Cat question
We agreed to take my little brother's 7 month old girl kitten (neutered) while he looks for a new apartment. He told us a month or 2. It has been a month with no end in sight. That's not the main problem. Last week I went away on vacation, leaving our 3 cats and husband (and Barns) home alone. Sometime during the week one of the cats started spraying. My husband ruled out our boy Lenny, so it is between Kirby, our 2 year old female (who is a momma's girl) and Klondike, the new girl. Klondike and Lenny love each other and run around like mad together. Kirby hisses and growls (but nothing more) at her. What should we do? There is no end in sight at the moment for Klondike's visit with us, but we now have kept them separated, which has stopped the spraying, but that makes Klondike lonely. Do you think it (the spraying) will stop anyways because I'm home now and that Kirby was spraying because she missed me? Any help would be appreciated! |
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| Oh man...
I'm the last person in the world to be giving inappropriate urination advice for cats... I've been dealing with Iris' inappropriate elimination issues for the last 6 years. She doesn't spray though, she just goes wherever she feels like. Happily I've finally managed to get her to start using just one area/litter box as a toilet. Oddly (or maybe not) it is due mostly to Pippin. These were the steps We took to get Iris on the right track #1 removed all the soiled carpeting (This was a big deal- we did it to help pip with potty training, but it's assisted Iris too). It's so much easier to clean up messes on hardwood. #2 Put a soiled paper towel in the litter box- now it smells like she's gone there, so she knows this is an ok spot #3 clean any accident with an enzymatic cleaner like nature's miracle- so the pee smell is totally gone, not just covered up. #4 keep the litter box meticulously clean- every morning the litter gets scooped, and in the dining room we also have an automatic kitty box which cleans itself- this is AWESOME and keeps Pip from getting the cat crunchies  Bleck!
#5 get a puppy- ok not real practical for you, but Iris now spends so much time on the cat perch in the kitchen, which is right next to her litter box. She just doesn't want to spend much time in the same room as Pip, and it has been HUGE in getting her to use the box appropriately! Like I said, we've been battling this issue for a loooong time, and many people advised me to put her down (no way in He**!!!!!) rather then continue to deal with it. But if you can nip the behavior in the bud now, and get her back on track with appropriate elimination behavior, it'll be so much better in the long run. |
| Hi Barney,
Oh boy don't know how much advice I can offer either, but have four kitties myself. My sister has five. She found that one of her cats started spraying even tho' all of hers were fixed. It's a territorial issue. Most often it's always intact males that will do this and it will cease when they are fixed. However, it's been my experience that occasionally both sexes will resort back to this if they has been a change in the household (you gone for most of the week) or jealousies arise, barring that this wasn't caused by urinary tract infection that some cats develope too. It's really important to try to rid the smell where the cat sprayed as the other cat will often spray on top of it..and the cycle continues. Perhaps a check online for ways to deal with cat urine smells? Good luck to you! Marianne and the boys |
| Feliway works very well with inappropriate elimination. Use the spray and not the plug in. I have had great luck with it. You spray it daily for the first 2 weeks on the places that are sprayed the most. Also clean with an enzyme cleaner to remove all the odors.
It does sound territorial and is most likely because of the visiting kitten. |
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