Behaviour problem

Question
Hi,

To clarify circumstances, I raised Cooper from a bottle on
and there's not been any changes in the house(rug, furniture, etc.). I believe he sniffed other cat's urine in the back yard and is trying to define his domain. But obviously this is not acceptable!

The fights with Indy are real...fur flying and scabs all over Cooper's neck, head and shoulders. Sometimes ears too.
Its not kitty play anymore, Indy is saying I'm the boss in no uncertain terms. Again, not acceptable. Cooper actually
purrs when going to bed, and again when I let him out in the
AM, and this way we don't have to jump out of bed in the middle of the night to break up cat fights!

I'll try the product you mentioned...I'll try anything at this point. Its really getting bad!

Thank you so much for the input, we'll see what happens next.

Xio
-------------------------------------------
The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
My 4 yr.old, neutered mix breed cat is spraying in the house.
We let him out in the back yard for 1-2 hrs. in the AM, the rest of the time he is indoors. We have another neutered male cat in the house. He is 6 mo. younger but bigger and even though at first Cooper fought the younger cat, now Indy has the upper hand. We now cage Cooper at night for peace, and feed them both 5 drops of "Anxiety" with dinner. Cooper
didn't spray any more for a few months, but now he does it
again on occasion. HELP! I love this guy but my husband is
ready to kill!!!
-----Answer-----
Xio,

There are a couple of possibilities about why your boy may be spraying.  However, before I get into that, you may want to read the article pointed to by the below URL.  It was written by a vet and is one of the best I have seen on house soiling by cats.

http://www.netcat.org/housesoiling.html

You have not told me how long Indy has been at your house.  But, my policy is to not separate cats, but let them work it out.  The arrangement you have sounds awfully inconvenient.  Also, what may appear to be fighting may actually be play.  If you saw how little kittens play with each other in a litter, you would know that cats play with each other very roughly!!!!!  They have tough skin and are not going to really hurt each other, just make noise.  This too will settle down, in time, once they work out any differences.  However, being separated elongates and sets back the whole process.  That said, I would stop confining Cooper as this may exacerbate the spraying business.  

I am not sure the Anxiety is having any affect.  I have not had much luck with such products given orally.  You could use something like Rescue Remedy, a couple of drops rubbed in each ear.  I suspect the Anxiety is having little or no effect.  It is also possible that if the cat senses something is "messing with its head", the cat might fight the effect and produce the opposite behavior!?!?!  

Cleaning up after spray is no fun, but you need an enzyme based product specifically for pet odors and pet stains (available from most pet supermarkets or farm stores).  If there is a specific room he likes to spray, you might try a Feliway diffuser (available in many pet supermarkets), it is pheromone based and is supposed to blunt aggressive tendencies.

As far as neutered male spraying, the first thing I would do is to take Cooper to the vet to make sure he has no urinary tract problems (bladder infection, cystitis, etc.).  These can make a cat spray inappropriately.

As to behavioral problems, the article I cited has some suggestions, but, it is possible there is a new cat in the neighborhood spraying, and this could have set Cooper off.

Please let me know how it goes.

Best regards... Norm.  

Answer
Xio,

Wow, you are correct, this is really bad.  Every once in a while there are two cats who just take a dislike to each other.  This is rare, but it happens.

Do they share the same litter pan?  If so, it may make sense to get another litter pan in another part of the house.  Cats can get very territorial about their litter pans.

It may be that the only solution may be for Indy and Cooper to live in separate households.  I hate to suggest that, but that may ease all the tensions and Cooper's behavior with respect to urination may come back to normal.

Of course, with this stuff, there are no guarantees <sigh>!!!!!


Best regards... Norm.