Urine Marking (Spraying) in Cats

By Nancy Otten, Animal Health Technologist

What’s the difference between spraying and urinating?

The difference between spraying and urinating is the cat’s motive and posture.  Cats are very territorial so when they spray, they are defining their boundaries and confirming their social standing.  It is a type of non-verbal communication between cats.  When they urinate, they are relieving their bladder.  If you are unsure of whether or not your cat is spraying or urinating, their posture may be able to help you figure it out.  When spraying, the cat will approach a surface, sniff it, turn around and, with a quivering tail, spray a small bit of urine onto the surface.  They may be standing erect or squatting down when doing it.  Also, their back feet often tread the floor as they are spraying.  When a cat is urinating, he squats down and releases a bigger volume of urine.  There is no quivering tail, or treading of the floor.

Are certain cats more likely to spray?

All cats have the potential to spray.  Whether male or female, intact or neutered, all cats are capable of receiving cues from their environment (visual or olfactory) that may stimulate them to spray.  However, it is usually intact males that cause the trouble.

Why would a cat feel that he needs to spray in the house?

Your home is your cat’s territory.  He is constantly patrolling and marking his territory every day even if he’s not spraying.  Other ways that cats communicate territory are by scratching furniture and walls, and by depositing pheromones from glands found on different parts of their body.  When cats rub up against something, they are depositing pheromones from glands on their face and at the base of their tail that communicate to other cats that this is their territory.  These glands also occur on their feet so when they scratch surfaces, they are communicating territory by sight and smell.  Sometimes cats feel that they need to increase the intensity of their territory declarations.  This is when they start spraying.

Spraying can be put into two different categories:  anxiety related and sex related.  Anxiety related spraying occurs when there is a change in the cat’s territory or environment that makes the cat feel threatened or stressed.  New additions to the home (babies, guests, pets, or furniture) often bring about this behaviour.  The cat may feel stressed by the new smells and commotion and will attempt to overlay his scent on the foreign one by spraying on the new couch or the new baby’s blanket.  If the cat is spraying on its owner’s clothes and bedding, his reasoning may be that he sees his owner as an ally or protector.  By overlaying his scent with his owner’s, he feels safety because the two scents will be associated together.  Similarly, if the cat does not like someone within his territory, he may spray on a piece of their clothing.  In this case he is trying to replace the anxiety causing scent with his own calming one.  If a new cat is introduced to the home, your cat will spray in strategic areas like at entrances to rooms.  The new cat may not even need to be directly in his territory to cause trouble.  Neighbourhood cats being viewed from the window may cause enough anxiety to cause the cat to spray.  Often he’ll spray the curtains or walls beside the windows.   

Sex related spraying is done by intact males and females.  It usually happens in the spring when the female cats are in heat (sexually receptive.)  This type of spraying may be accompanied by vocalization.  

How do we stop our cats from spraying?

The first thing that a person should do when they discover that their cat is spraying is to make an appointment with their veterinarian as soon as possible.   It is best to be cautious because depositing urine in places other than the litter box can be a symptom of a few potentially fatal disorders.

The next thing that you’ll probably want to do is clean up the cat’s mess.  It is very important to use an appropriate cleaner.  Ammonia-based cleaners shouldn’t be used because it tends to make the cat spray in that area again.  It is thought that this is because ammonia is a constituent of cat urine.  The best thing to do is to purchase a product designed specifically for neutralizing the urine smell.  It might help to place a litter box in areas where the cat repeatedly sprays. 

Next you must figure out what is causing your cat to spray in your home.  Intact cats should be spayed or neutered to remove the influence of those pesky sex hormones.  If it is the addition of a new cat to the home that is causing the trouble, you must try to reduce competition between the cats.  Provide more than one litter box (it is best to have one more litter box than the number of cats) in various areas of the house and keep them very clean.  This way one cat won’t be overwhelmed by smells produced by the other.  Set up several feeding stations so that they don’t have to eat together.  It may be necessary to set up some hiding spots for the cats as well so that they can escape each other periodically to reduce anxiety levels.  It might be helpful to physically separate them daily by locking one of them in a room for an hour or two.  This will allow both cats to fully relax.  If it is cats outside the home that are causing the anxiety, you may have to remove access to the windows.  If practical, simply keep the blinds closed.  If that isn’t practical you can try putting double sided tape on the window sills or use lemon-scented sprays.  Cats are repulsed by the scent of lemon.  You can also try to prevent cats from coming into your yard.  Make it unpleasant for them by shaking rock-filled cans or spraying them with a water gun.

If the cat is spraying on objects in your home like clothing or the bed, simply reduce access to these things.  Keep your shoes in a closet and keep the bedroom door closed.  Reduce access to the new couch unless you are around to keep an eye on the cat.

If all else fails, your veterinarian can prescribe drugs for your cat that will reduce his anxiety and therefore reduce his compulsion to spray.