I am still having a problem with a cat spraying even though she has been spayed. Can cats still spray on leaves and grass after they are spayed? I live in a basement apartment and there is a terrorist cat who comes to attack my windows and terrorize my cats. When I go outside to try to get rid of her, I smell the cat odor. I know she is fixed as I know her owners. How do I get the cat to stop coming around or attacking my windows, tearing off my screens, scaring my cats, and leaving her smell?
By Shawna
Yes a neutered cat can and will still spray sometimes. 1st of all I would skip the cayenne pepper. It can blind an animal and create enormous pain. I have seen many things tried. Some folks get rid of the dirt near windows and replace it with rock or gravel to remove the temptation to potty there. Fencing the area with the top portion of the fence bent outward at a 45 degree angle. My favorite is an attachment for your hose that sprays when something crossed in front of it. We used that to get rid of racoons. You might try a google search to find a noxious smell that repels cats and doesnt cost too much. You are wise to do something about this. Some cats arre so intimidated by cats visiting their windows that they begin spraying themselves. If all else fails you can block the view at the window. good luck.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
There are cats spraying on my outside porch. Cats are coming around the house all the time. (I do not own any cats). What can I do?
By Icu3 from Columbus
I had a lot of feedback when I posted this question a few months back. Make sure that you are not leaving anything out for them to eat. Also make sure they cannot get under your house or in a shed close to your house to keep warm. I took dishwater and put in a plastic dishpan and then poured it out on my porch. I kept an old mop to use to clean to porch with. I also bought a couple of inexpensive products made by ARM & HAMMER and used them also. I bought the carpet & room pet fresh powder and the spray. I put both the powder and spray on my rugs that I had on the porch for people to wipe their feet on. I have a rug for the front steps, the side steps and a really good rug, that my animals don't like to step on, for people to use just before they step up into the house.
I have really light carpet, so I do my best to keep it in good shape. I also spray around the inside of the doorway and we keep a few shoes sitting at the door in case we need to go outside fast. I got a box to put the shoes in & sat them behind the door and I put the Arm and Hammer in the bottom of it. It's a very strong powder so you don't need much. I also washed & wiped down all the shoes & sprayed all of them. Again like the powder the spray is also very strong so you don't need much. I did this for about a week and then I didn't have any more trouble. From time to time I still have a stray come up and I simply nip it in the bud with the lessons I have learned. Remember it's very important to be diligent when dealing with this problem. Good luck.
Tobacco dust works great. Get it at garden centers. Good luck. Jenny
Hi Icu3, here are some cheap but effective cures.Hope one can work for you.
A mixture of cayenne and water. Put in spray bottle.This is nontoxic to animals,doesn't hurt plants but cats hate the smell.
Do not use cayenne pepper around animals. The get in on their paws and then into their eyes. Cats have been blinded trying to end the pain.
I'm having this exact issue. I have 4 male tomcats vying for my 1 year old cats affection. My problem is a bit different beings that I have a cat and she is about to get spayed in a few days so that's why I have the males in my back yard, fighting, and spraying like crazy. Needless to say my house downright stinks. After lots of research I have found some pretty good ways to clean up the stench and to prevent it.
White Vinegar is that one solid ingredient that most grandmothers use and it does the trick. Take 1 part Vinegar and 2 parts WARM water in a spray bottle and go around spraying the infected areas while scrubbing away the sprayed areas.
Another spray you can make is 15 ounces Hydrogen Peroxide, 2 Tbl Spoons of Baking Soda, 2 squirts of dish soap. Very important to use a disposable plastic container and spoon to mix solution. Scrub and rinse with WARM water.
Bio-Zet is a laundry detergent that is used in Australia apparently. I've never heard of it till now, but have heard great reviews about it's ability to remove cat urine or spray from fabrics, clothing, and upholstery. I will be buying this and using it for the rugs outside my house.
Do not use products containing ammonium, this will entice the cats to spray even more! As if we want that, right?
Prevention for inside the house: This also applies to people who have indoor cats in their home
First of all: Cleanliness, cleanliness, and more cleanliness. Cats are very clean animals and need their litter boxes, etc. to be nice and clean.
Having several litter boxes throughout the house in the affected areas may help with spraying. Putting lemon, orange peel, lavender, and I believe it is Eucalyptus scents where the cats have been spraying will help to detour the little tigers. Also putting food, sand paper, or plastic bags in affected areas may help too. If you have cats outside your house trying to get at your cat inside the house such as is my situation, block the view of the outside world. So your cat doesn't feel threatened and feels the need to spray as well adding to the disgusting smell.
Prevention for outside:
Lemon, lavender, orange peel, and eucalyptus scents once again. The cayenne pepper and water as someone stated earlier will definitely do the trick, but use caution as someone stated can cause blindness in cats.. I would say the cayenne pepper and water would be good just to spray on the walls of the house and not the ground (could help to avoid the kitties stepping in the stuff too and causing blindness).. Since when a cat sprays they spray vertical up onto walls, furniture, etc. I would avoid using the powder version of the cayenne pepper to help avoid kitty blindness.
The biggest prevention of all is get your females and males spayed and neutered. This helps eliminate spraying, the excess population of stray kitties, and health problems associated with the reproductive organs. Do not use the excuse that you do not have the funds to spay or neuter your pet. There are plenty of programs where there is zero to little cost to have this surgery done and if you can't afford the proper health care of your pet.. You should maybe altogether rethink the decision about getting a pet.
If none of the tactics work above, take your pet to their local vet. There may be an underlining issue that is causing the your cat to spray.
Best of luck from one cat spray sufferer to another!
Odoban! You can buy it at Walmart and other similar stores. It works wonders & is also a disinfectant and can be used ANYWHERE and for many purposes also. Ive had cats all my life, 4 right now and its the only thing that kills that smell. Its eucalyptus scented also which is recommended for deterring further scent marking.
Don't put plastic bags of any kind around your home especially rubbish bags as cats spray on them
leave out a small dish full of straight anti-freeze. been through the same experience. no deterrents will work.
My male cat was fixed as a kitten. He was fine until neighbors moved away and left their cats behind. They kept coming to our house and it upset my cat so much he began to spray inside and out. We had to put him on a people anxiety medicine. It helped some but he never completely quit. The before product, Odoban did help as well.
getting a dog doesn't help they spray when he's asleep since their are night owls
Thank would be great to medically fix it, but my fur baby inside causes me no issues, its the wild cats out side. Ive tried bleach this morning, well; have black pepper, vinegar, comet windex, nothing helped this far. Im going n an apt complex, the manger-wont. My fault I started feeding them after babies were born
I have 4 dogs and parrots and still a cat I've never seen sprays my front door?
Several or one very busy local cat keeps spraying my front door and my hall stinks. I have read the other posts on here about getting rid of the smell and deterrents, but I have 2 cats. I don't know who is spraying, but I need a solution which will deter the other cats, but won't upset my cats and prevent them from using their cat flap.
I have tried the Felaway spray and have the plug in near my front door, but its not working. Does anybody have any ideas? I now have a micro chip cat flap as I caught a neighbour's cat in my hallway spraying. Both of my cats have been spayed and I don't think its them. Also can anybody tell me if the peroxide solution takes the colour out of carpets? Thanks.
I don't have an answer for the cat spraying. I hope someone else does. We have the same problem on our deck at times but not often, thank goodness. As for the peroxide on your carpet, I use it full strength all the time for removing spots on our carpet. Before using it though, I would test a spot that can't be seen first.
I know this might get negative feedback BUT keeping the garden hose hooked up and on spray taught the neighborhood cats what they would get if arriving at my house (pre dog era). My kids' sandbox was not to be used, nor my door. Replacing expensive screens on windows from jumping cats as well were billed to the neighbor's house insurance. That or a big fine from the police department.
Ordinances require you keep your animals in your own yard or you are responsible for their damage. One cat that would not go away; the kids scooped up with a landing net and walked it to the corner vet clinic who adopted it out (prior Humane Society here).
Back to the water. One day this big cat was trying to get into my house, scratching the steel door, I opened the window besides the door and poured out a large bowl of water on the cat. It left. They make memories of things like this. And the owner asked why her cat came home all wet. I said wait till you get the repainting bill.
My dog? Leashed. Does not bark unless pointing out a dangerous situation. She is a German shorthair. Who, when she opens the door to come in, does not scratch my door at all. Put in a handicap door handle. Walks in, shuts door, waits to be unleashed.
Thanks for your responses. I will try the peroxide (test patch first though!) My front door is down stairs so the hose would be no good for me but I will keep on with the Felaway and see if that has any results after a month or so of the plug in.
We have a real problem with a tom cat. Its owners have moved and its not neutered. We have 3 cats, 2 quite elderly. Always been loving, loyal pets. Since the tom cat came on the scene we have paid hundreds in vets bills where it has been fighting with our cats. The youngest is licking her fur off and is bald in patches from stress! We've had a cat flap fitted yet it still sneaks in through an open window and sprays.
My trained cats have also began spraying too. I have been out in the garden this afternoon weeding and it just stinks of cat wee. We are at our wits end. Is there anything that works to stop it coming anywhere near us? Even if we could catch him, the local rescue centre have said they are full. They can help with getting it neutered but I would have to collect it!
I wish that I could come up with an easy fix for you but unfortunately I've found this kind of situation doesn't have any quick fix. The best advise I could give you is the advise I followed. Instead of wasting tons of money on clean up just to have them repeat it over and over I think you should invest in a live trap. You can pick them up under $30.00 and they can come in handy over and over. After selecting the right trap you should contact the local animal control and request assistance with the costs of spaying ferals. You might even be able to borrow or rent a trap from them but I suggest that instead of waiting on them to just spend the $30.00 so you'll always have 1 on hand since ferals and strays show up all the time. After finding a group that'll help cover the costs of spaying then just bring your cats in for the night and set the trap with some tuna or cat food. I'd also suggest that you figure out where you are going to store your catch in between the trapping and spaying since you'll need to store the cats safely after they've been trapped. Before trapping you might want to check out sites online that'll help you through the trappings and everything that you'll need to know about safely trapping, spaying and releasing. As soon as they are trapped you'll want to get them to the vets and have them spayed as soon as possible. Depending on how many ferals and strays you have this might have to be a project that takes a few weeks but it'll be worth it once they've all been spayed. After trapping them and having them spayed they will usually calm down with the spraying, fighting and breeding and that's when you'll actually have a fighting chance with clean up since cleaning up while you have ferals just waiting in the shadows to remark their territory will just cost lots of time and money with little results. There are also a lot of ideas that you can find on line to help keep them away but I think that the best results will always be from trapping, neuturing and releasing since the Tomcats will always find away through any defenses you put up because they only care about finding the ladies and spraying is how they do that.
I tried several products but the best was AIP industrial which is a live bacteria/enzyme solutions. I also put my cat in a thunder shirt for his anxiety.. Don't laugh...it really works! Hasn't peed since!
Allies cat a feral organization with help with the trap, vet spay and neuter, I have done it , low cost , and the cats are gone.
My mum had the same problem with cat's in the area so she sprinkled chilli powder and it seems to work
These are extreme things to do.
You cannot take another pet to be rehomed unless you want someone to remind you
How do I discourage male cats from spraying my home and my shrubs?
By Irene
Cats hate citrus so i keep reading so i blended lemons skin and all in a nutri bullet added about 4 litres of warm water to the juice in a bucket and poured it over the plants the cats were spraying, have not had a problem since if you want to use a spray bottle just put juice in muslim or chux to strain out fine particles mix with warm water.
Does dumping cayanne and chilli powder effect plants and bulbs and starts? I have 3 cats spraying my garden. They live next door and are relentless.
I have a female spayed cat who is kept indoors, but I'm constantly faced with the smell of other cat pee outside my front door. What can I do?
Those cats have marked their territory. Clean it with Natures Miracle, an enzyme cleaner
My friend next door has cats and one of them sprays on my lounge room window, as soon as I open it to let some fresh air in. I am getting very annoyed with this cat.
By Heather from Murray Bridge
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
Can anyone give me any ideas on how to keep away stray cats?
Is there anything out there for getting rid of Cat Urine smell? We have a neighbor cat that is spraying the outside of the house. In the late evening, the smell is coming inside the house.
How do I keep the stray cats from spraying urine on my cellar windows and screens?
Tom cats spray outside my house and garden and now because of the smell my indoor tom cat has started to spay inside the house.
How do I keep cats from spraying on my house outside?