Female Cat Sprayed Me

[andy411]

This morning I woke up for work, went to use the bathroom, and our 8yo female cat walked in after me. She does this every morning, asking for pets and flopping over to get her belly rubbed.

I gave her some back scratchies from my perch on the toilet. When she went to leave, she stopped at the door and her tail started twitching violently. I thought maybe she had seen our other cat outside in the hall and was feeling playful. But then she sprayed on me!!

It wasn't a small amount of pee and was pretty fragrant. I had to clean the floor and my dripping legs before I could hop in the shower and process what happened.

We moved a few weeks ago, and both of our cats seem to be adjusting well to the new home. They haven't shown any signs of stress since we introduced them to the house, and we even bought them a giant new cat tree so they can enjoy their much bigger space

The only thing I can think of is that her food bowl was empty, but that's the case almost every morning as they graze throughout the night. We feed them wet and dry food at the same time every morning.

Has anyone else had this experience? What might have caused her to do this?

 

[Brian007]

I've known the occasional female cat spray. Just like I've known the occasional neutered male spray. It's usually caused by anxiety and/or an underlying medical condition.

Because you've recently moved, I'd guess that's been the cause of anxiety. Now then, a cat can feel anxious about an event without showing any outward signs at the time. And, it's not until a few weeks later (when to all intents and purposes the stressful event has passed) that physical symptoms present.

Stress and anxiety can cause bladder problems in cats, namely cystitis. Your cat may have been crossing her legs and not going to the toilet as often as she should have during the upheaval of your move, which would lead to cystitis crystals forming in her bladder. Cystitis, or another UTI or bladder inflammation, can cause a female cat to spray.

So, I recommend you take her to the vet asap to get checked out and given treatment.

And, make sure that she has access to fresh water at all times and is drinking (fountains encourage drinking). And that she has clear, unobstructed access to her litter tray, and that there are enough litter trays for the household (one for each cat). Has she shown any litter tray peculiarities during your packing up, moving, and subsequent unpacking?

Scrub any area she sprayed with an enzyme cleaner then spray with vinegar to neutralise any smell-trapping bacteria. If you don't do this, she and your other cat(s) may pee or spray on the site and lead to an on-going issue.

Maybe think about getting a Feliway Classic diffuser plug-in for a month to help acclimatise your cats to their new surroundings. And possibly some Cystease for cystitis caused by stress, which you can ask your vet about.

I hope she feels better soon. Please update us with her progress and vet report.

 

[andy411]

Thanks for your insight! Spoons (the perp in question) has been to the vet a few times over the last six months for pee issues, so I wonder if that's related. She sometimes has accidents in her sleep, which is costing us a small fortune in bedding laundry, and since she's completely fine health-wise in regards to that she's on a weekly dose of estrogen. The vet believes it's spay incontinence since it usually happens while she's sleeping deeply in our bed. This is the first time we've ever observed her peeing outside the litterbox or those instances related to spay incontinence.

 

[Brian007]

Aww, Spoons! My brother had a cat called Jess, who used to get called Spoon/Spoony for some reason.

If it's spay incontinence, when was she spayed, and how long was it until she became incontinent afterwards?

Did her initial pee symptoms coincide with your first stages of moving? Cats can be supersensitive and pick up on human stress, which presumably you will have been under for some time now.

Maybe look into getting some 'puppy pee pads' to put on top of your bedclothes for her to sleep on. They would cut down on your cleaning!