house cat either, it's not fair on him

I might add that it might be better for everyone if he is rehomed. If you can't resolve the source of distress and it's causing you distress then it may be better for your boy to be a house cat with a single quiet owner elsewhere .

I'm sorry, I know you're trying your best.

We found the only way to get off the smell was bio washing liquid and then bicarbonate of soda. Then washed all the carpets on top. Plus using one of those light things to check absolutely everywhere. We tried one of the enzyme cleaners but it didn’t work as well. The problem is if it still smells he’ll just spray on top.

Don't assume it's only male cats that spray. I had a female that sprayed indoors and my current female is the same. No advice but I feel your pain.

Oh I wish I could offer some advice but I have nothing but sympathies. Such a stress especially with a new baby in the house.

Can you barrier off some of the rooms so he doesn’t have access to them? It would save some of your stuff being destroyed

I have a boy cat that sprays , it drives us nuts too. Thing is who would want to take on a cat with a shit habit ? I certainly wouldn't. We have tried everything too but ours is because we have two boys and I can't part with either of them so we soldier on. I've had not cats before and they only ever sprayed outside . It's very upsetting !

how about a cat behaviourist? They do exist! Perhaps you can have a remote consultation. They will require a lot of detail and photos of the house - number of litter trays and positions etc.

you could look at the international cat care website which has info on stressed cats and how to reduce stress. There’s a section on spraying also.

Yeah this is the thing. If he were re-homed apparently the cat rescues aren't completely transparent about spraying as it would basically put everyone off adopting. So my worry is that he would constantly be re-homed - not a nice thought.

We now have all our downstairs as laminate flooring so it easy to clean, the main main issue is the paintwork. I really don't know how to get the smell of that out. I spray the enzyme stuff on the walls but then it just means I have to constantly re-paint the area 🙄.

I tried to contact local cat behaviourists but none of them got back to me. I think the advice they give is basically everything you can read online unfortunately