Expert: Jessica - 6/14/2010

Question
Hello Jessica,
I have 2 female spayed cats, a British Blue and a snow spotted Bengal, both about 4 years old and I've had them for 18 months. They are not best friends, never cuddle together but get on ok and do play a bit but it usually turns to a fight. About 4 months after getting them the peeing and spraying started. It seems that Misha the Blue pees and sprays and it's not too smelly but Shika the Bengal sprays and it stinks, just like a male cat. Last year it started around May and I cleaned with enzyme spray and biological washing liquid and used Feliway and things eventually calmed down and stopped. The Bengal still did the spray motion with her tail but nothing would come out. However, it all started again - in May again.  This has led me to wonder whether there is some sort of hormone imbalance going on? I think the Bengal starts it and as her smell becomes overpowering the Blue starts marking in response. They both go outside, where there other cats in the street which they fight with.
It is ruining my furniture and house and have had to throw so many things out because of the smell, so really need to find a permanent solution. The  Feliway didn't really seem to work, we have an old house with very high ceilings and I think it just dissipated too quickly to work.  Also they have done it in all but two rooms in the house and that's too many plugins to afford. I keep doors closed to the rooms that I can but that's not possible with the kitchen, living room etc esp. when you have kids that forget to close them.  I'm thinking about keeping them in the kitchen at night as at the moment they have the run of the house and often sleep on our bed. When it started last year I took Shika to the vet but nothing seemed wrong. Twice last year Shika the Bengal also poo'd in one of the rooms and while we were on holiday sneaked into her enemy's house across the road, ate her food and poo'd on the carpet, which was rather embarrassing! Any advice will be most gratefully received and many thanks in advance for your thoughts and time.
Regards
Gaenor

Answer
Hi Gaenor.  Do either of the cats still exhibit any signs of estrus?  It seems odd that the spraying begins at the height of mating season, and perhaps it's triggered because there is so much marking activity going on outside the house.  But sometimes a spay surgery can be "incomplete", meaning that a piece of ovarian tissue is left behind mistakenly.  This can cause the cat to go into heat, even though she no longer has a full reproductive system.  A cat who has undergone an incomplete spay will often still spray around the house, especially while in heat, and when one cat is urine marking in the house, others can be more likely to do it.  An incomplete spay requires a second surgery to correct.

Very likely, however, the spraying issues are due to territorial conflicts with the neighborhood cats.  When there is discord outside the home, cats are more likely to reinforce their ownership of their own home.  They are very likely spraying a great deal around the perimeter of your home, as well.  Minimizing contact with the other cats would probably be beneficial, but this will be impossible without converting your cats into indoor-only cats.  And this may temporarily worsen the problem before it gets better, as any type of change can cause stress on a cat.

I'm not sure if they're available in the UK, but in the US, there are now pheromone collars.  The Good Behavior pheremone collar for cats, by Sentry HC is an example.  I haven't tried them personally, but if the Feliway seems to be diffusing too much in your home, this could be a possible solution.  One collar lasts one month.

Your only solution may be to see about placing your cats on an antidepressant.  Fluoxetine (called Prozac in the US) is the most successful for treating urine marking problems.  The good news is that most cats only need treatment for 3-6 months, and then the cats can be tapered off of it.  Most cats treated with fluoxetine don't suffer a relapse of the bad behavior.  There are a few other choices such as buspirone, amitriptyline and clomipramine, as well.

Best of luck!

Jessica