Bailey is spraying indoors
Bailey is spraying indoors
Bailey has been doing really well considering all the changes she and her brother Beaker have been going through over the past few weeks. But now, in the evenings when we are sitting in the lounge, and only then, she backs up to various pieces of furniture and gives all the appearances of spraying. Until tonight nothing was coming out, but tonight she really sprayed. I'm not surprised as she is so stressy and hyper. I wonder if we have made a mistake by having her in our room without her brother as they've always been together. So we thought about having him with us too rather than putting her back in the conservatory which is still chilly overnight. It's been a big upheaval for our other cats too and so any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Re: Bailey is spraying indoors
HI, I know you've posted before but I've forgotten the details. Can you give a bit more background please? That will help us get a better idea of what's upsetting Bailey.
Re: Bailey is spraying indoors
Hi Anna, sorry, it was a bit vague! The previous thread was 'Bailey has been shorn'
Since the sedation wore off she is still overly hyper, wide-eyed and loopy! She runs everywhere, can't sit still for long, frantically licks her bare skin and is generally upset poor girl. She had the sedation at the end of April. What with other vet visits for vaccs, checkup where she trembles and stresses she now has to have ear drops as the vet noticed her shaking her head and scratching her ears. This is a long term thing that previous vets have failed to find a reason for. So this vet said he will investigate further if the drops (surolan) don't help. So what with all the changes ie new home, other cats, previous poor living conditions, vet visits the spraying is not too much of a surprise. She uses the litter trays (we have six and Bailey and Beaker have two in their area and four in the house.
She has Zylkene twice a day, feliway diffusers in the hall and landing and Petremedy in our room. She is back with her brother overnight in their room (conservatory). We try not to react when she backs up to to spray but distract her instead.
It helps just to write this down, sorry it's long but we're at a loss now. Vet visits stress her so much so we have read the info online and emailed the behaviourist here for help. but if anyone has been through something similar (I guess spraying is a common problem) and come out the other side please share....
I feel we are maybe not helping in some way.
Since the sedation wore off she is still overly hyper, wide-eyed and loopy! She runs everywhere, can't sit still for long, frantically licks her bare skin and is generally upset poor girl. She had the sedation at the end of April. What with other vet visits for vaccs, checkup where she trembles and stresses she now has to have ear drops as the vet noticed her shaking her head and scratching her ears. This is a long term thing that previous vets have failed to find a reason for. So this vet said he will investigate further if the drops (surolan) don't help. So what with all the changes ie new home, other cats, previous poor living conditions, vet visits the spraying is not too much of a surprise. She uses the litter trays (we have six and Bailey and Beaker have two in their area and four in the house.
She has Zylkene twice a day, feliway diffusers in the hall and landing and Petremedy in our room. She is back with her brother overnight in their room (conservatory). We try not to react when she backs up to to spray but distract her instead.
It helps just to write this down, sorry it's long but we're at a loss now. Vet visits stress her so much so we have read the info online and emailed the behaviourist here for help. but if anyone has been through something similar (I guess spraying is a common problem) and come out the other side please share....
I feel we are maybe not helping in some way.
Re: Bailey is spraying indoors
Meant to say I play as much as possible with her, she loves da mousey, to work off some of that energy! Although my husband thinks it makes her more hyper as she never seems to tire! She used to love playing outside which she hasn't been able to do over the last couple of weeks so maybe next weekend when the weather is supposed to be warmer we will let her out supervised (the garden isn't secure) for a good run around. Hopefully it will help to destress her a bit.
Re: Bailey is spraying indoors
To be honest, like you, I'm not surprised she's still spraying either. There's still too much going on in her life to expect her to calm down right now, and all you can do is keep her environment as calm as possible and weather the storm until some sense of "normality" returns, which for her will mean no more vet visits, learning to feel more confident in her new home, and some improvement in the relations with Beaker. I know it's tough, but keep doing what you're doing, keep things calm, give her lots of reassurance, and wait for time to heal her frightened little brain. Some cats are just more stressy about these things, others take it in their stride. Bailey is one of those who just needs a bit more support to cope with these things.
Re: Bailey is spraying indoors
Thanks for your reply. We have to keep remembering that it's still early days and could take a long time for her to feel 'at home'. As the spraying is a new behaviour I'm hoping it can be nipped in the bud and that we don't unintentionally make it worse!
Our other concern is for our other cats feeling unhappy and stressed because of the changes in their previously quiet uneventful household! Beaker is turning out to be a bully in the house and the garden, which is a worry. They're scared of him so that's something else to try and work on..so any ideas on that score will be welcome. We've had our cats for six years and had it fairly easy up till now it seems. Having said that I love having these two and hope they will be happy eventually here.
Our other concern is for our other cats feeling unhappy and stressed because of the changes in their previously quiet uneventful household! Beaker is turning out to be a bully in the house and the garden, which is a worry. They're scared of him so that's something else to try and work on..so any ideas on that score will be welcome. We've had our cats for six years and had it fairly easy up till now it seems. Having said that I love having these two and hope they will be happy eventually here.