Question:
I hope that you can help my family; we are at our wits' end.
To make a long story as short as I can, my husband and I adopted five rescued kittens over a two-year period. All was well with our life until Belle became ill and died in September 2010 from feline lymphoma. She was only 4 years old.
Since that time, one of our other cats, Callie (who is now 5 and has been with us since she was just a few weeks old), has decided she needs to spray in our home. She does not do it all the time -- very sporadically and sometimes weeks apart. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason, or any event that we can put a finger on. There are five litter boxes, and we clean them four to five times a day, so cleanliness is not an issue. There is an entire bedroom just for the litter boxes, so traffic interrupting her should not be an issue, either.
Someone told me to purchase Feliway
. I did, and she "laughed" at it. She actually backed up to it and sprayed it while it was plugged into the outlet.
I took Callie for a checkup just in case there was a medical issue, but I was assured there was no physical reason that the vet could see without an ultrasound. Everything checked out.
At the same time Belle was sick, a new cat appeared outside our home. As it turns out, the cat was a new addition to the house next door, but she still comes to our house twice a day. Another friend suggested Callie could be upset over the cat outdoors, even though it does not come inside. Yet another person said Callie could be upset over Belle's death. Another suggestion was that since one cat has left, Callie may be trying to move up the hierarchy chain -- but that makes no sense to me because Belle came after Callie and was not the alpha cat. Since Belle died, there has been a lot of fighting among our girls.
Is there a fix? How can we stop Callie's behavior? What suggestions do you have that we have not tried?
T.B., Gates, NC Nov 15, 2011
Answer:
I am glad you had Callie checked for possible cystitis, which can be associated with cats becoming house-soilers. Most likely, there is an emotional stress factor underlying Callie's behavior since she is actually spraying, i.e., engaging in territorial marking, and is not simply urinating to relieve a full bladder.
Try the Feliway dispensers in every room where the cats go. This may help reduce the fighting that could be upsetting Callie. Have your veterinarian prescribe a behavior-modifying medication that can help stop cats from marking with urine, such as alpralozam or clomipramine. You might also try giving her some catnip, which is more palatable than valerian (from which Valium is made) but has similar cat-calming properties. Some cats don't care for catnip as a dried herb but will accept it as a strong tea when mixed with their favorite food.
You should try to persuade your neighbors to keep their cat indoors. Callie, like many cats, could be genuinely upset by a strange cat prowling, spraying and yowling around your house.
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