Is Your Cat Marking Your Home?
The smell of ordinary cat urine is strong enough, but when a cat spray marks, the odor will be even more overpowering and unpleasant. Unlike urination, which does leave a message for other cats to an extent, spray marking is more like a billboard with lights. The whole reason for marking is to inform other cats of a particular cat's presence. And, while urine is simply the waste that has been filtered out by the kidneys, marking includes other bodily chemicals with information about sex, health, and undoubtedly other important cat messages.
Unlike normal urination, which is made by the cat squatting down, spray marking is done when the cat is standing and the deposit will be made on a vertical surface such as a door frame or the front of a sofa or chair. The cat will back up to the chosen area, and wiggle its tail as it delivers the spray behind it. The volume of the spray is much less than is produced when the cat urinates.
Stopping Spray Marking
While some female cats will spray mark, the main culprits are intact males. Spray marking is used not only to deliver some information about the sprayer, but also to mark territory, which is especially important in the wild where hunting grounds must be protected. This behavior is also much more common in homes where there are several cats, and an order of dominance constantly needs to be established. However, there are steps you can take to minimize the chances of spray marking.
If you have a multi-cat household, provide several litter boxes, rather than just one, there should be a box for each cat, and a spare.
All litter boxes should be kept completely clean. Feces and clumps of urine-soaked litter should be removed daily and the litter changed completely once a week.
Block off the area being spray marked. The cat will usually return to the same spot periodically to 'renew' the fragrance, so denying access can help to eliminate the problem.
Use an enzyme cleaner to remove the spray. You may have to apply it several times to remove all the smell.
Neutering both toms and tabbies can help to stop spraying behavior.
Stress can also trigger spray marking, so address any issues that may be making your cat, or cats, nervous.
How Stress Can Cause Litter Box Avoidance
Discovering that your cat has suddenly decided to use the rug or couch for his or her litter box is disconcerting, to say the least. Urine and feces not only smell bad, but they can stain fabrics. However, finding out what is causing this sudden change in your otherwise perfect pet is much more important than punishment, and can help you get the situation back to normal quickly.
Stress May Be the Problem
Stress is the body's reaction to an unpleasant or dangerous situation. A little stress may be good because it helps your cat to avoid trouble. Normally, once the immediate problem is gone, stress levels drop off.
However, when the trigger for the stress remains, it can easily manifest itself in your cat finding the wrong spot to urinate, or even defecate. Stepping back and analyzing why your cat may be stressed is the best way to not only solve the litter box problem, but also to make your cat (and you) much happier. Always remember that cats are not only very intelligent, they are also very sensitive. Any disruption in household routine can cause problems.
If you bring a new cat, or any new pet, into the home, it could cause stress to your cat until the newcomer has been accepted.
A new baby, or the addition of any new person to the household can upset your cat, resulting in litter box avoidance.
Because your cat will be used to going to a specific area to use the litter box, if you move the box, even if you show the cat repeatedly where the box now is, you may have to deal with accidents.
Moving house is upsetting enough to humans, who understand what is going on; imagine how frightening it must be to a cat, who cannot comprehend what is happening.
Yelling at your cat, or striking him or her for going to the bathroom on the rug is not going to do anything but make the cat more stressed out and more likely to repeat the act.
Helping Your Cat Adjust
The best way to help your cat return to regular use of the litter box is to reduce stress as much as possible. There are pheromone products that will help to calm your cat, but you can also help by providing plenty of attention. Use some positive reinforcement, in the form of treats and praise, when your cat does use the litter box.
Opting For A Paid Guide On How To Stop Cats From Spraying Outside The Litter Box
Well, if you could not find a solution, you can buy a pro guide to finish with the problem once at all.
The Cat Spraying No More System carefully outlines various scenarios of unwanted spraying and targets possible causes in an easy to understand and well-laid out format. The system eases the reader into the topic and playfully chides with owners about the author's own unfortunate experiences, how the author was able to overcome them, and how you can, too.
The author's encouraging voice helps cat owners understand their cats better. There are underlying reasons for why cats do what they do, and when things are not quite right, they react. This system helps cat owners understand their cats better by discussing reasons why cats urinate outside their litter box.
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Some of the major plus points behind Cat Spraying No More are:
Saving money and time. No more carpet cleaning, upholstery shampooing and time wasted finding these incidents and attending to them.
Tricks you can use to get your cat to "like" its litter box again. This system helps you direct your cat back to using the litter box, on its own, without force.
A home free of stress and smell. Once you see how easy it is to get your cat back on track with this system, your home will be cleaner, you’ll be less stressed, and everyone will be happier. Trust me.
Helpful hints to effectively clean up the misfires. The system provides detailed instructions on clever concoctions that will effectively and permanently clean accident areas so you never know they existed.
Four bonus guides to boost your knowledge of caring for your cat:
Cat Training Bible
101 Recipes for a Healthy Cat
The Cat Care Blueprint
Pet Medical Recorder Software
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On the negative side, the following are points to consider before purchasing this system:
This system is not a perfect solution for 100% of cases (of bad cat behaviors). While the system is effective in 95% of the cases, there are instances in which the system does not work.
Results may differ. As long as the system is used as instructed results are generally achieved very fast, however if the system is not followed properly, little to no results are experienced.
In Conclusion
There really is no risk in trying out this product. With a no questions asked money-back guarantee, if things don't work out as you expected you get what you paid back.
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