Treatment for Inappropriate Urination (Spraying) in Cats

1.     A full physical examination done by the veterinarian may determine that there is an underlying health issue which is causing the behavior.  10 – 40 % of cats with urination problems do have a treatable medical condition (ie: bladder infection, diabetes, etc.)

2.    Provide sufficient bathroom facilities for your cat. The general rule to follow is to have at least one litterbox more than the total number of cats that live with you.

Example: 2 boxes for 1 cat, 3 litterboxes for 2 cats, etc… Use more litter, make them easy to     get to and clean every day. Sometimes cats develop litter aversion - they don’t like the texture or smell of litter. Changing the type of litter you use may help.

3.    Make a map of your house and mark the areas where the cat is spraying. Then take a gauze pad and rub it on your cat’s cheek (area where the pheromone glands are) and rub the gauze on the spot or pin the gauze there. This is so that the cat will recognize the area as being familiar (they will recognize their scent) and not desire to spray in that area.

4.    If after you have tried steps #1-3, are still finding your cat is spraying, we recommend you use  FeliwayÒ, the synthetic  F3 facial pheromone found in cats. It is available as a spray or a room diffuser that you plug into any electrical outlet.  It dispenses small amounts of odorless (to humans) cat pheromones that act to calm your cat and make the house seem more familiar so they don’t feel compelled to spray. One diffuser will last approximately 4 weeks.  FeliwayÒ has shown a 98 % reduction of spraying in 28 days. We recommend that you find the areas in the house that the cat sprays the most in and strategically place the diffusers in these rooms. 1 diffuser covers an area of 500 square feet.

5.    Additionally, medications such as ClomicalmÒ have also proven to be helpful either alone or in conjunction with FeliwayÒ. This medication can be prescribed by your veterinarian.

Other Ideas for Prevention/Treatment

·         Spay or neuter your cat as soon as possible after they reach the age of 6 months. As they mature sexually, they spray because of a hormonal urge to. When they are not spayed/neutered early in life, they develop  and establish spraying as a behavior, and therefor, it is much more difficult to break them of this habit.

·         Stress/Anxiety/Conflict – A cat-cat conflict, cat-human conflict or a change in the cat’s routine will increase the chance of spraying. In these situations, most cats are responsive to medication. Sometimes,  territorial conflicts will arise if there are too many cats per household.

·         Avoid access to bedrooms, laundry, slippers (where cats will often urinate when stressed).

·         Provide offending cats with 4-6 hours daily of “alone time” especially during the time of day when the accidents tend to occur.