Expert: Norman Auspitz - 7/8/2009

Question
Until a few weeks ago, I had two cats living at home. One male, about 4,
neutered very young.  Other female, about 10, spayed when 1 yr. old.  Then I
adopted a small female, recently spayed, about 1 yr old, and a week later I
adopted a large male, recently neutered, about 2 yrs. old.  The 2 new cats are
being kept indoors.  The other 2 are free to go outside.  I have 2 large
litterboxes that are now filling up very quickly.  I use Fresh Step litter because
it seems to be best for reducing odor.  Here's the question:  near litter box A I
keep a rolling art bag, like a large piece of canvas luggage.  Twice I have
found signs of spraying on this piece of equipment when it is in a certain
position (not otherwise).  I cannot smell any odor from the substance but
what else can it be?.  I suspect the new male cat but I have not caught him in
the act.

Answer
Aline,

It is probably the new fellow, but, you can never be sure.  Adding cats to a current population always changes the dynamics of how everyone will inter-relate to everyone else.  One of the "pecking orders" cats have is the litter pan pecking order. I am also assuming everyone has been checked for urinary tract problems which can also lead to spraying behaviors.

When a cat gets neutered, especially when it has been a little older, it may take 4-6 weeks for all those raging male hormones to dissipate. Thus, just after a cat is neutered it can still produce kittens and exhibit those pesky whole male cat characteristics.

So, a couple of things you can do.  First, either do not keep the art bag near the litter pans, or cover it with some plastic.  Also, I would get an enzyme based cleaner specifically for pat stains and pet odors (available at you neighborhood pet supermarket or farm store) and clean the art bag thoroughly where there seems to have been spray.  Once a cat decides to mark territory with spraying, the cat will often repeat the behavior and other cats in the community may spray to over mark, etc.

Another option is to get a Feliway diffuser (available at your friendly neighborhood pet supermarket and install it where the litter pans are. This is pheromone based and is supposed to blunt some of the litter pan and spraying imperatives.

In addition, here is a link to a series of articles on litter pan problems which may give you some further ideas:

http://www.geocities.com/heartland/pointe/9352/litterboxhelp.html

Best regards... Norm