How can we stop our cat from constantly marking his territory inside the house?

He sprays on bags left near ground level, furniture, the floor (we have polished boards), washing and ironing hanging on the back of chairs, in doorways, on coat stand, even on me!


We have tried shouting, “time out”, giving more attention generally (not at time of offending behaviour), medication (Endep), pheromone sprays, ammonia, citronella, but nothing seems to be discouraging him. He has two litter boxes which are cleaned regularly and a cat flap to the garden open all day!


He is a large and otherwise healthy 4-and-a-half year old neutered male “moggie”, who lives an indoor-outdoor lifestyle, is generally affectionate, very compliant with medication etc. We also have a 3 year old neutered female cat who is perfectly behaved (they get on quite well together). He has been an “inappropriate urinator” from time-to-time over the past 4 years, but the territorial marking just seems to have got far worse over the past month.


We’re at our wits’ end! Any suggestions?

How can we stop our cat from constantly marking his territory inside the house?
Oh... poor family ... and poor kitty. Well. Here is my best guess. There is a cat outside that your kitty feels threatened by. (The same thing happened with my cat)...


First...hire a professional to come and clean your furniture and carpets...one who specializes in pet odors.


Then... keep kitty indoors and away from the "threatening" cat.


In our case it was a feral cat outdoors. I bought a trap. Caught it and brought it to a no kill shelter. I kept my cat indoors all fall... all winter and in the spring let it out again.


...and in this case it was problem solved.


However... in any case my guess is that your cat feels threatened and needs to say to all involved "This is mine!"


Good luck! I know it's a tuff problem and wears on your nerves! Best to you and kitty!
Reply:It sounds like there is another male in the house threatening his territory. Otherwise, this could also be a reaction to another environmental stressor such as anger that your schedule keeps you away longer hours, or that you have changed the way you treat him. Remember that marking is instinctive, and requires a trigger. Once you identify the trigger, you can adapt the environment so that it is no longer tirggered.





On a side note, SHOUTING, and time out might work on humans, but this is not a baby, it is an ANIMAL. You need to communicate with it and react to it in a manner it can understand. And Cats have never taken to obedience training as well as dogs.
Reply:You can get produscts from pet supply shops to deter them. But otherwise, i'm not sure.





Good Luck
Reply:I had a dog like that. And the vet put him on some kind of medication for a couple months to curb the instinct and it worked. He didn't do it after that. So I would imagine they have something similar for cats? There are some natural things, like orange juice scents, etc, which I'm sure would come up if you google it. Something is making him insecure is all I can think of. What does the vet attribute it to? Good luck dear.





ps. Now that I've had a chance to read the answers, I think Chrissy's right; that may very well be the source of what is causing the insecurity and the constant marking.
Reply:Wolf urine.
Reply:we had this problem with a couple of our cats bring them to the spot before cleaning it rub thier nose in it swat them or spray them with watter or both lol. we had one cat that wouldnt stop so my mom filled up a 3 gallon bucket and dumped it on the cat lol, never sprayed again
Reply:Male cats SPRAY. if there neautred before the age of 6months, they shouldn't spray, if there neautred over 6month he will still spray.





Female can spray, but is not likely.when there desexed it been spayed!


I never had a female cat that sprays!


http://www.catsofaustralia.com/cat-spray...
Reply:Territory marking is often a cry for help when a cat is feeling insecure. It's a way of signalling to others "keep out" or "I have a right to be here".





Try to think back over the past month or so, to any event that your cat may have found stressful. This could be an unpleasant encounter outside with another cat, or it could be something less obvious like decorating or new furniture within the home. Cats are creatures of habit, and changes that seem insignificant to us, can be a huge deal to them. If you can establish the cause of his anxiety and then remove or alleviate it, you are halfway to solving the problem.





The web article below offers more advice on why cats begin spraying and how to treat the problem.





http://www.celiahaddon.co.uk/pet%20probl...





You also need to thoroughly clean any areas where he has sprayed or urinated to help break the habit. As long as he can detect his own scent there, he will be attracted to "top-up" every time the smell begins to fade. Cat urine contains ammonia, so avoid products containing it. (To him it will just smell like another cat has marked there, causing him to over-mark it with his own scent.) The web article below has lot of cleaning advice that should help.





http://www.celiahaddon.co.uk/pet%20probl...
Reply:get a spray called kitty of spray at petsmart or petco
Reply:I had a female do that and I cleaned it up with vinger and lemon juice and I haven't had a problem since.
Reply:It's a very VERY stubborn cat. He also sounds like her hasn't been neutered. They will calm down and be less territorial if they are neuterted. It doesn't cost much. I only charge $40.





If this continues, you can give him (not too hard) a nice, uncomfortable swat on the BEHIND. Lol.

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