Cat Chat Feline Forum

I have 2 kittens, just over a year old (if you can still call them kittens) one of the kittens has started spraying, a lot. Within an hour she sprayed 3 times. They are indoor cats, they’ve never been out the house. Nothing has changed other than the litter we use as we now use clumping litter. But she is using it so as normal I have no idea why she has started doing this all of a sudden.

Hi there and welcome.

Are they spayed? I used to breed Siamese and my girls would spray like toms when they were in heat ... I also had a spayed girl and a spayed Siamese x cousin who would spray any old time they felt like it ... I used to buy my curtains from Oxfam.

If they're not spayed I'd suggest doing it as soon as possible - after they come off heat of course because during heat there is an extra supply of blood to the womb etc, but your vet can advise on this. Good luck with them, and if they are spayed please let us know and we'll try to help; hopefully others will be along with more advice too

Definitely spay if not already done, but I have had this with spayed females and neutered males when they have felt threatened by an intruder and were marking their territory - even a cat seen through the window can be enough to start it, and once started they will keep remarking the scented spots - or are signalling that this is their space to other animals in the house. I found cleaning very, very thoroughly with an enzyme pet cleaner while working to reduce anxiety eventually did the trick, but it took time. Is she spraying near the tray? Or near any other place or thing of high value - a special bed or viewing place or entrance? More trays etc may help if she is spraying to indicate "MY stuff!". If she is really dedicated the simplest answer may be a plastic board in her favourite spot, wiped down with just water.

Is this definitely a spray standing up with quivering tail, not just an inappropriate widdle squatting down? If it's a widdle then even if she uses the litter as well I would still suspect that.

If it's a definite spray that's a different problem and psychological. It doesn't have to be an outside cat making her feel insecure or territorial, it could be the other cat. At around 10 months to a year they would naturally be becoming solitary animals moving away from the mother and siblings and establishing their own territory. She can't do that so she may be laying down some boundaries for the other cat, there is often some kind of territory between cats inside a house even if it's not obvious to humans.

Do not clean with bleach products though, they will make things much worse.