Serial Sprayers?

[Suzynick]

Just wondered how many of you have cats that are serial sprayers? If so how long has it been going on, do you know why it happens and more importantly how do you deal with it?
Thanks in advance

[Cussypat1974]

i have had serial sprayers and have lost various electronic items because of it! At one stage I was going through a DVD player a week! they were all neutered, and most sorayers were boys but I have had females do it too.

in my case it was stress from overcrowding. I rescue and had too many cats in the house. to solve it, I moved to the countryside, and it is not an issue now at all. I see the same goys spray the bushes around this time of year, as there are roving tomcats and my neighbour just moved in with his 2 cats who are new to the area.

I had 48 cats, most of whom were indoor only (the area just wasn't safe). Now I have 30 cats who roam as freely as they wish.

[Lilith]

Hi there - I've had them in the past.

The simplest case was a rehabilitated tomcat - he was middleaged, feral and un-neutered when he arrived, and it took neutering and about 8 months, as I remember, for his testosterone levels to fall, pretty messy and smelly till then, but after that he was good as gold, bless him. I used to tell him 'no!' sharply, if I caught him at it, and give him lots of praise for using his tray.

When I bred Siamese in the '80s, girls in call (heat) would spray like toms. That was when I started buying my curtains from Oxfam...

My worst case was a neutered three-quarter Siamese, orginally christened Claudia but who got the nickname of The Leopard. She started out free-roaming, albeit in a multi-cat household, but with plenty of room, and clearly one of the dominant members. I tried confining her to the (enormous) kitchen, otherwise, if doors were left open, the Leopard would boldly go where no Leopard had been before...well only a few times before. And the Leopard never changed her spots!

Moving to another house made no difference. Still plenty of room even when I secured the garden (though her brother George still got out and so could the Leopard if she'd wanted to.) That cat sprayed everything! I once cut a beautiful bouquet of flowers for a visitor and left them in water on the kitchen worktop. The Leopard watered them too.

She lived till fifteen, a total pain in the whatsit but still sadly missed. About a week after her death I happened to move a carrier bag out of a corner (I'm not tidy) and there - was a posthumous piddle!

I swear she came back to do it!

So...no solutions I'm afraid, where the Leopard was concerned, but by 'eck I've had 'em!

[bobbys girl]

With us, it's not the boys but the girls that spray! Willow did it once and tripped the switch. We thought it might be damp in the greenhouse, so we isolated the 'outside' (greenhouse, shed and caravan). Eventually we tracked it down to a socket in the caravan! She had got shut in and panicked.

Purdy is the main 'sprayer'. She 'favours' the kitchen. We thought when we had a new kitchen last year that she might be put off, but no. She Christened the entire room. Her favourite spot is the microwave, with the hob a close second.

We always know when there is a stray Tom cat around - the microwave gets it!

I have found that 'Fourpaws Industrial Cleaner' works pretty well. It has a not unpleasant soapy smell and seems to put her off (until the next Tom cat. )

[Suzynick]

i have had serial sprayers and have lost various electronic items because of it! At one stage I was going through a DVD player a week! they were all neutered, and most sorayers were boys but I have had females do it too.

in my case it was stress from overcrowding. I rescue and had too many cats in the house. to solve it, I moved to the countryside, and it is not an issue now at all. I see the same goys spray the bushes around this time of year, as there are roving tomcats and my neighbour just moved in with his 2 cats who are new to the area.

I had 48 cats, most of whom were indoor only (the area just wasn't safe). Now I have 30 cats who roam as freely as they wish.

OMG! Storm first used to jump up on our worktop and spray all the bottles that were on there, it wasn't until British Gas came to do a service until we moved them and noticed that he had been doing it...he then proceeded to blow our electrics on more than one occasion, wee'd on the cooker hob, behind the sofa and unfortunately my partners expensive stereo system which ended up with him being confined to the kitchen/diner and outside

I only have the two cats, but they are brothers and there is just an issue with dominance, Storm regularly sprays all around the kitchen Have tried separating them, but they do like each other really, often sleep together on the same bed for a while until one decides to randomly attack the other one.....

[Suzynick]

Hi there - I've had them in the past.

The simplest case was a rehabilitated tomcat - he was middleaged, feral and un-neutered when he arrived, and it took neutering and about 8 months, as I remember, for his testosterone levels to fall, pretty messy and smelly till then, but after that he was good as gold, bless him. I used to tell him 'no!' sharply, if I caught him at it, and give him lots of praise for using his tray.

When I bred Siamese in the '80s, girls in call (heat) would spray like toms. That was when I started buying my curtains from Oxfam...

My worst case was a neutered three-quarter Siamese, orginally christened Claudia but who got the nickname of The Leopard. She started out free-roaming, albeit in a multi-cat household, but with plenty of room, and clearly one of the dominant members. I tried confining her to the (enormous) kitchen, otherwise, if doors were left open, the Leopard would boldly go where no Leopard had been before...well only a few times before. And the Leopard never changed her spots!

Moving to another house made no difference. Still plenty of room even when I secured the garden (though her brother George still got out and so could the Leopard if she'd wanted to.) That cat sprayed everything! I once cut a beautiful bouquet of flowers for a visitor and left them in water on the kitchen worktop. The Leopard watered them too.

She lived till fifteen, a total pain in the whatsit but still sadly missed. About a week after her death I happened to move a carrier bag out of a corner (I'm not tidy) and there - was a posthumous piddle!

I swear she came back to do it!

So...no solutions I'm afraid, where the Leopard was concerned, but by 'eck I've had 'em!

Blimey sounds like you had your work cut out there!

I have bought new curtains for our kitchen but am very reluctant to put them up...I know they will be ruined! At the moment a lovely pair of pink ones are up and they are horrible, we've had them in the house now for 15 years!

[Suzynick]

With us, it's not the boys but the girls that spray! Willow did it once and tripped the switch. We thought it might be damp in the greenhouse, so we isolated the 'outside' (greenhouse, shed and caravan). Eventually we tracked it down to a socket in the caravan! She had got shut in and panicked.

Purdy is the main 'sprayer'. She 'favours' the kitchen. We thought when we had a new kitchen last year that she might be put off, but no. She Christened the entire room. Her favourite spot is the microwave, with the hob a close second.

We always know when there is a stray Tom cat around - the microwave gets it!

I have found that 'Fourpaws Industrial Cleaner' works pretty well. It has a not unpleasant soapy smell and seems to put her off (until the next Tom cat. )

I will have a google of the fourpaws industrial cleaner, thanks

[booktigger]

Blimey, some of yours make Buster look rather tame!! He hasn't done it that much since becoming an only cat, it's normally in protest for not being able to go out these days, or, as in the case last week, because he had a UTI.

When I first moved in, two of the neighbours had female cats who would happily walk into my house and spray, as did one of her males. Since having a string of bully cats, my neighbours cats don't come in anymore!!

[Sue Goddard]

My two Seal point Siamese Bailey and Abby were serial sprayers..mainly beacause Abby the girl was a bully to bigger Bailey..nothing was exempt from their attentions..many items damaged by their liquid outpourings..!! not to mention electrical shorts as Abby loved to pee on the sockets..
How come one only spots the tell tale marks when it's too late to save anything..Can't remember their being too much smell..or maybe we got immune to it.? Urinoff our saviour.
Anyway when Abby died in 2009..Bailey never sprayed again and completely changed character..he got so much more loving etc. A cat psycologist we got in said it was a common problem with multi cat households..stress etc. She did suggest giving up Abby but we just couldn't do it so it carried on.
Sadly both Abby and Bailey have now gone to the Rainbow Bridge to wait for us..and the new encumbents are Thomas & Mouse ( Blue point Siamese, two boys ) have not shown any tendency to spray thank God...

[Cussypat1974]

I am VERY relieved to see so many others have been through this! Considering my circumstances with 48 mostly indoor cats, many feral or semi-feral, I reckon I got off lucky ha ha!

I am giggling at buying curtains from Oxfam because of cats lol. I only have curtains in a few rooms now, the ones cats aren't allowed into (or aren't SUPPOSED to be allowed into!). We have a living room just for the cats and bought a second hand fake leather suite for them. No curtains at all in there, but the biggest TV is in there, attached high up on the wall. We do plan to start using the room ourselves, but it needs the fireplace re-doing for us to do so, as the window is constantly left open for the cats and we'd freeze! We are thinking about a cat flap for it to help with that, but I am afraid some won't figure it out.....

I also used to use the 4paws cleaner, great stuff!

[ZoeL]

Hi there I'm on here as I'm desperate for some advice. I have 2 female cats that are a year old an they have now taken to spraying on my kitchen counters. I have tried to think of everything I can do to try persuade them not to tried putting foil down leaving lemon out I'm at my wits end. I love my cats to bits but nothings working. I can't think of anything that has caused any anxiety and they show no signs of depression. Has anyone got any suggestions? Anything would be helpful. Thanks

[Suzynick]

Hi there I'm on here as I'm desperate for some advice. I have 2 female cats that are a year old an they have now taken to spraying on my kitchen counters. I have tried to think of everything I can do to try persuade them not to tried putting foil down leaving lemon out I'm at my wits end. I love my cats to bits but nothings working. I can't think of anything that has caused any anxiety and they show no signs of depression. Has anyone got any suggestions? Anything would be helpful. Thanks

Hi Zoe
My cat used to get on my worktop and spray until I put an air pressured device called SSS cat on there, which released a short quick puff of air when it detected movement. My cat never went on the worktop again after that, however it didn't stop the spraying. I think I would read as much as possible on the subject of spraying, on here, fab cats website (now called something else but if you google it you should find it), cats protection, Vicky halls books are brilliant, and in the meantime you could try feliway diffusers and sprays. There is a cheaper alternative called natural remedy I think. I get mine from http://www.animeddirect.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Hope this helps.
Suzanne

[MarkB]

Some cats are really attracted to the smell of bleach, so that is a possibility. I am a bit of a bleach fiend, but in recent years it hasn't been a problem as my cats have been older and don't go on worktops. We have recently adopted a younger cat and she goes made for the smell of bleach. Although she doesn't spray on the counter, she rolls around on it and rubs her face on it. I have started to only use it in the sink and down drains and make sure to rinse it well. It seems to be working.

[Cussypat1974]

I second the recommendation of Vicky Hall books. She has been a godsend to me over the years! I am assuming your two females are both neutered? Cats can get stressed by stuff we would never imagine, and Vicky Halls explains this well with case studies in her books. I have found feliway to be of great help for stressed cats also, and it is worth every penny.

Mark, I too am a bleach fiend! But I have never noticed the cats rolling in it or being attracted to it! A few go mad for the mop which makes cleaning interesting......lol!