Male cats communicate in a variety of ways, including via spraying. Spraying can be a concern for many cat owners since the urine that is released when it occurs is strong-smelling and can leave stains on carpets and furniture. There are many solutions to stop your cat from spraying. Let’s follow us to find out about how to stop cats spraying in this post!
What Is Spraying?
In a similar fashion to how some dogs mark their territory with urine, your cat basically marks his area by spraying. But how do urine marking and spraying differ from one another? It basically assumes the stance your cat does. Cats will back up to a standing item before spraying. It could be a chair leg, a wall, or any other piece of furniture. They extend their tail straight up and urinate, typically on vertical surfaces.
Cats who mark their territory will squat as if they were peeing regularly and do so on a level surface, such as your carpet or your bed. Both times, the action is deliberate and not a result of the person’s inability to “hold it.” It is only a behavioral problem. How about feline females? Do feline females urinate? Yes, female cats can also spray. Cats other than male cats can exhibit this behavior.
How to stop cats spraying
The advice and recommendations that follow can help prevent cat spraying as well as stop it once it has started.
Don’t yell at cats
Never discipline a cat for spraying. Don’t yell at them, urinate on them, or strike them. Kittens will become more anxious as a result of such responses and act out more. Unfortunately, it also dissolves the ties that bind them to the punisher. Cats are not intentionally misbehaving; they have valid reasons for marking. Instead, pinpoint the root issues and deal with them.
Employ an enzyme cleanser
Clean the designated areas completely with a good enzyme cleaner. It can take a few treatments before the odor is gone.
Modify your mental associations
After the locations have been cleansed with the enzyme cleaner, your cat should no longer associate those areas with anything negative. Play with her, pet her, and use a clicker to train her in the areas. She will interact differently with the sprayed areas if toys and scratchers are placed nearby.
Address cat conflict issues
Resources should be increased to ease rivalry in households with multiple cats. All over your home, add extra vertical territory, hiding spots, scratchers, and toys. It could be necessary to install feeding stations, spacing them apart.
Place clean litter boxes in enough locations throughout your house, one for each cat plus one extra. Sometimes the fighting and cat-spraying habits can be resolved by isolating warring cats from one another and then gradually returning them.
Discourage the local cats
By installing secure deterrents around the exterior of your home, you can keep neighboring cats off your property. Cover windows to temporarily obstruct your cat’s vision of unwanted guests. Uncover the windows once the intruders have left.
Neuter and spay
Although all adult cats have the ability to spray, spaying and neutering considerably reduce the likelihood of their doing so. Spaying and neutering also contribute to decreasing hostilities in addition to removing the motivations for marking.
The reasons behind cat spraying
Cats may learn a lot about one another through each other’s urine, including age, sex, status, and sexual availability. Urine is a potent instrument for communication. Although mature cats of both sexes, intact as well as fixed, may spray in certain situations, intact cats are most frequently responsible for offensive behavior.
Generally speaking, whole males are more prone to cat spraying habits. Pheromones that are released into the urine signal to potential girlfriends that the person is ready, eager, and looking. Cat spraying also sends out strong warnings to other male cats to keep away. Female cats that are still intact also spray because the chemicals in their urine show what stage of the cycle they are in.
The spray from intact cats is stronger than that from fixed cats. It is necessary to advertise for a specific friend because the offensive fragrance is easier to detect from a distance.
What causes neutered and spayed cats to spray?
Spayed and neutered cats have various motivations for cat spraying, in addition to not wanting to interact with people of the opposite sex.
Delineating boundaries
Cat spraying is the feline equivalent of putting up “no trespassing” signs and drawing lines in the sand. Because cats are territorial, other animals in the neighborhood may tell the size of their territory by the far-reaching impacts of their stinky urine.
Response to the neighborhood cats
When they notice or smell strange cats loitering near their houses, indoor cats will occasionally spray around doors and windows. They utilize spray to indicate their territory and because they can’t get the invaders to fight or fend them off. Unwelcome guests frequently leave behind their own calling cards, which the neighborhood cats can smell.
Stress
Stress and insecurities can cause cats to spray. Some cats are more sensitive than others, marking in response to things like other cats, home changes, owner absence, illness, the arrival of additional family pets, and even changes in schedule.
Blending of smells
Some cats may spray their favorite people’s possessions in an effort to bond with them by blending their odors. Safety is yet another justification. In order to feel a little more comfortable, anxious cats will occasionally spray items that smell like their owners.
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