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by Ryan D.
What is urine marking?
Urine marking - sometimes called spraying - is
when your cat deposits small amounts of urine (usually on vertical
surfaces) as a kind of message tag to announce his presence.
Although this issue involves inappropriate
urination inside the house, marking isn't actually a housetraining
problem: it's a deliberate expression of territoriality, which is a
completely different thing.
Why do cats mark?
There are a number of reasons why cats mark:
- Territoriality: the cat is letting other cats know that the marked area is his/her territory
- To communicate sexual availability
- Out of stress or anxiety
- A change of location: some cats will begin to mark when their owners move house
- If a new animal or human is introduced to the house - Because of overcrowding (too many other cats in the house)
- The cat is receiving less attention than normal
- A significant change in lifestyle or routine (for example, the
owner gets a full-time job; someone moves out of home; the house is
renovated).
Which cats are more likely to mark?
All cats mark - and unfortunately, there's no way of predicting in advance which cats are going to become sprayers!
However, some cats are more likely to mark than others. From most likely to least likely, these are:
- Unneutered (intact) male cats
- Neutered male cats
- Intact females
- Spayed females
If you have an intact male cat, urine marking is
practically to be expected. The urine of a tomcat has that
characteristically strong, catty odor, and is very recognizable (and
offensive) to humans: neutering your male cat will remove this odor and
will also reduce the likelihood of recurrent marking.
Although neutering is strongly recommended in the
treatment of feline marking, it's not necessarily guaranteed to work:
approximately 10% of neutered males and 5% of neutered females keep
right on doing it.
How can I get my cat to stop marking?
Although there's no hard-and-fast, guaranteed cure
for this undesirable behavior, there are a number of steps that you can
take which are likely to either significantly reduce, or stop entirely,
your cat's marking.
Listed below are some of the most effective options:
- Take him for a checkup
There are a huge number of reasons why your cat is
choosing to urinate outside the litterbox: he may be marking, or there
may be a medical cause for the behavior. Before you can decide on
appropriate treatment, you need to rule out health-related causes for
the inappropriate elimination. Take him to the vet for a urinalysis (a
complete analysis of his urine) and an overall checkup, to make sure
that there are no medical reasons for his behavior.
- Neuter your cat
Neuter your cat immediately. This is the single
most effective thing you can do to stop your cat's spraying, and if you
hope to get any control at all over the issue, it's pretty much
mandatory.
Statistics show that a whopping 87% of all cats
stop marking when they're altered - of this number, 78% cease marking
immediately, and 9% stop within three months.
- Behavioral modification
Behavior modification is a tried and true method
of controlling your cat's spraying, although it will require a
considerable investment of time and effort on your behalf. You'll need
to supervise your cat closely, paying attention to where and when he
marks. The use of behavioral-modification tools like water pistols and
shake cans (a tin can with ten pennies or a handful of pebbles inside
-when shaken, it makes a loud, scary noise) speeds the process up
considerably: when you catch him marking, startle him out of continuing
by either spraying him with the water pistol or shaking the can
vigorously.
Redesignating the areas which he tends to mark in
can also help: cats don't like to spray in areas where they eat, sleep,
and play. If he marks in particular places around the home (as opposed
to indiscriminately), put his food bowls next to the spot, play with
him there, and put his bed there.
- Make things easy for your cat
Treatment for marking is based around removing
your cat's motivation to mark in the first place. The most common
reasons for marking is territoriality: he could be feeling threatened
by the presence of strange cats around the house, or he could be
experiencing some conflict with another cat(s) in the house. So, to
control his marking behavior, you need to minimize his need to act in a
defensive, territorial way.
You can do this by minimizing his exposure to the strange cats, and by resolving any conflict in the home.
For strange cats:
Keep him inside the house, and restrict his access
to windows: shut the doors to high-risk rooms, block out his view by
installing shields across the sills (these are made of translucent
plastic, and can be bought from home-improvement and DIY stores), and
if you have a cat-flap, make sure it's permanently closed (both to
prevent your cat from going outside, and to prevent other cats from
coming in.)
For problems inside the home:
If the problem's based around a situation in the
home (perhaps he's feeling overcrowded, perhaps there are conflict
issues with one or more other cats), you'll need to pay attention to
how your cats are interacting, and then separate the cats that have
issues with each other.
Keep them in separate rooms, with separate litter
boxes and food bowls. This doesn't have to be a permanent thing - once
the spraying's stopped, give them at least another week of separation
(just to be on the safe side) and then you can gradually reintroduce
them by way of mutually-enjoyable events like mealtimes and playtimes.)
- Use your common sense
Make it really easy for your cat to urinate
appropriately. Make sure that there are enough litter boxes in the
house: there should be at least one more than the total number of cats.
If you have a multi-storey house, make sure there's at least one box
per storey (more, if you have more cats), and see that they're all
cleaned regularly.
For a really detailed look at how to deal with
your cat's behavior problems, take a look at Complete Cat Training.
It's a cutting-edge cat training manual that's focused on training your
cat and changing her behavior for the better.
For professional tips on transforming your cat's
behavior problems (as well as teaching her some pretty neat tricks,
from sit and stay to roll over, play dead, and fetch!) Complete Cat
Training comes very highly recommended.
You can visit the Complete Cat Training website by clicking Here
About the Author: Ryan Diedrich has written many
articles about the pet training industry. He is a webmaster of a
website offering news and information regarding pet training but more
specifically Cat Training. He has been awarded an "Expert Author"
status through many Article companies.
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