Is spraying urine?

Status
Not open for further replies.
paige

paige

Very Active Member
Okay I have four cats. Two females and two males. All are spayed and neutered and live happily together for years. No one has ever sprayed and they never fight.

Today I got home and a couple of the cats were paying alot of attention to a spot next to the dresser in the bedroom. This certainly peaked my interest too thinking maybe someone pee'd over there or poo'd. This does not happen unless my Chloe has a UTI and pee's on our jeans on the floor; or Webber gets constipated and tries to find some place other than the LB to go. Okay all of this makes me sound really dirty......this is not a normal things at all I promise you.

Well long story short - I found this little spot on the carpet (about the size of a quarter) that didn't smell like urine but clearly came from one of the cats bottoms. I also looked at the side of the dresser and saw a few drops of liquid.

When a cat sprays----is it urine they spray? This did not smell like urine and was a little darker. Not much at all but I cleaned it up right away and sprayed a pet enzyme to rid the scent. I should mention that this happened right next to a window, but the window has blinds and I don't see how they could see anything....
 
Hi Paige,

Whenever my cats used to spray once in a while, it smelled definitely like strong urine. If one of your cats would have leaked anal gland fluid, that would smell so rank that you would have definitely remembered that smell.

Could one of your cats have been slobbering from their mouth by chance? If they have teeth or gum problems, that can happen if they are lying somewhere and wake up and had drool running out of their mouth.

Or could one have a sore or cut or abscess that could be leaving some fluid on the floor like that?

If you can check each cat, comb them, check their mouths, and if they seem all right, I would not worry too much unless this keeps occurring.

Also, do any of them have nasal allergies or possibly a cold? That can leak out stuff if this spot is very small? I had an asthmatic cat and she would sneeze or leak out stuff and it would be rather dark, blood tinged sometimes from small vessels breaking.

That is all I can think of, and just to say that hopefully your cats didn't corner a rodent of some kind. Oh, dear, perish the thought! EEEK!!!

Good luck with your detective work! ETA: You said though, that this spot definitely came out of one of the cats' bottoms? Do you have any constipated cats right now? Maybe the one you said tries to poo when he can't use the litter box? May be that he is straining and only some liquid came out?

Jean and Charcoal (GA)
 
http://www.catsofaustralia.com/cat-spraying-urine.htm

Yes, spraying is urine.

it is usually on a vertical surface though, up high where other cats can smell it. It is done standing up.

I have a boy with really liquid anal gland secretions. When ever I comb him or annoy him, he lets go, and my other cats act as though I've just released the most intoxicating cat nip. it is a very light brown liquid and he lets go a few drops at a time.

When I first learned about anal glands, it was because Em had released hers. Apparently they had backed up a bit, because she let go quite a bit more then I've seen since.

Connie
 
(((Connie and Jean)))

THank you soo much for your input.

I left the washcloth that I used to clean up the "stuff" in my bathroom sink to dry out. Later when I was getting ready to go to bed I walked into the bathroom and noticed that the towel did smell like urine. I of course wanted to be sure and ran out to the front room and asked DH to smell the towel :lol: He of course politely declined (knowing that is probably was)......I begged him to smell if and he finally gave in. He said "yes paige it smells like urine" :shock:

My cats have never NEVER done this before. What gives now? Do you think those Feliway plug in's could help? Fortunately I don't see any today. :mrgreen:
 
Hi Paige,

If you only saw that small amount, unless you are smelling more urine in other areas, I would not worry too much yet. I would be more concerned though, that one of your cats could have a urinary problem like Idiopathic Cystitis or even a urinary infection if they had that small amount of pee leak out in that one spot.

How old are your cats? Urinary incontinence perhaps?

Do you have a black light? (ultraviolet light) You can turn off all lights, and crawl around the floor and shine it and see if you see marks anywhere of urine or other stuff. I have one, I bought years ago at Petsmart. It is rather gross though, when I crawled around years ago when I did have spraying cats. I saw spots all over the place, and it was really creepy. It will also show up blood and vomit spots and nasal discharges, and the list goes on.... it was not a thrilling experience.. :lol:

Take care!
Jean and Charcoal (GA)
 
Jean-i do have a black light (completely forgot about that). Since there was spray on the vertical surface of the dresser I think I could venture to say it wasn't a "leak". But I will definitely use the light!!! Thank you for reminding me. And you are sooooo right; you find things that would have rather not seen, hehe. :mrgreen:

ETA - Geez Jean I was typing on my phone and I really messed up your name :?
 
Yes use the light, because perhaps he isnt the first cat to spray/pee/poo there, especially if you have cats that have issues. Cats will pee/pooop/mark areas that still smell like it to them so the blacklight will help find all those places and enzyme them well.

Most spraying is territorial, so even if they couldnt see out the window, cats arent stupid and might have heard an animal-or human for that matter, outside, and labeled them "intruder". Cats that have never sprayed before, and are now spraying have the best chance of stopping that behavior, the key is finding out what triggered it.

Maybe another of your cats left its scent there and its not a place that "belongs" to that cat? So the spray is to say MINE. Marking near windows and doorways implies "intruder from outside" not within. Many cats are given up when people have babies because the cat says "intruder" and marks /pees on all the babies possessions, or on a new partners possessions.
 
Oh Lisa I have heard that people give up their kitties because of that. I mean would you give up your child if you couldn't potty train them?!?!?

Anywho - thank you for the explaination as well......that if it is early then mayby I can stop it. Funny thing is I have a civvie Shelby (male) that goes through the actions like he is going to spray, but he just never does. Maybe he actually did :?

I guess I know what I will be doing when I get home from work today :lol:
 
Yeah, Paige, having fun crawling around with the black light! HAHAHA!!!

One of my female cats annoys me sometimes, when she gets anxious, or something, she stands and raises her tail, and twitches as if she were spraying, but she never does (hopefully).

I get a good liquid from my vet's hospital that they use and it is the greatest smell reducer. It is called K.O.E. Kennel Odor Eliminator. It lasts forever. This small bottle that you only need a cap full and fill up a spray bottle with water and the capful of this stuff and I get a lot of mileage out of that small bottle. The odor is pleasant and it costs about 12 dollars but lasts me over a year! Also non-toxic to the cats and kids.

Good luck!
Jean and Charcoal (GA)
 
I have been wanting to give an update, just kept forgetting. ;-) I went around the house with the black light and fortunately THAT SPOT was the only one I saw. Aside from all the other hairball spots that I swear I cleaned the heck out of. You were right. Don't do that right before dinner I tell ya. :shock:

Must have been a one time thing (fingers crossed for sure!!)

THank you all for your input and ideas.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top