For unneutered cats, neutering by itself is often effective in eliminating or greatly reducing urine marking. In neutered cats that spray, however, environmental, behavioral and pharmacological management is required.
Urine marking occurs in sexual, territorial and competitive contexts. Treatment requires first identifying the specific social or environmental factors that trigger the marking and then both limiting the cat's exposure to those factors and reducing its response to them.
Environmental management involves making changes in the household that reduce the cat's exposure to arousing stimuli. For example, when the presence of stray or neighbor cats triggers spraying, it is necessary to either block the cat's view of those cats or to use repelling devices to keep the other cats away. Sometimes it is possible to work out a "traffic control" schedule with neighbors to reduce the cats' exposure to one another.
In multiple cat households, reducing the number of cats can be helpful, but this option often is undesirable to owners. Hostility between household cats must be identified and reduced, using behavior modification, spacing techniques, and medication. Fortunately, by increasing the availability of vertical space, the impact of having multiple cats within the same house may be diminished; providing access to elevated perches and hiding places often is beneficial. Setting out multiple food and water bowls and litter boxes also may help reduce competition among the cats and consequently the motivation to urine mark.
If specific sites are used as marking-posts, the cat's access to them must be blocked. Another option is to change the sites' significance to the cat: Feliway, a synthetic facial pheromone behavior modification product that is now available from veterinarians, is helpful in converting urine marking posts to face-rubbing posts. It is also important to eliminate the odor of urine in order to manage a cat's marking behavior. Odor removal products obtained through a veterinarian often provide the best results. In cases in which urine has soaked through to the carpet padding or has permeated wood flooring, removal and replacement may be required to eliminate the odor.
A cat's response to arousing stimuli also can be reduced through a desensitization process developed in conjunction with an individual behavior modification program developed by a professional with experience in veterinary behavior. Punishment is not helpful and in fact may increase the frequency of spraying.
Pharmacological treatment is necessary in the management of spraying that is unresponsive to neutering and other treatments. There are several different classes of drugs that can be beneficial: benzodiazepines such as Valium, tricyclics such as Elavil, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors such as Prozac, and Buspar, a drug in the class of azaperones. The decision use to drugs should not be decided casually, as there are potential side effects with all of these medications.
