My cat owns me!!

[wiggal]

We have lots of cats/kittens in the house at the mo, the 6 cats are ours & little Cefa the baby we are keeping.

Yesterday, i was getting ready to go out, & was doing my hair, i lie on the sofa with my head over the arm of the sofa to tie my hair back!
As i was doing so, my 3 year old male Smokie Jo, walked over to the sofa and meowed at me, so i turned my head sideways, and as i did, he sprayed all over me and my top! My b/f picked him up and took him out side and shut him out.
He has been nuetered, about 18 months ago, but we are having alot of problems with him spraying all over the place, he sometimes jumps on the bed when im going to sleep, stands on my b/fs pillow & sprays all up the wall next to my b/s head!
We really dont know what to do!
Help! :(

[coco pops]

guess the boyfriend will have to go!

[puddycat]

You could try something called Feliway. It's available from your vet in spray or plug-in diffuser form. Feliway produces the scent (to a cat) of a cats pheromones making them feel happy and relaxed. There's no apparent smell to humans. Your cat is probably doing this because he feels insecure because of the number of cats you have, he's trying to make the place more like his territory.
You'll need to clean well with washing powder and water anywhere he has sprayed before using feliway. If you use anything too scented he'll just think another cats been there and need to spray again.
Good luck, it's not nice but the cats only doing it because he feel threatened.

[wiggal]

hi puddycat,

He has never been like this before, he is a gorgeous boy & so loving, and he is used to living with cats & kittens.

Its just the last few weeks he has got so much worse, and yesterday when he sprayed on me, it was horrible! He has never seemed threatened or anything before and he gets on well with the kittens.

I will have a look at the fellway, thank you :)

[pmjblue]

I think some male cats have a problem with spraying if they are neutered too late, ie: they have already reached adulthood. It is territorial and he probably feels threatened and trying to make his mark. It may help to speak to a holistic vet and try out some herbal remedies. You may need something stronger than washing powder to rid the odour, here is a link for the feliway that may be cheaper than the vets.
http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page=ind ex&cPath=149&zenid=ef2713be5b7d618d6a023031e81 a979e
I had some help from a lady called Jane who makes up herbal tinctures, her web site is down at the moment (sun essences.co.uk,), but her mail address is [email protected] - you could ask her for some advice with this behaviour.
As regards the odour, try 'check' from stock nutrition, it is only �5 for a small bottle, which you dilute and it lasts ages, smells like strawberries too.
http://www.doghealth.co.uk/hygiene.htm#Check.

[mrknowall]

Hi wiggal ive read your update on your cats leg im glad it has been saved.

[Dee Sa]

we had a cat like that called Paddy, he sprayed our curtains, once all my freshly ironed clothes I had hung on the wardrobe door and when workmen put scaffolding up next door he went on the scaffold and sprayed all my neighbour's windows.He could spray up about 6ft, we never did find the answer, we tried everything,he was neutered after the first time we caught him doing it at about 12 mnths old, he lived till he was 10yrs and then we replaced carpets, curtains,everything in the house and our next kitten was female.We put up with it because we loved him.

[pmjblue]

Dee Sa, from what the vet told me, if the cat is not neuteured early enough, ie: it starts spraying and is then neuteured, it may never stop, so that may have been your problem.

[Wicked Bun]

Hi there u have my sympathies! Been there done that! only my feline is female! Go figure

I can only suggest its stress related as our little Purrdi is a sweetheart now. She is a scaredy-cat with eveyone else but very affectionate with us. We got her as a ten week old kitten and pampered her till she was big enough to be speyed at six months. When we let her out she was still small and got bullied or attacked by other cats and humans! That is when we decided to make her a house-cat even though she loved exploring and still goes for small strolls under supervision!! I KID U NOT

When we moved house she scent marked absolutely anywhere she felt like it so we retrained her. We put up extra litter trays and bits of spare carpet on the areas she wet and scratched. Gradually we reduced the no of these and the only bit of carpet is under her litter tray now. Any carpet does as you are only going to throw it out as he sprays less and less, the more you replace it the less the smell lingers and he should not return to it eventually.

There are also loads of cat cushions and beds in Purrdi's favourite places where she can get peace n quiet if she feels like it. We gave her a new bit of carpet recently with catnip sprayed all over it and its quite disturbing how much she loves this!
/\,~,/\
>'<

[iheartruby]

Wicked Bun - I have had exactly the same problem! Female puss, very petite and very nervous of other animals (even a bee scared her in the garden today!) everyone except me - nobody belives she is so loving as it's only me who sees it. I had so much furniture and carper destryoed that I had to get a behaviourist in. Feliway didn't work for me but the behaviourist pointed out that it is a security thing - your cat feels anxious and so tops up his or her smell in the home/garden to make her feel secure/mark it as her territory.
Wiggal - I'd say it's definitely because you have several cats and your little menace is feeling undermined and so is exerting some 'authority' by marking you and the house with his scent! Petfresh is an excellent product as it breaks down the proteins in the urine. If the smell isn't completely removed, puss will top it up again and again! I truely sympathise and understand how you feel. Just when I think my cat has stopped doing it, i always find a little puddle here or there. The best thing I ever did was rip up the carpets and lay laminate and get a new sofa! Expensive but I love her and no way would I give her up.
Give Smokie Jo extra attention - more than the other cats - and show him he's the boss and hopefully he will feel more secure and stop spraying.
Good luck :-)