I have 5 indoor (and 2 feral outdoor) kitties and I have been active in cat rescue, fostering, transport, etc. since around 2000.
The 3rd kitty in my indoor "pecking order", Lulu, is the only declawed girl. Her original adopters did a front declaw and then returned her after a little over a year, as a "pee cat". She has been with us for around 7 years now, and she is about 8 yrs old.
Lulu never sprayed much, except our suitcases and my husband's drycleaning, which we were able to make off-limits to her. But we added 2 more kitties in the past two years. One is an indoor feral who would be dead if we had not taken her, and the other simply captured my heart after I nurtured her from babyhood to good health over 8 months.
But back to our little LULU
she is a live wire, very hyper, even tho she is not a young kitty. She constantly chirps and burbles like R2D2. She loves to initiate crazy play sessions with the other cats. She dive-bombs them when they are sleeping. She gets them all running at night. But then when they engage, or when they want to play, she is overpowered. That is when she runs to any corner of the house and sprays it.
I have shut off a few rooms and have removed all the curtains in my house. I have a ton of litter boxes, huge steralite containers as well as private covered boxes. We use Everclean litter, unscented and we keep boxes clean. I have used every product known to man and have rearranged furniture to make old pee spots inaccessible.
But I think at this point it is the dynamic in the house with the extra cats. And it feels as if we can never do enough to make her feel special enough not to spray LOL.
My vet prescribed Clomicalm after ruling out medical causes. She said it is fine to use, even though it is only approved for dogs right now. She said she uses it for her kitty, who also is a bit high strung and cannot seem to keep herself from spraying when she gets wound up. The vet told me she wonders if it is hormonal with some cats, but has not been able to find much info in that area.
Anyhow- if you have behavioral suggestions beyond what I have covered, I'd be very open to trying them.
On the meds- Do you have any experience with this medication? I have held off with any medication for a long time because I would rather treat the problem.
I cannot give up the other 2 cats. And given that Lulu came to us as a "returned pee cat", and we have seen her mark when she is upset with us- we do not think rehoming her anywhere would stop her from marking.
The 3rd kitty in my indoor "pecking order", Lulu, is the only declawed girl. Her original adopters did a front declaw and then returned her after a little over a year, as a "pee cat". She has been with us for around 7 years now, and she is about 8 yrs old.
Lulu never sprayed much, except our suitcases and my husband's drycleaning, which we were able to make off-limits to her. But we added 2 more kitties in the past two years. One is an indoor feral who would be dead if we had not taken her, and the other simply captured my heart after I nurtured her from babyhood to good health over 8 months.
But back to our little LULU
I have shut off a few rooms and have removed all the curtains in my house. I have a ton of litter boxes, huge steralite containers as well as private covered boxes. We use Everclean litter, unscented and we keep boxes clean. I have used every product known to man and have rearranged furniture to make old pee spots inaccessible.
But I think at this point it is the dynamic in the house with the extra cats. And it feels as if we can never do enough to make her feel special enough not to spray LOL.
My vet prescribed Clomicalm after ruling out medical causes. She said it is fine to use, even though it is only approved for dogs right now. She said she uses it for her kitty, who also is a bit high strung and cannot seem to keep herself from spraying when she gets wound up. The vet told me she wonders if it is hormonal with some cats, but has not been able to find much info in that area.
Anyhow- if you have behavioral suggestions beyond what I have covered, I'd be very open to trying them.
On the meds- Do you have any experience with this medication? I have held off with any medication for a long time because I would rather treat the problem.
I cannot give up the other 2 cats. And given that Lulu came to us as a "returned pee cat", and we have seen her mark when she is upset with us- we do not think rehoming her anywhere would stop her from marking.
