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Good – normal ordinary green soap will do, to remove the smell. Also, if you use something with ammonia in it, which chlorine has I believe, it mimics the scent of cat pee, and encourages to pee there more.
Now you need to figure out why he does it. Either way, he is concerned – be it about his territory or stressed about something else, meaning he aint happy. The longer you wait though, the harder it’ll be come to stop him from doing it. So think – what happened in the house when he started doing it?
Did you move recently? Get another cat? Did neighbours with cats or dogs move in? Did you have a baby? Bought some new furniture? Did another cat start pestering him? Is there more infighting between the animals you have, more tension? Did you change the place of his litter tray? Is it clean enough? Did you change litters? Are there suddenly loud noises in the neighbourhood? Did it start at new years with the fireworks? Is there suddenly a new person in your life that often comes round? Do they bring a dog? Did you just start working longer hours? Did your routine significantly change in any way? Are you pregnant/recently had a baby?
Also, how old is he, how many animals do you have in the house, how many people, what areas of the house is he allowed in? Is he an indoor or an outdoor kitty? Does he have a cat door? And where exactly does he pee/spray?
There is something called DAP, which can be used for this. It is especially helpful in dogs that get car sick due to stress. It is a spray that is used on their blanket as they travel in the car, which has shown to be helpful in reducing issues in this regard. I believe it is available on amazon, and I know that we sold it at our veterinarian clinic back when.
If you like, there is a website which shares all kinds of anecdotes about peoples experiences with particular breeds. You’ll find it here: http://www.rightpet.com
Np, let us know how it goes 🙂
I tend to *love* long-haired cats like the norwegian forest cat, the siberian, the main coone, the himalayan etc. Not a fan of the shortened nose in some other breeds though, like the persian.
Absolutely love the colouring of the himalayan and the holy birman, and the grace and elegance  of eastern cats – as long as they weren’t overbred to be creepily thin.
In a pinch, you can get a big crate from a vet or a shelter or a pet shop, to act as the ‘small room’, since you live in a studio apartment. If you can use the bathroom, feel free to, but be sure that the older cat isn’t terrified when the washer or dryer goes as that isn’t going to be conducive to the process.
A word of caution: the longer you let this go on, the bigger the animosity will be, the harder it will be to get them to get along and the more chance you’ll have of one of them spraying, or stress-peeing in the house – not to mention they will be at greater risk for urinary tract infections.
Helpful tools to support the treatment are the feliway vaporiser which puts calming feline pheromones in the air, treats, fishing rod toys and potentially a bathrobe if the elder cat hisses at you coz your clothes smell of the 8month old kitten, to wear when you go into her room.
Due to the age gap, I’d also advise to make sure that the 8 month old gets his daily 10 minutes of play time – even after they’ve been re-introduced successfully – so he doesn’t take his boredom out on the elder cat.
Separate them. I take it you didn’t introduce them and eased them into this?
Set up a small room, with water and food on one side, a litter tray on the other, a scratching post and somewhere to lie. Give the room to the older cat, as she is the new one to the territory.
Cats are territorial and need time to make friends, unlike dogs.
Let her recover there for a day or two, and visit her often, with some toys and cuddles. Meanwhile, use a fishing rod to play with your 8month old, so he can vent the stress he has been feeling about the intruder in his home.
Has he been neutered yet? Coz I’d say you wanna get that done soon, as he might start spraying soon – and this incident certainly gives him a good reason to.
First things firs though – reintroduce them to each other. Depending on how long they’ve been at each other, this will be harder and take longer.
Once the older cat is comfortable (tail up to greet you, eats properly ,uses litter tray, lies down and purrs instead of hiding – this may take a day or so), start her on liking the other cat. Here’s how:
Take two small towels. Rub one towel along the sides, chin and cheeks of the 8 month old. Do the same with the other towel with the older cat. Now, put the towel underneath the food bowl of the other cat, so they’ll associate the smell of the other cat with something good – aka, their food.
Once there is no visible reaction to this (hissing, not eating, getting upset, whatever), step it up. Push their food bowls to either side of the door, so they can eat in each others presence, without being able to attack each other. Â That, or use treats that they only get when in that spot – again, to create good vibrations. Meanwhile, keep up the playtime as well!
Next up, do a swap: crate your 8month old, Â or lock him in another room and let the older cat out – open the door. Let her decide how fast she wants to leave her little safe haven and leave the door open at all times. If she rushes back inside, that’s fine, but after a while she should feel comfortable enough to explore the entire flat without the threat of the 8 month old. Once she is confident and doesn’t need to retreat to her special place, take your 8month old and let him explore her safe haven (close the door at this point, but stay with him so he can indicate he has had enough). Encourage liking the smell of the strange cat in their territories by feeding them treats. Return them both to their territories.
Next, feed them again by the door (just make sure the bowls aren’t next to each other once you hopen the door), and slightly open the door, no more than a smidge. Close it again after 30 seconds. Slowly build up the time frame, and make sure you close the door before there is a chance of an escalation (posturing, meowing, and eventually hissing an whacking). Give them time in-between to recover- at least 10 minutes, preferably 30 to an hour – to let any animosity subside before you try again. If there is no indication of any animosity, but curious sniffing instead, go ahead and open the door further. Â Again, as long s they’re both comfortable, you can take it to the next step and leave the door open – under supervision!
Once this goes well, leave the door open. Let them both get used to each other in their territories and set new routines (cats timeshare and need time to figure out who gets which spot when), but return the female to her safe haven at night, for at least another day or so. Once you’ve observed that there is happiness, purring, tails up, and no hissing, you can risk them staying together at night.
Throughout all of this two things are important:
* playtime, especially for the kitten to release stress
* At ANY TIME, go at their pace. If you find that there is escalating, go back to the previous step and start again as you moved too fast.
Good luck!
Cool, I just introduced my baby!
There is no way to effectively punish him for this as it is self-rewarding behaviour. The only way to diminish the behaviour is by keeping him from ever getting his reward.
You could however use a water spray bottle for if you catch him in the act, or to stop him from getting to the food when he is already going there. My cats also respond to my nasal ‘Noooooo’ as they’ve learned I tend to become unpleasant (stomping, shouting and generally scaring them) when I make that sound and they continue what they were doing. But with food…they’ll occasionally keep going coz to them the food is worth the punishment.
So you’re better off just ensuring you have a system that keeps the food safe at any costs. If you do this for a couple of months, he is also a lot less likely to still be trying to get on the table, but it will take some effort, diligence and tenacity.
Np 🙂
Spraying is done for territorial marking, so even females can spray and yes, neutered cats spray too – especially if they were neutered after 8 months to a years, as the spraying behaviour usually develops as the cat sexually matures, which means the habit sets in. The urge won’t be as strong when he is neutered but as the habit already exists and it isn’t purely for announcing his presence in a mating-type way, he’ll still use spraying as a territorial marker.
Taking him to the vet and having his urine tested isn’t a bad idea – especially if the situation recently developed, as castrated male cats have a bigger risk to develop kidney stones and urinary tract infections.
Let us know how it turns out!
Hehe, the chirping is thought to be a sound of frustration because they cannot get to the birds. It tends to happen when they see prey animals that is out of their reach. Mine used to chatter at the pigeons on our window sill when they were still indoor kittens. They still do  it now when the birds are way up in the trees and cannot reach em.
Other cats get hollered and hissed at, to then be driven off the territory. Always sounds like someone is getting killed too. Luckily, it tends to be just posturing and fur flying for the most part.
This is a more complex issue than it seems, at first hand. The first thing you need to figure out is whether he is spraying or peeing. Spraying is done upright, while peeing means they squat down for it.
The reason it is different is because spraying is done as a marking behaviour while peeing is just…well, peeing. If he is peeing, you might wanna take him first to the vet, as he could be avoiding the litter tray due to a bladder infection, coz he blames it for the pain.
Other reasons to avoid using the tray is coz it isn’t cleaned often enough or because another cat is guarding it. Always make sure you have enough litter trays. The magic formula is ‘the amount of cats +1’. He also could not like the sand, or need a second litter tray for nr 2s, separate from nr 1s. If he is spraying, then he is likely feeling anxious and insecure in his territory and feels the need to mark things in an aggressive way – versus using his face to mark things.
One thing is for certain: your cat is stressed – be it through physical pain or  through psychological pressure and the most important question you can ask yourself now is ‘When did it start, and what changed in the house at that time?’ This is one of the most common problems with cats and can be one of the harder ones to solve as there are so many variables that come into play and so many possible causes.
If you want to solve this for real, you might want to contact a cat behaviourist, after you’ve gone to the vet to get him cleared medically. Be prepared to bring a urine sample for the vet (call them, they have tricks for how to do that).
As for treating the places where he sprays or pees, try using an enzyme cleanser, or 1/3d vinegar with 2/3ds of water to get the smell out (or vinegar as your fabric softer for the towels). Â You want to make sure there is no smell left as it will cause him to re-mark the spot. At the same time, it won’t matter, if the cause isn’t dealt with. Â He’ll just find other spots to do it – and he’ll be unhappy and at risk for bladder stones.
Also, this forum needs a section for animal behaviour, imho.
LOL. Yeah, make sure at any time that he cannot get to the food. Remember to cover it up. Don’t ever let him succeed.
Stealing food is self-rewarding behaviour so it is something that is inherently motivating and therefore impossible to prevent. The only thing you can do is make it very clear that that table is off limits and bad things will happen if you find him there. But even then, the food might be worth the punishment, so all you can do is make it harder and be a deterrent 😀
Tnx! 😀
Hah, yeah they’re sly that way.
Best to let it be then. Ignore him yourself, he’ll learn to bug your mom instead – they are acutely in tune with what they can get from each individual. Just make sure you yourself are consistent in what you want him to do with you coz if you re not, you’ll do interval training with him without realising it (iow, you’ll teach him to work for it and hang in there), and it is ten times harder to break a habit that has been trained in that way.