Adopted female cat started spraying

[Bubba_Hotep]

Hi,

New to TCS but have read many posts here over the years.

Sorry for the long post. In February we adopted an 8 year old spayed female cat (Addy) who has had an interesting history. She is indoors and very friendly and loves attention--gets very anxious if we are home but not right by her. The shelter had her on a daily dose of fluoxetine since she did not adjust well to the shelter and had started to spray. She also has weight issues and she has arthritis for which she gets a monthly shot--but she is active and seems to have no problem playing and getting on or off furniture or going up and down stairs. On the advice of our vet we are keeping her on the fluoxetine until we are sure the spraying is under control and for a time it has been.

When she first came home, she spent her time at night upstairs and we would let her down in the morning. But we started to let her roam the house at night and she even started to get into bed with us. We have litter boxes upstairs and downstairs and she uses them to pee and poop, no problem. She only sprayed 3 times when we brought her home and that was when she was upstairs, either at night or when we were at work. We figured it was the stress of a new place. But the spraying stopped until a week ago when she started to spray at the front and back doors of our house. She will be in bed with us and then at about 2:30-3:00am she will wake up, jump off the bed and start meowing like she wants to be fed. But even after she gets some food, she continues meowing loudly. We've tried staying up and petting her which calms her down for awhile but she will jump down and start again and then this usually culminates in her spraying on one of the doors (she is standing up and spraying right on the doors and not on the floor). What surprised us is that after that she is much calmer but she will start meowing again while we get ready for work--when one of us is ready we will go and sit with her and play with her and she calms right down. We have had her to the vet and they were unable to get a urine sample but they did give her a shot of convenia and as I said her litterbox habits have been good.

We have scrubbed the doors and the floors with an enzyme cleaner and have put large pee pads on the floor and taped to the doors so that has made things easier. We have been spraying the areas where she sprays with Flyway. We have had neighborhood cats and at least one feral that have been in our yard and by the house over the years. Is it possible that she is reacting to cats outside? (especially spraying by the doors) We had cats before her and our last cat passed away a month before we brought Addy home. We cleaned the house, but could it be she smells our other cat and is reacting to that? Could it be that she wants us up and awake and hanging out with her and just gets really anxious? The fact that it started suddenly makes me think that it is something in the house or outside that is the trigger.

We don't want to up the dose of fluoxetine (our goal is to maybe at some point see if we can get her off it)

Thanks all!

 

[Bubba_Hotep]

Hi,

New to TCS but have read many posts here over the years.

Sorry for the long post. In February we adopted an 8 year old spayed female cat (Addy) who has had an interesting history. She is indoors and very friendly and loves attention--gets very anxious if we are home but not right by her. The shelter had her on a daily dose of fluoxetine since she did not adjust well to the shelter and had started to spray. She also has weight issues and she has arthritis for which she gets a monthly shot--but she is active and seems to have no problem playing and getting on or off furniture or going up and down stairs. On the advice of our vet we are keeping her on the fluoxetine until we are sure the spraying is under control and for a time it has been.

When she first came home, she spent her time at night upstairs and we would let her down in the morning. But we started to let her roam the house at night and she even started to get into bed with us. We have litter boxes upstairs and downstairs and she uses them to pee and poop, no problem. She only sprayed 3 times when we brought her home and that was when she was upstairs, either at night or when we were at work. We figured it was the stress of a new place. But the spraying stopped until a week ago when she started to spray at the front and back doors of our house. She will be in bed with us and then at about 2:30-3:00am she will wake up, jump off the bed and start meowing like she wants to be fed. But even after she gets some food, she continues meowing loudly. We've tried staying up and petting her which calms her down for awhile but she will jump down and start again and then this usually culminates in her spraying on one of the doors (she is standing up and spraying right on the doors and not on the floor). What surprised us is that after that she is much calmer but she will start meowing again while we get ready for work--when one of us is ready we will go and sit with her and play with her and she calms right down. We have had her to the vet and they were unable to get a urine sample but they did give her a shot of convenia and as I said her litterbox habits have been good.

We have scrubbed the doors and the floors with an enzyme cleaner and have put large pee pads on the floor and taped to the doors so that has made things easier. We have been spraying the areas where she sprays with Flyway. We have had neighborhood cats and at least one feral that have been in our yard and by the house over the years. Is it possible that she is reacting to cats outside? (especially spraying by the doors) We had cats before her and our last cat passed away a month before we brought Addy home. We cleaned the house, but could it be she smells our other cat and is reacting to that? Could it be that she wants us up and awake and hanging out with her and just gets really anxious? The fact that it started suddenly makes me think that it is something in the house or outside that is the trigger.

We don't want to up the dose of fluoxetine (our goal is to maybe at some point see if we can get her off it)

Thanks all!

Sorry, the post should say Feliway not "flyway" (darn autocorrect!)

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Feliway doesn't necessarily work on all cats, so you might consider some other calming products. Just do a search on 'cat calming products' on the internet. It sounds like she might have FIC, or perhaps FLUTD. Stress management is often the key. I have included articles about all of this (see links below).

Since you do have cats roaming around outside and she is spraying doors to the outside, it is possible she is sensing their presence and that too can be a stressor. There are a few things to try to see if you can deter them from coming close to the house - I also included a link below to an article about ways to do that, although I don't necessarily agree with all of them.

She is still fairly new to your home, so that is probably is affecting her anxiety level a bit and could settle down more over time. If the vet suggested increasing her flouxetine for a while, I wouldn't be too opposed to it if it were me, maybe at least until you can get the spraying back under control? Getting a urinalysis after the antibiotics are done is still a worthy endeavor, as it would not only check for an ongoing infection or some sort of inflammation, but it will also look for sediment/crystals in the urine.

Feline Idiopathic Cystitis - How To Improve Your Cat's Quality Of Life - TheCatSite
Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (flutd) - TheCatSite
Stress in Cats - The Ultimate Guide - TheCatSite
How to Keep Stray Cats Away From Your House (9 Proven Methods) | Pet Keen

 

[Bubba_Hotep]

Thank you for the suggestions. We'll check with the vet. She needs to go in to get her arthritis shot and so can talk with them then. We did get a UV light to check the house for spray locations and so will be worth checking the back deck and front porch for marking by other cats. Will keep you posted. Thanks again!

 

[Bubba_Hotep]

So, vet checked her out and was able to get a urine sample. Part of the sample was sent out for a culture (just to be sure) but tests done during the visit showed no sign of an infection (RBC and WBC were normal) and no crystals were detected in this sample but this was done in the evening and the vet said that in the morning with more concentrated urine it might be a bit different. But appears to be no infection that they could detect. They said that stress could be driving this (maybe contributing to bladder inflammation) and so it could be outdoor cats or some other trigger. Based on what we have seen she is just very prone to stress anyway and needs constant reassurance if she knows we are in the house--when we leave for work she is often laying on the couch or heads upstairs and camps out on the couch up there. So there is something going on that triggers her in the early morning. Could it be us and our routine? Tried getting up a little earlier with her to pet her and hang out and then feeding her around 4am. Then brought her back into the bed and she went to sleep. No spraying. Could it have been that easy?

I used a UV light and am seeing urine stains from what I assume is a spraying cat(s) on the gas grill cover on the deck near the back door to the house. Will do some cleaning this weekend out there and figure out if there is a way to deter neighborhood cats from coming up on the deck (even if that isn't the entire cause worth a try).The vet recommended that we keep her on fluoxetine for now and they would prefer to not up the dose at the moment (currently 2.5mg).

She is a sweetheart and we love her very much. While this is just an inconvenience for us, I imagine it is way worse for her; to be stressed and anxious a lot of the time must be horrible.

 

[Kflowers]

She should be a little happier when you wipe away the outside cats' markings. Use the same enzyme cleaners on those spots as on the ones inside. I'd consider it something of a hobby. Let me also suggest something I found when fall became winter in one place we lived. Check your floor heat vents to be sure she's not spraying down them. One of ours was by a first floor window the outside visitor sprayed. He sprayed the wall below the window, not the window. Our cat sprayed down the heat vents. You will find a shallow cookie sheet will fit over the vent and a large rock should hold it in place. Our spraying cat was a neutered boy. His pee ate through the heating duck. Obviously, I was late discovering where he'd been spraying. A UV light would have been a good move. Glad you got one.