2 cats and their territorial peeing exploits

General Zod

Hi All,

I have two cats, both male, one is a 2 year old Rescue cat that had been abandoned, that we got in September. There were a few initial peeing issues, but after a few days he learned where his tray was and has been good at using it.

Recently, we got another rescue kitten, a feral that we caught (one of 3 siblings) from the feral colony that existsin the wasteland behind our house. We're currently doing a trap, neuter and release program for the cats that are out there (2 down, 8 to go!).

Anyway, we caught this little kitten about 8 weeks old a few weeks ago, and we decided to keep him. He's doing very well, has put on weight and is exceptionally social and friendly.

However, the two cats seem to have a little bit of a territorial peeing contest going on. They don't fight, and are good company for each other, but seem to enjoy finding awkward places to pee over, and we think it's them trying to mark areas for themselves.

The kitten is the more obvious of the two, and we are playing with him and feeding him in areas where we find out he's peed, but recently we discovered the older cat had peed in a corner behind the TV, and the next night the kitten was just about to do the same, only for me to catch him in time and a quick yelp sent him scurrying to the downstairs litter tray (he has one upstairs that he uses himself, but every so often he uses the downstairs one.

It's not a huge issue, but running around cleaning up after them (including two fun days of repeatedly washing bedsheets) and we're running out of ideas. Any tips or tricks that you can think of or just stay the course until they are more comfortable in each other presence?

doctor evil

Have you had the kitten for long? perhaps keep the kitten to one area (somewhere easy to clean) in case older cats gets insecure and pees more.

Just wondering, do you test the ferals for FEV and Feline Luekimia (sp?) in you TNR program

dvet

Male cats often 'spray' urine to mark their territory, so with the new kitten just after arriving this is probably what they're both doing. It's a bit different to normal peeing - they normally pee on the floor but spray on vertical surfaces like furniture or walls. If that's your problem, neutering them usually helps greatly - a lot of the time it stops the problem altogether (most vets will neuter them once they're over 6 months of age).

Also, make sure that when you're cleaning the areas where they've peed/sprayed that you use a cleaner with no ammonia in it - the smell of the ammonia actually encourages them to pee in the area you've cleaned.

If it is peeing and not spraying, you could try improving your litterbox situation. Some cats are just really fussy/funny about litter trays, so it's a good thing to have at least 1 litter tray each for your cats, and put them somewhere a bit 'private'/a quieter area of the house, and not too near their food bowl. Some cats prefer the more gravelly type litter and some cats prefer the more pellety type litter so you could experiment with that. They sometimes refuse to use a litter tray that isn't clean enough for them, so make sure you clean them regularly, and fully disinfect them at least every few days.

Lastly, if you're worried that something else could be going on (like your older cat getting incontinent etc), give your vet a ring and they might tell you to bring them in. Hope all of that helps!

IvySlayer

Well you need to rule out anything medical first. They are both neutered? If not, maybe a urinary infection? Or just simply marking.

Cats sometimes pee out of jealousy. Lots of love for them both. It's best to have seperate litterboxes! Cats can pee out of stress too.

General Zod

Thanks for the replies.

The older cat is neutered and immunised, the kitten will be getting neutered at 4 months (so January or so).

The kitten will be getting his shots this month (damn recession).

Not sure about wether the cats are getting tested for FIV/Leukemia, I'd imagine they are, the TNR program is in conjunction with Cats Aid.

also, our plan seems to be working, both cats well behaved over the weekend, plenty of wrestling between the two (which is good, so that the kitten learns his place in the cat order) and they are getting very comfortable in each others company. The older cat is fairly quiet, likes his alone time, and isn't shy about showing the kitten when he doesn't want to play (no fighting, just is good at shooing the kitten away when he's not in the mood to play.)