Bringing male cat into female home chances of spraying?

[rainstorm12]

I currently have 2 female cats who get along great with the rare exception of lap jealousy. Our neighborhood is overrun with strays and feral. Between my neighbor and I we have managed to rehome or fix most of them. I finally had the opportunity to catch the last unspayed female today as she moved her kittens under our car. After they are weaned she'll be getting fixed and all the kittens as well. My husband and I have already fallen in love with one of the kittens and wish to keep him when he's old enough but it is a He. My husband and truthfully even I are worried about him spraying if we bring him into the main house with the girls. Of course he'll be fixed as soon as he's old/ big enough but my husband is convinced he'll spray everywhere (especially with girls in the house). The males outside fight and I'm sure spray(they are the ones we can't trap for anything). Even though he'll be inside he'll still see the outside cats through windows and he'll be living with 2 females(both fixed). Is there any way to guarantee the boy won't spray with the inside girls or get territorial with seeing the outside cats and spray? Should we just pick one of the females to bring in to join the other girls?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi! I personally don't think that just because this kitten is a male that he going to spray. And, most likely much less of a chance once he is neutered. Of course, there is no guarantee. However, the males outside are not neutered and are essentially ferals, fighting over territory and females, and that combination is more likely to cause spraying.

Any cat, including spayed females can get territorial too, so it really more or less depends on each cat individually.

 

[arr]

If you get him neutered young enough, he won’t spray. The low cost clinic in our area says for spay and neuter, 3 months or 3 pounds, whichever comes first. We did our boy around 4 months. He was around females and never sprayed.

 

[sunny578]

Male and female cats can urinate inappropriately/spray in response to stress, but you can set everyone up for success by having an optimal litter box set up, a good introduction plan, lots of high up places for all the cats to jump to, and lots of scratching post options. With a younger cat, I would overdo it on the litter boxes to start, making sure there are lots for him to choose from. Good luck and let us know if there are issues!

 

[rainstorm12]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I've been working on getting them used to me but they're still very scared and feral (some more than others). I guess we'll just have to see in the next few weeks how it goes with taming them and seeing who fits with the family. They're still very hissy and hide alot right now but I'm trying to get them used to touch and show them people aren't bad. I think when they start eating food it'll go easier.