Urine Marking In Cats, Is There A Solution?

Urine marking in cats can be a very frustrating thing for people who have indoor cats as pets. Urine marking is most common in male cats that are not neutered, and then the next common feline to engage in urine marking is a neutered male cat.

Urine marking most commonly occurs with a cat in a standing position where he backs up to a vertical surface and sprays urine. The amount of cat urine that is expelled can vary. Sometimes there is no urine, which is termed "phantom spraying". Other times, there may be a few drops of urine or a significant flow.

While phantom spraying does not pose a particular problem for most people, actual urine being sprayed by cats does cause a problem. Unfortunately, when a cat starts spraying or engaging in cat urine marking, it is difficult to stop him from doing so.

However, that does not mean that there is not a solution for this type of behavior. First of all, the cat's owner will need to identify if there is a pattern involved in the urine marking. Perhaps, there is an object or piece of furniture that is by a doorway that a cat is in the habit of marking. Or maybe the cat chooses to mark a person's bed. Certain events cause a cat to begin marking with urine. If a new pet, especially another cat, is introduced into the household, this can make a cat start marking with cat urine. If the cat's owner happens to have left for a period of time, that can also cause the cat to begin marking.

Next, the owner needs to have his or her feline examined in order to rule out any medical reason for the urine spraying.

Next, the owner can consider having the cat that is engaging in the urine marking spayed or neutered. Studies show that there is a ninety percent success rate in halting urine marking when neutering males and a ninety five percent success rate in halting urine marking when spaying females.

Keeping litter boxes clean and widely available is also important in deterring urine-spraying behavior. This is especially important if you have more than one cat in a household.

If urine is detected, then the owner should immediately clean up the urine with products that are specially formulated to erase the odor. If the owner is unsure of where the urine may be, then he or she should invest in a black light, which will illuminate the presence of urine.

One other thing feline owners should make sure that they do in order to avoid having cat urine sprayed in their home is to eliminate any thing that may cause their feline unnecessary stress. By following the above tips, one will most likely have success in stopping cat urine marking.