Do Neutered Cats Spray?

Having a cat as a pet is an amazing experience, but there is so much to learn and prepare for when you first welcome your new cat into your home that it can be daunting, particularly for first-time owners, so it’s always a good idea to brush up on your knowledge of cats before you decide on one for your new family member. 

Cat behaviors are part of the reason so many people decide they’d like one as a pet, but as any experienced cat owner will tell you, it’s not all fun and games, as cats have their fair share of annoying traits that you need to prepare for.

​So, from chewing and scratching furniture, to constantly demanding attention, these are all things you’ll have to prepare for. 

One of the most annoying things your cat will likely do is spray against the walls! It does this when it’s in heat, so for many people, the answer is simply to get your cat neutered.

But does this work? So, to find out if neutered cats spray, read on, and we’ll tell you all you need to know! 

What Is Spraying? ​

Spraying is something done by cats for a number of reasons and involves them depositing little amounts of urine onto walls and other vertical surfaces they can find around the home.

​The cat will do this by backing up towards the area they want to spray, and then proceeding to urinate, with no crouching, and only a little quiver of their tails. 

Cats can also decide to spray on horizontal surfaces, but this is a much less common occurrence.

Which Cats Spray?

Cats will spray, regardless of whether they’re male or female, but using their urine to mark territory is most commonly seen in intact (un-neutered) male cats, and when a tomcat does spray a surface, you will smell it instantly, as it has the typically pungent and strong odor that so many people refer to when they talk about the odor of cat urine.
​​

Do Neutered Cats Spray?

Despite popular belief, neutered cats can still spray! Whilst neutering or castration your cat can have a dramatic effect on the smell of your cat’s spray, as well as reducing the overall enticement for your cat to spray in the first place, around 10% of male cats that been neutered and 5% of female cats that have been spayed, will still spray! 

Spraying tends to occur more often in a house of multiple cats, it can still happen in a household with just one cat too.
​

How Do I Stop My Cat From Spraying Or Marking?

When it comes to trying to find the best way to prevent your cat from spraying or marking, there are a number of factors that need to be analyzed and considered before you can begin to weigh up your options.

​These include: where your cat is urinating, how often they’re urinating, as well as how many different locations they’re urinating in. 

In addition to this, you also have to consider any potential changes in the environment that have occurred and the social patterns of both the animals and the humans in the household too. 

Neutering is one of the most common methods of trying to prevent your cat from spraying or marking, but another option would be to improve litter box usage and hygiene, and ensure that your cat(s) are using the litter tray as much as possible, whilst checking for any reasons why they might be avoiding it in the first place. 

Why Do I Keep Finding Small Patches Of Urine?

Spraying is the most common reason why owners will often find small, sometimes even tiny, patches of urine dotted throughout their home, and this is because cats will use their urine in order to mark their territory, and they’ll tend to do it in the same sorts of places where you would typically expect your cat to spray, which includes windows, close to doors, around new possessions, as well as their more favored places in the house.

But it’s also not unusual for them to be found on items belonging to their owner too, such as their clothing!

Many people will despair at the fact that a cat will return to the locations in which they have marked or sprayed even after it has been cleaned up, which is because the entire purpose of them spraying and marking is to mark that area with its odor, so if the odor is removed, then it won’t be long before they return to the spot to remark their territory.

So whilst you might simply try to clean away any sign that your cat has marked or sprayed somewhere in your home, it’s ultimately a losing battle, as they will soon return to remark what they claim as their own!

Finding small amounts of urine deposited outside of their litter tray with increasing frequency is a sign of disease in the lower urinary tract, or a sign of litter box avoidance altogether, which can have numerous causes.

The same goes for finding stool unexpectedly outside the litter box in such frequency too, which can be a sign of constipation, colitis, or other conditions. 

If this is the case, then you should ensure that you schedule an appointment with your vet in order for them to give your cat a complete physical examination, as well as run some laboratory tests, which should help them to determine what the issue is.

Summary

So, whilst neutering is one of the most common methods to dry and demotivate your cats from spraying or marking, some neutered cats will still spray and mark their territory, so before you jump to castration, you should consider the various factors that lead your cat to spray to begin with.