Are you having problems with territory marking and want to learn how to stop cats from marking in the house? First it is important to understand just why they tend to start this obnoxious behavior, then you can start working on getting them to stop. Marking for cats is a form of communication, cat Urine contains Pheromones unique to each cat that gets out the message of either this is mine or mating season has begun.
Both male and female can mark and the main culprits are unfixed cats. Male cats mark in a parameter around their area and female cats will mark when they are in heat to announce their availability. Normally this behavior will occur outside but if the cat is feels that his territory is being threatened or your cat is stressed they could move inside.
Now that we know what marking is all about lets discuss what can be done to stop it if it moves into the house. Getting your cat fixed is the first issue. Early neutering or spaying can stop cats from ever starting this behavior, your vet will be able to tell you what age is best. You have an older cat that is unfixed? It is not to late in fact studies for cats that are older and neutered show that
* 87% of all male cats stop after castration
* 78% stop immediately
* 9% stop in a few months
* 13% keep spraying
Now for that 13% that continue to spray there are some other issues to address here. Usually it will be some sort of stress that is causing your cat to behave this way. Some common stresses are:
* Feeling over crowded in a multi-cat home
* moving to a new home
* new addition either animal or human
* loss of family member either animal or human
* Change in animals routine
* Change in your routine
This is just a short list but you get the idea. Addressing what is causing the stress is the first step to eliminating the problem with your cat marking. Once you figure out the cause the it is time to start on correcting the behavior. Clean the area good and try a product such as a spray or diffuser with Feliway, a feline pheromone, to help calm your cat then work on eliminating your cats desire to urinate in the house.
I have 4 male cats all in the house, after having my baby over a year ago one of them started marking all over the house. Of course when one starts the rest of them follow. I tried everything I could think of to try and get them to stop, nothing worked. So I spent every morning cleaning up urine. We had to pull up all of the carpet and even get rid of one of our couches. I love my cats so much to my husbands dismay they stayed and I kept trying. Finally I learned exactly how to stop cat marking in the house. I was really surprised at how easy it was!
