Spraying and Neutering

Question
Hi Pati-
I got my male cat from a friend when the cat was 3-6 months old. It's been a couple months; I'm pretty sure he's not quite a year old.  Well, he started spraying around the house about a month ago, and I just got a vet to see him for neutering today.  Can I expect the spraying to stop, because I am seeing a lot of articles online saying that cats don't stop, even when neutered, if they had already started!?
Thanks!

Answer
Hi James,

Well, you've got to do a little house keeping while he's at the vets for his neutering.  Get one of the enzymatic cleaners from the pet store made specifically for cleaning cat messes and clean every area he has sprayed.  Clean it as well as you can, cats have a keen sense of smell and if he smells it he may end up coming back to it.  When he comes home from the vet you'll want to keep him away from those areas, possibly even confined to a laundry room or bathroom for a while as he may continue to spray for a little while.  He has to get the testosterone out of his system and that could take up to a month (though probably less than that) and in the meantime you want to keep him in an area that's easy to clean away the smell.  Once he stops spraying he probably won't start again.  You can help him both before and after his neutering by adding something like "Rescue Remedy" to his drinking water which will help relax him.  There are also pheromone emitters that you plug in, like "Comfort Zone" that also help him chill out.  Those things can be found at pet stores and will probably help immensely.