- Defensive Aggression
- Scratching
- Biting
- Cat + Dog
- Declawing
- Exercising
- Litter Box
- New Kitten
- Outdoor vs. Indoor
- Pregnancy + Cat
- Spraying
Spraying Problems
The first thing to do is ask yourself one question: Is my cat spayed or neutered? No? Well get it taken care of immediately! The main reason for a cat to spray is to mark his territory. This could be for a male or female and will be taken care of by spaying or neutering. Hormones take about six weeks to get out of the system, so try to spay or neuter your animal before it goes into sexual maturity to lessen the chances of this behavior.
Another reason cats may begin spraying is because of environmental changes such as moving or a new baby. They will start to urinate out of the box because they feel fearful of the changes that occurred so suddenly to them. If you know your cat is healthy and you cannot repair the environmental change, then you will need to retrain your cat. To retrain your cat you will need to confine him to a small area when you cannot be there to supervise – usually a bathroom or laundry room works well. Just remember to kitty proof the area so you don’t come home to a mess. Place the litter box in the room with other amenities such as water, bed, and toys. However, do not place these items too close to the litter box, as cats like to keep these activities separate. While you are not home, the cat will hopefully use the box because he has little choice of where to go. When you are home, you will want to show the cat the litter box occasionally in hopes of catching him going in the box so you may reinforce with a lot of praise.
Refrain from punishing a cat for going to the bathroom outside of his litter box, as this may confuse the cat. Hitting the cat is counterproductive and will only cause more behavioral problems such as biting, nervousness, or hiding from you to go to the bathroom. Do not use a spray bottle or loud noise in this case because you do not want the cat to think that whenever he goes to the bathroom he will get misted with water or yelled at – even in the litter box.
If your cat does have an accident, clean it up with a product that neutralizes the odor. There are many such products on the market. Make sure you do not clean it up with anything that contains ammonia, as this is a component of urine and can encourage the cat to go there again.
