Stop Cat Spraying | Prevent Bad Cat Behavior

How can You Prevent Your Cat from Territorial Spraying?

Cat owners sometimes face the problem of having their beloved pet cats urinate inside the house. How can one stop this cat behavior from becoming an unsanitary habit?

Well, this article I found provides much useful tips on how to stop your cat from territorial spraying. If you can understand why your cat sprays, then you can remove the stimuli that results in such cat behavior.

Cat Behavior - 5 Easy Steps to Stop Your Cat Territorial Spraying
By Ann Wong



Urine spraying is something that all would frown upon, be it cat owners or non-cat owners. Understandably so because this bad behavior can be really annoying. Cats with this bad behavior will constantly look for new places within your house to spray. They can spray on curtains drapes, on the furniture; on your laundries and their target could even be yourself. And the whole house could end with the strong ammonia smell from the urine if they are left unclean.

While this behavior is normal, it can and should be prevented to keep your home odor free. Here are 5 easy steps, which you can follow to control the improper spraying of your cats.

1. Have your cat spayed or neutered
Cats who displayed this spraying behavior are usually the unspayed or unneutered cats that would have reach maturity at an age of 6 months old. The spraying will usually stop once they are fixed. Better still, get them fixed before the spraying starts as it has been found that 90% of the cats will not start spraying if they are spayed or neutered before this unwanted behavior begins.

2. Keep your cat indoor and restrict their movement outdoor.
Spraying is a form of territories marking and this is often sparked off when your cat meets or come into contact with another cat. It's just a natural response and your cat would begin marking its territory and that is your home! Sometimes the mere sight of another cat will also trigger off this territorial spraying and you may even have to restrict your cat's view of the outdoors. Move the furniture away from the windows, pull the drapes or cover the lower portion of the window to keep your cat's view away from the outside. Provide him with an "indoor playground" well equip with toys and cat tree to refocus their attention instead.

3. Gradual Introduction of new Feline Companion.
If you thinking of adding another new member of your feline friends into your family, then make sure you introduce them to each other gradually. Keep them apart at the beginning and slowly let them meet briefly. As they get use to one another, you may increase the "meeting" time till they are eventually at ease with each other. This would help to reduce the incidents of territorial spraying in a multi-cats household.

4. Reduce Stress
Cats can easily be stressed and once they are subjected to stress, they may relief themselves by spraying around the house. Therefore keep stress to a minimum by keeping things routine as much as possible. Do not shift your furniture around the house unnecessarily and keep the litter box at its respective place. When you have visitors, especially friends with cats of their own (in this case, they would have cats scent on them which may causes anxiety in your cat), keep the cats in the room away from your visitors. There are products available that could help calm your cat like Feliway.

5. Remove Urine Odor
Last but not least, if your cat does spray, then make sure that the area where he sprayed on be thoroughly cleaned to prevent re-marking. Use an enzymatic detergent to remove the urine odor instead of just covering it up.

Remember that once you spotted your cat doing the territorial spraying, the sooner you take action, the better. If they are allowed to go on a spraying spree all over the house without you doing anything to stop it, then chances are, it's going to be much harder to stop them once they got used to this habit.

This article is written by animal lover and animal behaviorist Ann. Ann has written numerous articles on cat care, cat health and cats' nutrition. If you find the above article useful, then make sure you check out her site on Best Cat Litter where she reviewed some popular brands of cat litters like Feline Pine Cat Litter, Tidy Cat, Worlds Best Cat Litter.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ann_Wong

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