Unneutered foster cat is driving me crazy...

[Maggiez]

We brought back our first foster cat about two weeks ago. He is a unneutered 2-year old male cat. We have separated him in our home office from our three resident cats.

He is a super sweet and like to snuggle. We were even considering taking him in. But he has been spraying everywhere and jeez it stinks! There are two times he peed outside of the litter box, one time on my husband's jacket and last night on the bed. I can tell is not just marking territory because the stain area is large, covered both my blanket and the mattress underneath. We are reluctant to remove the beddings for cleaning because we worried he will pee on it again. Sometimes he dash out of his room and he also sprayed on our furnitures a few times.

He also cries very hard in the early morning and at night because he wants to come out of the room. After a week he's here, all my cats are very curious to get in his room, and he wants to get out. Every time we try to open the door, he tried to sneak out and sometimes succeed. And sometimes my cats dash in to steal his food, making him nervous. There were some hissing but nothing serious happened. But lately he has been crying louder and louder that we cannot get any good sleep.

I guess half of this post is just ranting because I know we need to get him neutered asap. His second dose of vaccination is this Thursday, and the shelter is trying to schedule the neuter in another 10 days. Is there anything we can do to make this situation easier? I think I made the mistake of trying to introduce my cats to him, which probably made it worse. Now I try very hard to isolate him in his own room.

I feel so bad. My husband and I love the cat and was seriously debating if we should adopt him, but now we want to send him back as soon as possible...

 

[vince]

He might be used to going against a building or something, so you might need to get him a deep box for a litter box, maybe one of the deep ones they sell at the big box hardwares. He's very frightened and nothing seems familiar, so he's marking everywhere. Once it's started, there's a higher chance that he may continue after spaying, but it's not a given.

The smell will quickly improve after he's spayed, but the hormones take a while to get out of his system. Probably a month will have to pass before the smell is all gone and his behavior quiets down.

An enzyme cleaner will be needed to remove all traces of the urine smell. There are a number of them available from store and online.

 

[tarasgirl06]

We brought back our first foster cat about two weeks ago. He is a unneutered 2-year old male cat. We have separated him in our home office from our three resident cats.

He is a super sweet and like to snuggle. We were even considering taking him in. But he has been spraying everywhere and jeez it stinks! There are two times he peed outside of the litter box, one time on my husband's jacket and last night on the bed. I can tell is not just marking territory because the stain area is large, covered both my blanket and the mattress underneath. We are reluctant to remove the beddings for cleaning because we worried he will pee on it again. Sometimes he dash out of his room and he also sprayed on our furnitures a few times.

He also cries very hard in the early morning and at night because he wants to come out of the room. After a week he's here, all my cats are very curious to get in his room, and he wants to get out. Every time we try to open the door, he tried to sneak out and sometimes succeed. And sometimes my cats dash in to steal his food, making him nervous. There were some hissing but nothing serious happened. But lately he has been crying louder and louder that we cannot get any good sleep.

I guess half of this post is just ranting because I know we need to get him neutered asap. His second dose of vaccination is this Thursday, and the shelter is trying to schedule the neuter in another 10 days. Is there anything we can do to make this situation easier? I think I made the mistake of trying to introduce my cats to him, which probably made it worse. Now I try very hard to isolate him in his own room.

I feel so bad. My husband and I love the cat and was seriously debating if we should adopt him, but now we want to send him back as soon as possible...

Well, you said it. You knew that a 2-year-old unneutered male would be likely to spray. It is not his fault, but his nature. I'm very surprised the ACC/humanesociety/rescue/sanctuary didn't neuter him before they let him be fostered! They would certainly know he'd be liable to spray. And with other cats in the home, of course it would be natural for him to mark territory, especially if there is/are one or more male cats in your family. NOT his fault. Not anyone's fault. But yes, neutering is a MUST. I hope this will not be a criteria for not adopting! As soon as he is neutered, his hormones lessen, and he is able to settle in and adapt, a gradual process, he may very well be an excellent addition to the family.
Experts advise against sudden intros. Jackson Galaxy, cat behaviorist and "Cat Daddy" of YouTube, Animal Planet and book fame, and others advise to keep the new cat in his or her own room, with all needs (litterbox, food and water, toys, climbing and scratching places, and cat bed or other comfortable sleeping area), for up to 2 weeks minimum, doing gradual through-the-door introductions. There are also tutorials here on TCS on cat introductions.
DO keep him in his own room until he is neutered, visiting him frequently to spend time with him, talk with him, stroke him, and play with him (interactive wand-and-lure toys like Cat Dancer and da Bird are very interesting for most cats).
Please let us know how everything progresses, won't you? And give him the love, patience, and benefit of the doubt that he needs and deserves, please. He is very handsome and he deserves a loving permanent family and home.
V vince reminds me, we've used Nature's Miracle-Just For Cats for yonks. It's an enzymatic cleaner available wherever cat supplies are sold, and it is very effective used according to the label. It's also safe, and because it's enzymatic, it destroys the molecules that cause the smell, eliminating rather than just masking it.

 

[Maggiez]

NOT his fault. Not anyone's fault. But yes, neutering is a MUST. I hope this will not be a criteria for not adopting! As soon as he is neutered, his hormones lessen, and he is able to settle in and adapt, a gradual process, he may very well be an excellent addition to the family.
Experts advise against sudden intros. Jackson Galaxy, cat behaviorist and "Cat Daddy" of YouTube, Animal Planet and book fame, and others advise to keep the new cat in his or her own room, with all needs (litterbox, food and water, toys, climbing and scratching places, and cat bed or other comfortable sleeping area), for up to 2 weeks minimum, doing gradual through-the-door introductions. There are also tutorials here on TCS on cat introductions.
DO keep him in his own room until he is neutered, visiting him frequently to spend time with him, talk with him, stroke him, and play with him (interactive wand-and-lure toys like Cat Dancer and da Bird are very interesting for most cats).
Please let us know how everything progresses, won't you? And give him the love, patience, and benefit of the doubt that he needs and deserves, please. He is very handsome and he deserves a loving permanent family and home.
V vince reminds me, we've used Nature's Miracle-Just For Cats for yonks. It's an enzymatic cleaner available wherever cat supplies are sold, and it is very effective used according to the label. It's also safe, and because it's enzymatic, it destroys the molecules that cause the smell, eliminating rather than just masking it.

I agree! We both know it's totally natural and it is not his fault. So I really cannot blame him at all. And every time we visit him, he is so affectionate, just sitting on our laps and purr all the time. And sometimes he climbs on my husband's chest to take a nap. It is very difficult to be mad at him lol

I learned my lesson of sudden intros. I got carried away when I introduced our 3rd cat - he was 6-month old and my other two cats are just reached 1 year's old. It was a super easy introduction since they are all very young. I thought I might be able to get lucky this time but nope. The new cat has been confident and didn't hide at all, so I didn't know that he's very stressed. But looking back, I just realized that he must be under distress because he had very little appetite at the beginning and he just started to eat a lot more after a week. Now we're very strict at keeping him in his room and do not allow our cats to visit.

He has a cat tree, scratcher, boxes and toys in the room. We spent quite a lot of time with him but I think I need to play with him more to help him burn off energy.

We do have an enzymatic cleaner. Here is the concern - I've cleaned the sprays in other rooms but haven't cleaned up his room. I read that if I clean the marking, he would do it again. As for the pee stain on the bed, if I wash the bedding now, I had to find something else to cover the mattress (the current bedding is the cheapest set I have) and he might pee on it again. But if I do not clean the bed, the smell is SO strong. My husband is suggesting to get it cleaned after the neutering, but it means one 10 more days of super stinking room...

 

[tarasgirl06]

I agree! We both know it's totally natural and it is not his fault. So I really cannot blame him at all. And every time we visit him, he is so affectionate, just sitting on our laps and purr all the time. And sometimes he climbs on my husband's chest to take a nap. It is very difficult to be mad at him lol

I learned my lesson of sudden intros. I got carried away when I introduced our 3rd cat - he was 6-month old and my other two cats are just reached 1 year's old. It was a super easy introduction since they are all very young. I thought I might be able to get lucky this time but nope. The new cat has been confident and didn't hide at all, so I didn't know that he's very stressed. But looking back, I just realized that he must be under distress because he had very little appetite at the beginning and he just started to eat a lot more after a week. Now we're very strict at keeping him in his room and do not allow our cats to visit.

He has a cat tree, scratcher, boxes and toys in the room. We spent quite a lot of time with him but I think I need to play with him more to help him burn off energy.

We do have an enzymatic cleaner. Here is the concern - I've cleaned the sprays in other rooms but haven't cleaned up his room. I read that if I clean the marking, he would do it again. As for the pee stain on the bed, if I wash the bedding now, I had to find something else to cover the mattress (the current bedding is the cheapest set I have) and he might pee on it again. But if I do not clean the bed, the smell is SO strong. My husband is suggesting to get it cleaned after the neutering, but it means one 10 more days of super stinking room...

Actually, those things experts say about cat intros are tried and true and recommended for very good reasons. So I follow them.
And I've heard the opposite about marking. Clean it OR he will re-mark in the same place.
One of my beloved cats became incontinent right before she passed at 19. She had an accident on my pristine kingsize mattress. So I invested in a waterproof mattress protector, which I bought on amazon. It was quite affordable and certainly a lot cheaper than it would be to replace a high quality kingsize mattress! It was mostly water anyway, so did not ruin the mattress. I keep it on all the time. It's such good insurance for a small price. Some use those dog pee pads on beds to protect them. Those can be thrown out and replaced. Others put plastic tarp or sheeting on the bed to protect.

 

[Maggiez]

Actually, those things experts say about cat intros are tried and true and recommended for very good reasons. So I follow them.
And I've heard the opposite about marking. Clean it OR he will re-mark in the same place.
One of my beloved cats became incontinent right before she passed at 19. She had an accident on my pristine kingsize mattress. So I invested in a waterproof mattress protector, which I bought on amazon. It was quite affordable and certainly a lot cheaper than it would be to replace a high quality kingsize mattress! It was mostly water anyway, so did not ruin the mattress. I keep it on all the time. It's such good insurance for a small price. Some use those dog pee pads on beds to protect them. Those can be thrown out and replaced. Others put plastic tarp or sheeting on the bed to protect.

These are all very good suggestions! I’m going to get a waterproof mattress cover on Amazon today so I can clean up the bed.
PS. Just found out he LOVE the cat dancer. Will try to tire him out with a few sessions this evening and hopefully he’ll able to rest without crying too much

 

[tarasgirl06]

These are all very good suggestions! I’m going to get a waterproof mattress cover on Amazon today so I can clean up the bed.
PS. Just found out he LOVE the cat dancer. Will try to tire him out with a few sessions this evening and hopefully he’ll able to rest without crying too much

A 10-15 minute session before bedtime can be wonderful. Followed by a couple of high-value treats such as Feline Greenies (I do NOT recommend the popular ones starting with "T" -- you can read about those by searching their brand name). And yes, enzymatic cleaner, let dry, and put the cover on. Saves your mattress and your sanity.