Question:
I took in a stray cat 15 months ago. He spent several weeks at the vet clinic being nursed, tested and neutered. He is a healthy and happy cat who's approximately two years old.However, recently he has been spraying! To make matters worse, it's usually me that he sprays (although I suspect he has also sprayed my spayed female cat, as she occasionally smells of it).Could it be that he was not thoroughly neutered? He was 8 or 9 months old when he was neutered -- could the hormones have already determined his behavior? He has a dominant, pushy personality -- is he just asserting himself? Once, I had to get up, shower and change the bed at 3 a.m. after he sprayed me in the middle of the night.What can I do to change this behavior? I don't want to hit him, and he doesn't respond to my "angry voice" like my dog does.
C.S., Naples, FL Jul 03, 2005
Answer:
After all that you have done rescuing and rehabilitating this cat, it is indeed unfortunate that he should be such a stinker.Certainly, this spraying is for marking territory and possessions (including you), and could have become strongly imprinted prior to his being neutered. Neutering does help reduce and even eliminate this sex-hormone-linked spraying behavior, but not in all cats.Your veterinarian should try putting your cat on a daily dose of clomipramine (0.5 mg/kg) or fluoxetine (1 mg/kg) for eight weeks. Recent studies have shown that a course of treatment with either of these anti-anxiety drugs reduced marking behavior, although the treatment had to be repeated since the cats tended to start marking again soon after the medication was stopped.
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