Female Cat Spraying

[ALittleCatty]

Hi, I specifically made an account for this problem. I'm a college student living with my parents and we have four cats (all fixed and rescued off the street) a 13 year old male (A), a 5 year old male(B), an almost 4 year old female (C), and another female under 2 (D).

The 4 year old has always been a bit "bratty", and A+B have always been chill cats who would rather lay and snuggle together.

When we got D last April, we kept her in a bathroom with everything she needed. She enjoyed living in there. The other cats were wary around the door but eventually we introduced all of them and none of them had a problem. I was out of school at the end of April until late August, and the cats enjoyed that with the two females often sharing my lap.

Sometime in September, C started hating D. C would see (and still will) D bathing and chase her upstairs and corner her. There's only been one time where D was actually hurt (I check her over whenever they have a spat), and she had a scratch over the bridge of her nose and was bleeding. It's always C initiating things, except for the rare moments when C walks past D and D swipes at her.

C started spraying things in September too. She would back up to a wall, window, picture frame, couch, and would spray it. Now A had a problem with peeing (not spraying) on fabric left around such as a towel on the floor, a blanket on the couch, which the vet said was anxiety and we started giving him a pill which helped. So when C started spraying I thought it was anxiety, but when we went to the vet he said it sounded like she was spraying out of spite (which I thought cats weren't capable of but I'm not a vet). So in November I started letting C in my room. We previously had always left doors closed to rooms to keep A from peeing on beds. I gave her her own private litter box which gets scooped twice a day (there are 5 litter boxes outside of my room which are kept scooped too), and we thought giving her her own space would fix things.

C sleeps every night with me and D gets put up in the bathroom a lot (which she likes a lot and will run into the bathroom when we put her up and curl up in bed). C has only peed once in my room near the beginning of her staying in there on a shirt I left in the floor. I see her pee in her litter box, but she will still spray around the house. Just today when I was straightening my hair in the bathroom, she backed up to a towel, wiggled her tail and sprayed it.

I'm not sure what to do anymore. I don't want to get rid of C since she was there first, and well she's my cat (she's got a little but of an unhealthy attachment too. If she's in my lap first and another cat gets into my lap she'll swipe at them. If another cat is in my lap first she won't bother them though.), and my mother has grown attached to D since she is just a sweet kitty. Locking up C in my room isn't an option as she won't stay in there all day and we can't keep D locked up all the time. C gets a hard playing session in the morning and at night, but often she'll abandon the toy to go after D.

I'm sorry for the length, but I'm at my wits end.

 

[calicosrspecial]

No need to apologize about the length, this is very helpful.

It sounds like a territorial insecurity problem. In other words, C is insecure about the territory (because of D) that she has to say "here I am, this is mine! I own this" and she sprays it.

What i would like to do is step up play with C immediately. Really good play sessions. Hunt, Capture, Kill, repeat. Then after a good play session feed either treats or a meal. Starting playing with her in areas she is spraying and extend out into other parts of the house. Also, if possible, add some scratching posts and cat trees. Finally, be as calm and confident around C as possible, give her good food, give her love (if you can safely without being hurt in any way).

And try to build a positive association with D. Feed them near each other. Try to make every encounter they have as positive as possible. If you sense tension or a situation about to develop distract them to avoid a negative encounter.

So we are going to build C's confidence through Play, Food, Height and love and to work on making a positive association between C and D using food and positive encounters avoiding negative ones.

I also would like to step up play with D if possible to build confidence as a confident cat is less likely to attack or be attacked.

It is very common for an existing cat to go through issues when a new cat comes in and the introduction is rushed a bit. Often times things start off ok and people think things are fine but it takes a little while to build up trust and to let the resident cat know that the new cat is not a threat.

Don't worry, your situation is common and can be handled with the proper actions and effort. I am happy to help.

Please feel free to ask anything anytime and share any information. If we can build C's confidence and trust we will solve this issue.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

The only thing that I can add to this is to advise you to get a really good enzymatic cleaner and clean everywhere that she has sprayed thoroughly. This will keep the scent from triggering her to spray there again. OH, and this, which might help a bit, as well:

Do Cats Get Jealous? (and What To Do About It When They Do)

 

[ALittleCatty]

No need to apologize about the length, this is very helpful.

It sounds like a territorial insecurity problem. In other words, C is insecure about the territory (because of D) that she has to say "here I am, this is mine! I own this" and she sprays it.

What i would like to do is step up play with C immediately. Really good play sessions. Hunt, Capture, Kill, repeat. Then after a good play session feed either treats or a meal. Starting playing with her in areas she is spraying and extend out into other parts of the house. Also, if possible, add some scratching posts and cat trees. Finally, be as calm and confident around C as possible, give her good food, give her love (if you can safely without being hurt in any way).

And try to build a positive association with D. Feed them near each other. Try to make every encounter they have as positive as possible. If you sense tension or a situation about to develop distract them to avoid a negative encounter.

So we are going to build C's confidence through Play, Food, Height and love and to work on making a positive association between C and D using food and positive encounters avoiding negative ones.

I also would like to step up play with D if possible to build confidence as a confident cat is less likely to attack or be attacked.

It is very common for an existing cat to go through issues when a new cat comes in and the introduction is rushed a bit. Often times things start off ok and people think things are fine but it takes a little while to build up trust and to let the resident cat know that the new cat is not a threat.

Don't worry, your situation is common and can be handled with the proper actions and effort. I am happy to help.

Please feel free to ask anything anytime and share any information. If we can build C's confidence and trust we will solve this issue.

Thanks! This is really helpful. I love both cats and would only want to rehome D if she's getting actually hurt by C. I'll most definitely just start scheduling play sessions for each of them. We have about 2 medium sized cat towers, one large one that reaches the ceiling (C loves the very top), and a couple of posts. I think I'll but C her 'own' medium cat tower for my room so that she 'owns' it. And well I could probably use a new one!

With four cats to feed it's easy to have the two of them as far as possible with the males in between. I'll start redirecting both of them towards food bowls close to each other.

And I honestly haven't thought of building up D's confidence (which honestly makes sense!) so I'm going to work on that too. I think if she built up confidence to do more than hiss at C, then C would stop.

I'm glad I finally decided to get input from others as the vet was very dismissive and seemed to just think time would fix things.

 

[ALittleCatty]

The only thing that I can add to this is to advise you to get a really good enzymatic cleaner and clean everywhere that she has sprayed thoroughly. This will keep the scent from triggering her to spray there again. OH, and this, which might help a bit, as well:

Do Cats Get Jealous? (and What To Do About It When They Do)

We have used about 5 different ones! I think we found a good one, I'm just nervous about If there are guests at her home she might spray on something right in front of C! We pretty much thoroughly soak the sprayed places, clean it, and even have a handheld blacklight to make sure lol.

That was an interesting article! C was rescued just past weaning age as a kitten from a dangerous situation and spent a couple of months living in my room while she was getting big enough to be near my other cats. Ever since then she's seemed to be possesive of me, which I don't mind except for the peeing! And honestly since she started sleeping with me she's gotten better.

Anyways thanks for the article!

 

[calicosrspecial]

Thanks! This is really helpful. I love both cats and would only want to rehome D if she's getting actually hurt by C. I'll most definitely just start scheduling play sessions for each of them. We have about 2 medium sized cat towers, one large one that reaches the ceiling (C loves the very top), and a couple of posts. I think I'll but C her 'own' medium cat tower for my room so that she 'owns' it. And well I could probably use a new one!

With four cats to feed it's easy to have the two of them as far as possible with the males in between. I'll start redirecting both of them towards food bowls close to each other.

And I honestly haven't thought of building up D's confidence (which honestly makes sense!) so I'm going to work on that too. I think if she built up confidence to do more than hiss at C, then C would stop.

I'm glad I finally decided to get input from others as the vet was very dismissive and seemed to just think time would fix things.

You are very welcome.

This is very common and we can handle this.

I think your plan (new cat tree, play, feed, etc) and your understanding is great. And most importantly your desire to improve things. Building C's confidence will be extremely helpful I believe.

I am here for you so please ask any questions and share any information. Don't worry, we'll get there.

 

[10009891]

It's a fallacy the neutered or spayed cats don't spray. They do even when operated, male or female.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Although early spaying or neutering does cut down on it. But yes, any cat will mark territory when they feel threatened.