spraying/peeing on wall

[lwilson]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and am desperately seeking help. I'm at my wits' end. I have a boy who was rescued in March; estimates for his age from the humane society and from a vet are under a year or around 3 years. We are unsure if he was previously neutered or if he is cryptorchid (undescended testicles). Likely neutered, but the vet told us they could not confirm without opening him up in a surgery, so unless there becomes a need to do that then just let him be. Well, he has made a habit of standing IN the litter box (in my bathroom) but peeing on the wall or side of the tub instead of into the litter box. I know he can pee down into the litter box and have seen him do it normally, but sometimes even when I am watching (and have clearly yelled at him and stopped him) he will pee on the wall/tub. This is my first cat that I have lived with for an extended period of time so I am unfamiliar with what spraying looks like. It seems to me to be too much liquid to just be a spray, but perhaps that is what it is. Either way, he cannot do this.

The first few times it happened I usually caught him in the act and thought me making a big scene and scaring him would make a negative association and he wouldn't do it anymore. Now the behavior has increased and he's doing it multiple times a week, sometimes it feels like every day. It's gotten to the point of whenever I hear him in the littler box I feel like I have to get up and check on him no matter what I'm doing and it's driving me insane. He is a wonderful cat otherwise, but this habit would be enough for me to give him back. I have friends interested in adopting him as well but I cannot wholeheartedly recommend him if he's peeing on walls every other day.

For reference, I live with two dogs and a female (spayed) cat. She is a recent foster, and he was doing this before she was here. There is a baby gate blocking the dogs from getting into my room and bathroom.

I am considering taking him for an exam at a different vet to see if they have any luck determining if he was neutered as I've heard much better things about that vet. Though I'd rather him not have to go through that surgery if possible, especially when we don't even know if it's necessary.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions! He is such a sweet boy and has gotten pretty attached to me. But I cannot live like this.

[booktigger]

I've never known a vet not be able to tell if a male has been neutered, I can tell just by looking with some males, and I've fostered 2 with undescended testicles and knew by feeling them! You would know though, as even with undescended testicles their wee has that strong unnetured tom cat smell. Have you tried a covered litter tray? Or different litters, he might not like the feel under his feet?

[Mollycat]

Neutered cats can still spray but anyway a cat's anatomy is that if he doesn't crouch the pee will go out horizontal.

I'm sorry to say it's very likely your yelling and making a scene has caused him a load of stress around using the tray and is making him confused and fearful and making it worse. You're right, it does create a negative association, but a cat's response to a negative association is not to behave more like we want them to.

With territory spraying there is often a little paddle of the back legs like a shuffling dance then the tail quivers and often they turn around to sniff to make sure their mark is a good one. A pee is just a pee.

All I can suggest is getting a high sided litter tray like this one https://www.viovet.co.uk/Savic-Aseo-Hi- ... gK8nPD_BwE and make sure when he uses it there is nobody there with him and definitely do not yell if he gets it wrong. My rescue cat used to be terrified any time she vomited and it's taken me years of reassuring her and letting her watch me clear up without making a fuss to help her become less worried about it. I'm sure she got yelled at in her old home. If anything, reassure him that it's ok, as frustrating as it is for you, accidents happen - I know this isn't an accident but we want to help him improve the behaviour, not traumatise him even more.

If you get a high sided tray and change your reaction when he gets it wrong, if he is in good health, then after a few weeks if he is still doing it then maybe look deeper for what could be stressing him out, but please don't yell at him any more.

It could be the new cat stressing him out and maybe if he was placed in a new home he might not do it at all.

Also, he might not be happy sharing his tray, adding a second one somewhere else in the house could help.

[Catfan5]

Hi, I have a cat who does this as well, he’s older at 13. Knowing he had a blocked bladder when he was young in his previous home I had a sample of his wee tested a couple of years ago. The vet found he had a lot of struvite crystals in it which would be making it harder for him to wee squatting, standing up was easier for him. Of course this may not be your boys problem at all but might be worth checking. In the meantime, a high sided litter tray might work or a large covered one as mentioned, wet food and plenty of water around and no shouting at him. It really won’t help, just stresses him more.

[Ruth B]

Welcome to the forum and I can only back up what the others have said, yelling at him and making a scene won't help, if he does get a negative association it could well be that the association is to him using the tray not to standing up to pee, in which case it could make matters far worse as he tries to find somewhere safe to go. A high sided litter tray or better still a covered on if he will use it would also be my suggestion. If not then if you can get a large shallow tray, large enough for the liter tray to sit in and put a piece of rigid plastic propped up against the wall with the end in the outer tray so any pee sprayed out on it just runs down into the lower tray it will at least make cleaning up easier, some absorbent paper in the outer tray might also make life easier.

I will also add that I had a female, spayed cat start to do this. I had had her and her daughter for several years and she had used a litter tray fine, then, knowing she wasn't well and her weeks were numbered I decided to get another cat to keep her daughter company. I know now that the behaviour was caused by the stress of her not being well and feeling that she had to protect her territory from what she saw as an interloper, after I handed the new cat back to the charity she had come from everything settled down. I'm not suggesting your other cat is the cause as you say he was doing it before she arrived, however as he was a rescue you don't know what he has been through before he got to you. It could be that the change of home has stressed him, the dogs have stressed him, they may not be able to get to him but he knows they are there, and I hate to have to say it but you yelling at him will just have added to his stress. Hopefully if you can calm him down, give him places where he can feel safe and watch everything that is happening in the house, he will start to feel safe and confident in his surroundings and he will start to use the litter tray properly.

If he doesn't improve I would also suggest that he is checked again by the vet just to make sure that he hasn't got any infection in his bladder, kidneys etc that means it hurts him to sit down to pee. Finally if nothing else works then a referral to a behaviourist might provide answers, professionals can often read the cats body language better and can work out just where the stress is coming from.

[Felis-Felidae]

+1 Everything the people above said, but I'd also suggest that if you can't get your hands on a high-sided litter box quickly, you can just go to an office supplies store (or something of that ilk) to pick up a tall plastic box as a substitute. Something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Really-Useful- ... _dp_6&th=1

Simply remove the lid and cut an "entryway" into one side, then fill the box with litter