# Helpp! am at wits end with Cat spraying



## Mosnippy (Sep 13, 2011)

Hi, Please I am looking for any advice that might work. We are just at our wits end with our female cat Phoebe.
She is spraying everything and anything, she is spayed and is around 4 years old. 
She was never like this before, been to the vet , she doesnt have an infection or anything like that, so got feliaway diffuser and the spray..but its not working, tried to shout at her when she does it... that doesnt work. tried the opposite that doesnt work, tried fussing her ...she even has just walked up and sprayed my step daughters while they where sitting on living room floor!
we are just tired of cleaning up!
thanks!


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## Grace_Lily (Nov 28, 2010)

Have there been any changes at home recently? Anything altered in her routine? A new cat in the neighbourhood or household?

If you can suss out what has caused her to spray you can be much more effective in resolving it


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## Mosnippy (Sep 13, 2011)

the only big thing is we moved to a new house 4 months ago, but she only started doing this 2 months ago..so i am a bit lost as to why it started, as surely it would have started when we first got here?

also when we got her she was a rehomed cat, and she didnt do that when first came into our home and met my other cat. she was from a 1 cat househould..she is a happy go lucky cat, spends most of the day outside exploring, friendly with everyone...just now everything is being sprayed


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## jenny armour (Feb 28, 2010)

sounds to me like the house move. i had or have a cat that when i first moved to this house, she peed by the doors. then i had my pen built and it stopped then when i got jj harry and oliver all in a small space of time, she started again.
i ended up puttin her in the kitchen, with the run of utility room and pen and after a couple of months it stopped. 
when cats move to new houses there are lots of new smells probably including pets that might have lived in the house before or any new animals that live in the neighbourhood.
can you not limit her to a room where there is a catflap for her to go of at night? or leave her in at night with catflap shut


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## Mosnippy (Sep 13, 2011)

she doesnt like to be locked in one place  she meows her head off... most nights she is outside anyway as she goes off exploring and only comes back for food and a snooze during the day than off she goes again.. we dont have a cat flap (Rental house so not allowed to put one in )
i am just lost as to why only start after already being here 2 months. and just seems to be getting worse...e.g yesterdat noticed that she resprayed a box she already sprayed..there was actually 4 spray markes on it by the time we noticed she sprayed it ( . 
cat are diff fussy and finicky creatures. 
arghhh i dont know..  my partner wants her to stay outside permanently.. and that breaks my heart  but i am getting so fed up with constantly cleaning up.. 

thanks for you comments


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## Mosnippy (Sep 13, 2011)

please if anyone can offer advice..i have tried everything with this cat..she is really getting at my wits in! everything is getting peed on... even my shoes now!!! 
i have locked her outside now but i dont have the heart to keep her out there specially now its coming into winter! 
i also dont have the heart to give her away as i love my pets but she is slowly making me hate her! why has she not settled yet!

the house is starting to smell i have feliaway plugged in and sprayed everywhere where she has wee'ed but she just goes to new spots!


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

Has she been to the vets for tests? Have they been able to test an actual urine sample rather than just giving her an examination? 

Does she do this in one particular spot? How are you cleaning the area? It may be that she can still smell where she has been before so has returned to the same area (if this is what is happening).

Does she go at any particular time? Has she got access to a litter tray? Is she doing this randomly or is it every day? 

Both my cats have had UTI's & at times these have been quite mild & weren't always obvious.


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## MooKatMoon (Jul 26, 2011)

The only thing i can suggest is a litter tray. my MC comes and go's as he pleases, but i have a litter box for him and every other day he will go in the litter box just to make sure his smell is around. he never has a poo in the box just a very quick wee.
The little one never uses the litter box, it is his place.

just a suggestion, it may or may not work.


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## Mosnippy (Sep 13, 2011)

hi, she has access to a litter tray.and she goes outside .she has been to the vet, and they put her on low antibiotics just in case she had a UTI a few months back, but that did nothing so it was down to behaviour....and its sometimes in the same spot, but as soon as I spray it with feliaway once cleaned she just finds another spot..really random spots. cant put anything down as it will get wee'd on. this morning my shoes had been wee'd on! i was not happy!

 :mad2:


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## Ianthi (Oct 21, 2008)

Also do you mean vertical spraying ie standing up or just urinating normally on objects?

Agree about urine sample to test for infection or inflammation. Impossible to tell otherwise. I do feel this could also have a stress component as well though. Did the previous house owners have a cat for instance? Or one who frequented the property?

I would certainly add a litter tray or two but firstly another vet visit. Perhaps another course of antibiotics-maybe the first one not enough to clear it completely.


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## Shimacat (Feb 14, 2010)

Oh, how awful for you. Spraying like this does mean the cat is upset by something - you just need to find the reason/s. Could you ask your vet to recommend a pet behaviourist? They ought to be able to find out what's going on and give you (and your cat) ways to deal with this. 

Good luck. I've never had to deal with anything like this but it sounds terrible.


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## Mosnippy (Sep 13, 2011)

thanks for all the advice..

she is doing both... just peeing on a spot on the floor..or spraying against cabinets, dvd rackts..doors etc etc... :mad2:

i dont really have the money to keep going to the vets  i am going to try another litter tray.

the previous owner didnt have any pets as far as i know.. my other cat is happy as larry.. no problems just this little madam..and to look at her she is happy go lucky friendly etc etc...just the damn peeing lol never had this problem with her...


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## owieprone (Nov 6, 2008)

it probably is the move that is causing it.. she's only acting up now as she's realised taht's her new house and it's different, things are in different places.. she's still getting used to the 'new' routine, the new territory she has, new cats in the area etc so still quite stressful for her, it might not be the house by itself but the culmination of things affecting her from outside too.

Feliway probably won't work in this instance as she's obviously super aggrevated and will only make her more calm when she's already calm, if that makes sense (certainly does nothing for our whinge-bag bubs, but the other 2 cats are super chillaxed!!!)

despite her not liking being locked out of the rest of the house, i would seriuosly consider it, as you are clearly not happy and she's going overboard and whatever you are doing now is not giving her a reason to stop.

you could try using it as a correction to her behaviour.. wait until she does it then pop her outside and limit her access to just the room with the catflat, make sure all her food, water, tray and bed are in there (if she has a bed) with the feliway diffuser in there (don't bother with the spray).

don't let her in immediately, let her in after say 5 mins give her lots of fuss, if she does it again, pop her back in the room with the catflap. 5 mins again (probably best to do this on the weekend so you can devote 2 days to it solidly get her used to it with you there for reassurance).
don't shout or remonstrate with her just pick her up immediately and pop her out. clean up and wait to let her in and fuss.
it's not mean as you're not leaving her out there. keep an eye on her as you know the signs for her going to do it and be ready to pounce, but try to stay calm, as she'll be able to feel the tension.

she isn't being bad, she's letting you know she's not happy the only way she can, she needs good vibes and abit of correction.

try and keep her distracted when you let her back in, play with her, talk to her, cuddle her, pick her up and show her round the house, carry her outside and show her round the garden (her territory) touch stuff so your smell is on it (fence, shed, pots etc) so she can see it's 'yours' and therefore hers. you could also rub her on whatever you've touched too lol, i know slightly odd but sometimes helps.

keep doing this until she either gets used to being locked out and/or stops spraying/peeing.

she'll be brainy enough to realise she's being 'punished' for spraying, but the fussing will let her know she's still welcome.

shouting at her and getting mad at her while leaving her around the house to spray will only reinforce the act as she's getting attention of somesort. think of it like you would a wee kid wanting attention of any kind.

the other thing to do is make sure there are no other cats already in the street coming in spraying and causing her to go loopy.

also wash everything and give the walls/furniture etc a good wash down (if nothing else it'll water down and spread her scent around (mingle it with any other smell that might be setting her off), an air odour neutralising spray might also help.

more likely than not she'll stop eventually if you leave her to it as she settles in and realises that it's not that bad really, but considering the frequency and how you are reacting (from what i gather) waiting for that isn't an option. 

if the above doesn't work or you don't want to do it, i'd phone the vets up and ask for an animal behaviourist to come to the house and have a look at her. cos you're blatantly at the point where you're thinking of getting rid of her (i know the feelign we had that a few weeks ago with bubs.. she's stopped spraying now, as faar as we know and is much happier.. still no real idea of what caused her upset) threats of 'you'll go back to Mary' did seem to help tho lol.

good luck


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Mosnippy said:


> hi, she has access to a litter tray.and she goes outside .she has been to the vet, and they put her on low antibiotics just in case she had a UTI a few months back, but that did nothing so it was down to behaviour....and its sometimes in the same spot, but as soon as I spray it with feliaway once cleaned she just finds another spot..really random spots. cant put anything down as it will get wee'd on. this morning my shoes had been wee'd on! i was not happy!
> 
> :mad2:


Did they take a urine sample and have a culture done? It's quite possible she has crystals or inflammation that is causing pain. What are you feeding her?

And....try cat attract litter in the litter box. And clean the whole house with some sort of enzyme cleaner. Get a black light to find all soiled areas. There is a good chance that whoever lived in the home before you had cats, and if those cats sprayed, that is what has triggered her. You may have to paint, using a heavy primer like Kilz to cover all scent.

http://preciouscat.com/

here is info on cat attract:


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## munchkinpie (Oct 20, 2011)

my aunt had a similar problem years ago turned out it was a cleaning substance she was using that was triggering it


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## ever expanding (May 9, 2011)

hi our vet recommended cleaning the areas with a biological washing powder solution and used it as a regular cleaning op i still use it in the areas around thier litter trays and ive heard the black light works for finding weed on areas good luck hope you find something that works and your little girl settles soon


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## margaretenevin (Feb 17, 2012)

Where can you buy black light from I have a similar problem


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## Longton Flyball (Nov 6, 2011)

Simple solution does take the smell away and is fantastic. It may not keep the cat away but will at least tak the smell away.

Has the cat been spayed? My Poppy did it once and then we had her done and she never caused us any problems. Snoopy is something else please read some of my threads great advice on there some of it may help you.

Good Luck!

I know how your feeling so please keep letting us know how your getting on


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