cat peeing on certain spots

Question
Dear Mike,

We have a serious problem with our wild Japanese tabby cat, Nakoji, who was brought home from Japan 13 years ago when our cat was 3 weeks old. He was raised in Japan for a year before the cat was brought to America into our home.

Najoki is a quiet cat who obeys most house rules, however he is not social and one can not pet him for more than a minute before he begins to "playfully bite," sometimes
getting angry. He thinks that my father is his real mother because he suckled on my fathers hand in absence of having a real mother cat. He only sleeps with my father.

Over the past six years he has been peeing on certain furniture within the house; a bed, a black leather chair, and today a new spot. He ruitinely will leave fecies on the carpet as well. His pattern (although very unpredictable)seems to be when something changes in his
environment such as visitors or when the kids come home from college, he will pee. We have lived with plastic on the beds and one chair, to keep him ruining from them
completely.

Najoki has a litter box downstairs, which we change routinely, in the basement which he uses.

When guests come we have tranquilized him and locked him downstairs, we have had him checked several times at our vet (he is in good physical shape no urinary tract infection), we have de-clawed him (in front claws)and tried to play with him more. We have also thought about trying to put him outside in an cat fence, but on multiple occasions when the cat has gotten out of the
house has become so scared that he has frozen completely stiff and hissed madly when seeing another animal or cat.

We are getting to the point where we are living in defense. We would be very greatful if you could provide some alternatives as to what to do next.

Thank you,

Gabe

Answer
Well Gabe, there are certainly a few possibilities that this could be, but I'll tell you about a cat I owned that had somewhat similar circumstances. My cat Oscar, who passed away about 2 years ago, was a great cat and very well behaved until about the age of 13, when he had serious confrontations with one of my other cats. We had owned both of them since they were about 2 months old, and they had always lived together peacefully for the most part, but they had many confrontations, always started by Oscar, and Chester usually avoided them. Oscar began to urinate all over the house, but overall he urinated in certain spots within the house repeatedly, such as the top of the stairs, my parents bed, and the basement.

As it turns out, Oscar was marking his territory by spraying. He was agitated and upset about my cat Chester, for whatever psychological reason we do not know, but he marked his territory throughout the house. He was not aggressive towards us, but he was never calm when Chester was close nearby. My parents spent a long time deciding, but eventually strayed from the option of putting him down (one that would have made me very angry), to buying a large cage as his living space. We kept him in our basement, which was finished, usually had the lights on, and my family spent a lot of time in. Whenever we were around, we allowed him to come out, play in the basement, etc. We even allowed him upstairs under close supervision. He seemed happy, and with Chester nowhere near his living space, times when he would mark his territory went very low, and then stopped altogether.

Now back to your case - my guess is that your cat is spraying, based on the personality you described. Defecation is also sometimes part of a cat marking his or her territory, although it is not as common. If you have ever caught Najoki in the act, does he kind of back up to the surface, quiver somewhat, and urinate in an odd way? If it looks different than it does when he urinates in the litter box, I would assume he is marking.

It's a rough situation, and there aren't a whole lot of options. My cat changed because we kept him away from his source of agitation. I don't really know what source of agitation Najoki has, or if he has one at all. Some cats are just hard to understand and do things such as marking their territory for unexplainable reasons. I think the best mode of action would be to put Najoki in a cat cage, and keep him in there when he cannot be monitored. You could keep that cage in a room like I did that was separated from the rest of the house, and slowly allow him more and more free time within that room if he begins to calm down. Be sure to give him the same amount of attention you have been giving him, as this will only be beneficial. Over time, Najoki will hopefully calm down, but I think it is important to try giving your cat a defined area of space, away from anything you do not want marked, and always keep a close eye on him when he is out of that area. But always give him the love and care he deserves.

Again, there aren't a whole lot of options, but this a method that my family and I came up with (without help from professionals) and it seemed to work very well with my cat. You have done a good job pinpointing issues that may cause urination, and those most likely cause him to mark his territory, because these changes cause him anxiety and fear, but sadly there is nothing you can do about coming back from school or having visitors. I share your pain, my family had very similar circumstances for a while, with a cat that appeared to be out of our control and a lot of ruined and stained furniture. I wish you the best of luck with this situation!

Feel free to ask me any other questions you might have, I can tell you more about how I calmed down my cat if you need help with that method.