For all you cat lovers and owners out there, you might have gone out of your wits trying to stop your cat from spraying almost everywhere. But the fact is, this is a natural cat behavior and it comes as naturally to them as eating or breathing.
One of the reasons for cat spray is when they want to mark their territory (no, they do not intentionally want to make your house smell like cat urine) and tell other cats to stay away. But there is more, aside from the scent markings, they also make physical markings as well such as scratch marks and even rubbed off feces.
The spraying behavior actually starts around the time they reach their sexual maturity. During this stage, the cats become adult and they will start marking their territories to keep other adult cats away. The behavior becomes more apparent especially when the females are in heat. This time, it is not a territorial issue but is a way of inviting males to come to her territory and mate.
Some people may believe that having their cats neutered may remove the spraying behavior but unfortunately, this is not so. Even if neutered, your cats will still keep their territorial behavior and will still rub off scents and spray to mark their territory.
So how can we deal with all these spraying? The best thing that we, cat owners, can do is to find out what are the threats that are triggering this kind of behavior. Give her the personal space that she needs and make her feel secure and safe in her own territory. But aside from the territorial stress, you cat’s spraying could also be due to a new routine that you have incorporated into your day-to-day activities. If this is so, then try to get back to the more familiar routine or just wait for your pet to get the hang of it until she feels comfortable and safe again.
But if the problem does persist and is causing more damage to your property, then it is best that you seek the help of an animal behaviourist to cure the behaviour.