Inappropriate Peeing in Neutered Male Cats

What to Do When Your Male Cat Pees on Your Clothing or Furniture

Over the summer, we adopted two three-year old cats (a brother and a sister). At first they seemed to adjust fine, we even introduced them to our backyard, growing up in a apartment this was a novelty for them, but one evening our large male, Angus, peed on my brother bed as well as the couch upstairs. The litter boxes were clean (if you have two cats you should always have two litter boxes, cats don't stand for bathroom line-ups) and he seemed happy about life in general. Inappropriate urination can often be a cats way of letting you know that they're frustrated or angry about something. He is also neutered, so he couldn't have been spraying territorially.

Of course, our immediate concern was to wash and clean everything. We have always had pet cats and although we hadn't experienced this particular problem we have on occasion had to rid of the smell of cat pee. Our first cat, a neutered male, absolutely hated my father (a 6'2, ex-rugby player, who stomps around the house) and frequently peed in his kit bag. Our second cat, a female, was quite ill towards the end and used to lose control of her bladder. After years of personal experience and research, I find that vinegar works the best to get rid of the smell of cat pee. Many front loader washing machines have a separate dispenser if you want to add bleach to your clothing and it works just as well for vinegar. The acidity of vinegar neutralises the smell and it doesn't leave a very strong smell itself, although if you're picky about the smell of your clothing or bedding putting the load through a second time isn't a huge hassle. When it comes to floors or furniture mixing some vinegar into water and mopping or wiping down the offended area is the best way. The ratio of vinegar to water or vinegar to a load of washing is dependent on the damage done. I like to round it up to about a cup of vinegar into a load of laundry or a bucket or water.

However, when it came down to our happy, rather non territorial fellow we didn't want to just clean up after him, we wanted to discourage him. I had some theories of my own: for example, my brother spends quite a bit of time sleeping in his bed and lying on the couch, so it was highly likely that my brother (now as large, if not larger that my dad) posed some type of threat. However, my father wasn't having any of his belongings peed on and Angus seemed to get along with both men.

I did some research online and at the library and this is what I discovered.

• Even though neutered, many male cats still have the ability to spray a little and continue to do so as a territorial instinct.
• Cats like the smell of bleach. It's extremely dangerous for them to ingest, but many people reccommend washing our litter boxes with a mild household bleach. There is a chance that some cats will urinate on bleached areas.
• They do not, however, like citrus smells. A spray bottle of lemon or orange-scented water can be invaluable when training a cat not to jump up onto the dining room table.

Once we had washed and cleaned the mattresses from the bed and the couch, we rested one of them outside to dry. It was bent against the wall of the house and we noticed later that Angus had peed on it again. The marking was quite high up, so it could have been some residual spraying. We weren't surprised that he had visited the scene of his previous crime because the smell of cat pee becomes a sort of signal that it's okay to pee there.

The citrus-scented water worked like a charm. Even if you don't feel like making your own, you can get cheap bottles of lemon or orange room spray from dollar stores or grocery shops.

Angus has since stopped urinating on my brother's belongings. We believe that a sort of male hierarchy has been reached. It also helps that neither of the cats are allowed in my brother's room. Above all, clean everything. Shortly after this incident, our female cat, Isobel, used my brother's bed as a make-shift litter box. If a place smells like a toilet it will be used as one!