Help!! Ginger Tom Spraying Everywhere

[freckles]

Hi all

I am my whits end with Gingy. He is spraying everywhere & on anything he can.

Today i have to throw away my toaster (i could have cleaned it, but couldnt stand the thought of using it afterwards) He sprays on the bin, microwave, in the hallway he has even sprayed on my card index box in my office, you name it he will spray on it.

He has only been doing this for about a year it was after i had his 2x sisters back to live with us.

I have 6x cats in total & he is the only one that does it (i think its becasue he is ginger lol). I have to say i have noticed whenever i put something new into the house he seems to definetly spray on it (it can be anything)

I am also wondering if it has something to do with the fact that yes he is the boss & he is just letting everyone know.

He is also a bully he will terrorise neighbours cats, one once had to go to vets & have stiches (how embarassing he needs an ASBO)

I have tried feliaway diffuser before for another of my cats who pees on the floor, could it be that he can smell her pee & wants to make his mark? Unfortunately the feliaway made no difference.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated as this is driving me mad & starting to get me down. I do not want to banish him to the garden all the time as he loves his comforts, but it could be heading that way?

Many thanks

Amanda

[dandysmom]

Amanda, is he neutered?

[Moli]

Have you tried spraying him with water everytime he goes to spray??

[freckles]

Yes he is neutered has been for about 5-6 years

[freckles]

No as he sometimes does it when i am not in house or in another room

[Samz5]

What a horrible problem to have.
Strange since he is neutered for him to do this - but you know what triggered it - his sisters moving back in, with 6 cats in your household I think your right he has an urge to keep letting everyone know HE is the boss.

First things first ... do you clean up the spray with a cleaner that destroys the smell completely? There are a few on the market you can buy and apparently biological washing powder mixed into a paste does the same job (but that will bleach carpets), this is very important because if your cat can smell where hes sprayed (even if you can't) he'll keep topping it up. Use a cleaner like this where ever the other cat pees as well, I'm sure this is just making the problem worse and you won't solve one problem without solving the other - its quite natural behavior for cats to mark territory like this but not nice in your house!

The rest is a behavior problem, he obviously has issues with the neighbors cats - there's not much you can do about that, boys will be boys but perhaps hes more aggressive because hes a little unsettled at home.

I would try this, after the major clean up, I would try another Feliway diffuser too even though it didn't solve the problem last time you want to cover all bases at once, Get some rescue remedy too and put 1 drop in food or water this should settle him down and he should start to relax more, if he were mine I would also be tempted to shut him in a room for a day or 2 and spoil him rotten so you should end up with a relaxed, happy cat and it eliminates any territory issues for him for a while (he might really hate it in which case just do it for a few hours and sit with him or shut all the other cats out of your living room and fuss him) and if hes shut in 1 room and you are there if he is tempted at all to spray you can imediatly tell him off, if he doesn't spray at all when shut in one room its a good start.

If your other cat is still peeing somewhere it shouldn't you need to get that problem sorted independently I don't think you'll solve one without the other! Does the other one still pee on the floor?
You just have to keep trying things and see how it goes, I've experienced both problems a few times and always got it sorted out in the end - let us know how it goes - I'm sure we can get it sorted!

[scilla]

Hi,

I have just stopped my female birman from spraying by keeping her in one room with food and litter and making a fuss of her and not letting her out at all. All this was on the advice of behaviour nurse at the vet's and has lasted about a month. She is not spraying now but will have to remain an indoor cat. Good luck! Keep up with the Felliway. Scilla