Spraying Cats!

VonVix

It's a daily occurrence, in the morning at the backdoor, a pile of cat pee... or spray, honestly I don't know if there's much of a difference but it's always one of the two female cats we have. But this morning seemed especially bad, as if both the girls did it in the same place.

This has been going on for a long time now but I feel like it's time I did something about it as no-one else is. But I'm not sure what I can do. We clean the area on a daily basis and I have even used one of those sprays that's is supposed to discourage a cat to spray in an area.

Argh, I'm so frustrated by the cats! With me getting bopped on the head during the night (its happened three times in the past week!) because of flashing lights on the wall, the girls spraying, trying to keep our really insecure cat happy (barely possible), having to battle the cats in order to make a tuna or chicken sandwich... we have too many of them at this point.

So that little vent aside... any tips on how to deal with stopping a cat spraying during the night?

boomerang

They are probably feeling threatened by another cat that passes through at night. Is keeping them in at night an option? Far less stressful for them.

Nody

Well for starters are they neutered? If not neuter, if yes do you have any other cats coming around? The spraying you're describing sounds like territorial; this means most likely they are marking because another cat is coming around the area and you'll need to deal with that in some form.

Secondly you say you're cleaning it every day; cleaning it with what exactly? Normal cleaning stuff is not enough; you need something to break down the protein in the pee. If you go into any pet store they'll have spray for it but if you don't use something like that )or the other enzyme cleaner it will simply not work. Strongly recommended you also get a UV light to check the pee (I find this one great while many others I've bought in stores simply did not do the trick). That will highlight exactly what's peed and need to be cleaned (expect to get very upset on the area to clean).

Third you need to check around not only were you see they pee but further around on sign posts etc. in your garden for pee as well and clean them with the same spray because you don't want only your cats territorial markers to go away.

Fourth and final assuming you still have an issue after this it most likely means other cats are still peeing and you'll need to simply stop them from coming there. This needs to be automated and can be via an air can or automatic sprinkler system or similar but basically you'll need to stop the other cats marking there to stop your cats from marking in the area as well.

Oh and have them checked for urinal infections; unlikely but always a check worth doing to be sure to rule it out.

VonVix

boomerang wrote: »

They are probably feeling threatened by another cat that passes through at night. Is keeping them in at night an option? Far less stressful for them.

The girls are pretty much always inside, they only go out to do their business, they don't really like being out much. But they have free access to go outside whenever they want during the night through the upstairs window which leads to the extension so they can hop both up and down easily.

Nody wrote: »

Well for starters are they neutered? If not neuter, if yes do you have any other cats coming around? The spraying you're describing sounds like territorial; this means most likely they are marking because another cat is coming around the area and you'll need to deal with that in some form.

Secondly you say you're cleaning it every day; cleaning it with what exactly? Normal cleaning stuff is not enough; you need something to break down the protein in the pee. If you go into any pet store they'll have spray for it but if you don't use something like that )or the other enzyme cleaner it will simply not work. Strongly recommended you also get a UV light to check the pee (I find this one great while many others I've bought in stores simply did not do the trick). That will highlight exactly what's peed and need to be cleaned (expect to get very upset on the area to clean).

Third you need to check around not only were you see they pee but further around on sign posts etc. in your garden for pee as well and clean them with the same spray because you don't want only your cats territorial markers to go away.

Fourth and final assuming you still have an issue after this it most likely means other cats are still peeing and you'll need to simply stop them from coming there. This needs to be automated and can be via an air can or automatic sprinkler system or similar but basically you'll need to stop the other cats marking there to stop your cats from marking in the area as well.

Oh and have them checked for urinal infections; unlikely but always a check worth doing to be sure to rule it out.

Yep, all our five cats are neutered. I don't think we've any strange cats coming around as far as I know because I never see any aside from one black and white chap a few houses down but our boys seem to keep strange cats away from our back garden at least.

Tbh I don't know what we are cleaning it with for sure, I think it's a regular surface cleaner. I bought a deterrent spray (my brain is useless for thinking of the name of anything, but it was a white and green spray bottle) for a while but someone chucked it out because they didn't like the smell of it... a UV light is an excellent idea! Thank you for that one!

Where they are spraying regularly is on the inside of the house at the back door, not on the outside, so trying to figure out a deterrent (if push comes to shove) would be kind of awkward to implement, though the air can is an interesting idea.

Nody

VonVix wrote: »

Yep, all our five cats are neutered. I don't think we've any strange cats coming around as far as I know because I never see any aside from one black and white chap a few houses down but our boys seem to keep strange cats away from our back garden at least.

The thing is chances are you'd not see it as feral cats are nocturnal; if they are spraying that close to an exist point I'm willing to bet once you get the UV light you'll find your outside door area sprayed down all over it.

Tbh I don't know what we are cleaning it with for sure, I think it's a regular surface cleaner.

A normal cleaner will simply not do I'm afraid. For cat/dog pee you need something to break down the protein in the pee or the smell will still be there to cats (but not to you). Once a cat smells pee at a spot it starts to become associated with peeing there and you get into a circle that's getting harder to break.

I bought a deterrent spray (my brain is useless for thinking of the name of anything, but it was a white and green spray bottle) for a while but someone chucked it out because they didn't like the smell of it...

Deterrent spray will not fix the root problem though... It's like putting parfume on a turd; it may not smell as bad but the turd is still there.

Where they are spraying regularly is on the inside of the house at the back door, not on the outside, so trying to figure out a deterrent (if push comes to shove) would be kind of awkward to implement, though the air can is an interesting idea.

The thing is they are spraying for a reason and the most likely reason is going to be all over what's on your wall on the other side of that door. Most likely one or more cats are spraying on the other side and they are "counter spraying" to mark that this is their area.

mymo

Biological washing powder in warm, not hot water will remove all trace of pee smell, even un neutered Tom spray.
Has to be the bio, not non bio.