My neutered cat is spraying indoors. How do I stop this behavior?

Question

My boy cat is about 3 yrs old and has gotten in the habit of spraying various point around our house in his scent. A stray tom cat started coming around over a year ago and would spray our yard and the exterior of our home. We took him to the animal shelter 3 weeks ago and hoped that would solve the problem. It hasn't - our cat still sprays. He was neutered at 6 mos and never had this issue before this stray showed up. How do we break him of this habit? It's become unmanageable. Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 3 years and 5 months old | 15 lbs

Shaneez Wallani, DVM · Accepted Answer

Poor Buddy! I advise seeing your veterinarian to rule out any medical causes for his behaviour first, and if medical causes are ruled out, you may need to make some alterations to his home environment to help make sure his environmental needs are being met. Cats need at least one litterbox per cat plus one extra to help reduce stress associated with the litterbox. They should be placed in separate rooms, away from the food and water bowls, must be scooped at least daily (preferably multiple times a day)and washed out at least weekly with a mild soap, followed by thorough rinsing. Cats need a lot of space to explore, but keeping them indoors is much safer than letting them outside, due to the risk of injury from cars, wildlife, other animals, etc. The key is providing space (particularly vertical space for climbing, such as cat trees, ledges, and the like) inside the home. Visit http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=T&C=33&S=2 and https://indoorpet.osu.edu// for tips on stress reduction. Also look into trying Feliway, a synthetic pheromone that is available in a diffuser and spray form that promotes calm feelings in cats http://www.feliway.com. It may take some time for the behaviour to stop, as it sounds like Buddy may have felt threatened by the other cat and it may take a while to reduce his stress levels.

My neutered cat is spraying indoors. How do I stop this behavior?

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