Cat Problems - Neutered One Year Old Male Cat Just Started Spraying

by Jenny
(AUSTRALIA)

My neutered one year old male cat has just started spraying.

He is an indoor cat. No other cats in the house. Nothing new has happened. No new people or furniture. Poo is removed from litter daily or every 2nd day. Entire box cleaned every 2 weeks... lots of depth to the litter.

Food seems to be to his liking. I changed from kitten food to adult about 3 months ago with trial and error he always eats his wet and dry food. Plenty of water. I have a petmate fountain which he loves. I play with him practically everyday. He has toys, scratchy post, boxes to explore when I'm not home.

I was not home much for about 5 days straight and thought that may have been a distress to him?
He is due for a check up in a couple of weeks so thought I'd ask the vet, see if there is anything medical?

He's lovely otherwise. His name is Neo.


Reply from Liz (Editor): I agree with you - he is lovely!

Is he definitely spraying or is he just peeing where he shouldn't? The two behaviors are different and mean different things.

This page will tell you how to figure out if he's spraying or just peeing:

Why is my Cat Spraying?

If he's spraying, is there a cat hanging round outside your house? This sometimes causes spraying of the indoor cat who's marking his territory. This page gives advice on how to (humanely) get a cat to stop spraying in your garden:

How to Stop a Cat spraying in Your Garden

If he's peeing, there are a good few reasons why this could have happened, and it can take a bit of detective work to figure out why. One of the most common reasons is a cat urinary tract infection. If he's straining to pee and trying to pee a lot but only producing little amounts, or if his urine has blood in it, you should get him to the vet without delay.

This page goes through reasons why cats may pee outside their litter box and gives suggested solutions:

Litter Box Problems

It may be a case of trial and error to find out what the problem is, but it should be possible.

Best of luck with solving these cat problems and thank you for the gorgeous photo.