Cat Spraying — Why Does It Happen and What Can You Do?

Cats don’t need high-tech devices to communicate. In addition to body language, vocalizing, scratching objects, and rubbing, they use urine to broadcast their intentions and emotions. Cat spraying, which is one form of urine marking, is not hugely popular with people, especially when done indoors.

It can be difficult to tell the difference between urinating and spraying because some cats stand instead of squat while urinating. The smell and the amount of urine indicate whether it’s urinating or a marking behavior. Spray is highly pungent because it contains pheromones. This unpleasant smell sometimes is the only indicator that cats have sprayed in the house. One positive note is that less urine is deposited when cats spray than when they urinate.

Kitties are sometimes caught in the act — backing up to a vertical surface, treading with the front paws, and quickly twitching their tails while spraying. Simultaneously they may close their eyes.

Why cats spray

Cat spraying is a form of communication: broadcasting availability and emotions of the spraying cat. A cat sniffing. Photography by Shutterstock.

Urine is a powerful communication tool — cats can tell a great deal about each other from it including age, sex, status and sexual availability. Although adult cats of both genders, whole as well as fixed, might spray under specific circumstances, intact ones are most often guilty of the smelly behavior.

Whole males, as a rule, spray. Pheromones, released into the urine, advertise they’re ready, willing, and on the alert for girlfriends. Additionally, cat spraying broadcasts clear messages to other male cats to stay away. Intact female cats spray too — the chemicals in their urine indicate where they are in their cycle.

Spray from intact cats is more pungent than from those who are fixed. The unpleasant smell is easier to detect from a distance — important for advertising for a special friend.

Although spayed and neutered cats aren’t looking to connect with members of the opposite sex, they have other reasons to spray including:

• Marking boundaries
  Spraying is the feline version of drawing lines in the sand and putting up “no trespassing” signs. Kitties are territorial — the far-reaching effects of the pungent urine lets other animals in the hood know the extent of their stomping grounds.
• Reacting to neighborhood cats
  Inside cats sometimes spray around doors and windows when they see or smell unfamiliar cats hanging out around their homes. They spray to mark territories and because they can’t reach the intruders to chase them away or engage with them. Often, the unwelcome visitors leave their own calling cards, which the resident felines smell.
• Recognizing their own scents
  Cats sometimes will spray inside their territories so they can smell and recognize their own scents.
• New objects and furniture
  Some cats will spray new furniture or objects that are brought into their homes.
• Stress
  Insecurities and stress can trigger the unpleasant behavior. Some cats are more sensitive than others, responding by marking to situations such as other cats, household changes, owners traveling, illness, new household pets and even schedule changes.
• Mingling scents
  Some cats will spray their favorite people’s belongings in an effort to mix scents together and create a bond. Another reason is for security. Stressed, fearful cats will sometimes spray objects that smell like their owners, helping the cats feel a little more secure.
• Not adjusting to change
  Some cats do not adjust well to household changes, including problems between the humans residents, a new baby, schedule changes, moving and remodeling.
• Conflict resolution
  Conflicts in multicat households can cause marking. Stressed, anxious and threatened felines will spray in order to communicate status and territorial boundaries. In theory, the smelly behavior might keep cats from fighting. Cats who engage in hostilities often are scratched and bitten. Settling wars through spraying is much safer.

How to stop cat spraying

The following tips and suggestions help stop cat spraying, and they also help stop the behavior before it begins:

• Don’t punish cats
  Never punish cats when they spray. Don’t yell, rub noses in the urine, or hit them. Those responses will cause kitties to feel more stressed and escalate behaviors. Sadly, it also breaks the bonds between them and the punisher. Kitties aren’t being bad — they have good reasons for marking. Instead, identify the causes for the behavior and address them.
• Use an enzyme cleaner
  Thoroughly clean marked areas with an effective enzyme cleaner. It might take a couple of applications until the smell is eliminated.
• Change mental connections
  Change your cat’s association with the targeted areas after the areas have been cleaned with the enzyme cleaner. Do activities she enjoys such as playing, petting and clicker training on the areas. Placing toys and scratchers near them will also change how she relates to the sprayed spots.
• Use synthetic pheromones
  Using synthetic pheromones around the marked areas can help calm and relax your cat.
• Close doors
  Temporarily keep your kitty out of the rooms that are being sprayed.
• Interaction
  If your cat is spraying a family member’s belongings, encourage the person to feed, play, and interact with the kitty every day.
• Address intercat issues
  Increase the resources to reduce the competition in multicat households. Provide more vertical territory, hiding places, scratchers, and toys throughout your home. You might need to add feeding stations, placing them a distance from each other. Make sure there are enough clean litter boxes — one per cat, plus one, and place them in different areas of your home. Sometimes separating warring cats from each other and gradually reintroducing them will stop the squabbling and the marking.
• Discourage neighborhood cats
  Keep neighborhood cats off your property by placing safe deterrents around the outside perimeter of your home. Temporarily block your kitty’s view of the unwelcome visitors by covering windows. After the intruders stop visiting, uncover the windows.
• Spay and neuter
  Although all adult cats can spray, the chances of their marking are greatly reduced by spaying and neutering. In addition to eliminating the reasons to mark, spaying and neutering also helps curtail hostilities.
• Daily interaction
  Help your cat feel more secure and less anxious by doing activities she enjoys every day, such as playing, treasure hunts and clicker training.
• Vet check
  Before assuming your cat has a behavior challenge, have a veterinarian examine her in order to rule out any possible medical problems that could be causing her to spray.
• Gradual introductions
  Newly adopted kitties need to be separated from your resident felines and gradually introduced. It might take a month or longer to introduce them to each other with a minimum of stress.

Although all cats can spray, it is a behavior that intact cats are more likely to engage in than those who are fixed. Once the reasons for the smelly behavior are identified, you should be able to stop it or at least reduce the occurrences by addressing the causes and modifying the environment.

Can’t tell if your cat sprayed and not sure how to clean it up? Follow these tips >>

Thumbnail: Photography by Shutterstock.

Read more about weird cat behaviors on Catster.com:

• Why Some Cats Hate Dogs & What to Do About It
• Cats and Sneezing: Why Your Cat Acts So Weird When You Sneeze
• How to Ease Your Cat’s Stress Before and During Vet Visits

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Got a cat behavior question for Marilyn? Ask our behaviorist in the comments below and you might be featured in an upcoming column. If you suspect a behavioral problem, always rule out any possible medical issues that may be causing the behavior by first having your cat examined by a veterinarian.

Marilyn, a certified cat behavior consultant, owner of The Cat Coach, LLC, solves cat behavior problems nationally and internationally through on site, Skype and phone consultations. She uses positive reinforcement, including environmental changes, management, clicker training and other behavior modification techniques.

She is also an award winning author. Her book Naughty No More! focuses on solving cat behavior problems through clicker training and other positive reinforcement methods. Marilyn is big on education — she feels it is important for cat parents to know the reasons behind their cat’s behaviors. She is a frequent guest on television and radio, answering cat behavior questions and helping people understand their cats.