Is neutering the only way to stop cat spraying?

My male cat lives in the kitchen of our appartment, he has started spraying and now we can't leave anything down for fear of him spraying and/or peeing on it!

if its already spraying it might not stop have to ask your vt cats need to be neuterd and spayed at 6 months b4 get pregnant or start spraying but there are things to stop it google them as well

no it will only take the smell away and will stop them wondering off and looking for female cats

im sorry to say but neutering is the only way

That can be a really unpleasant problem to deal with! If your cat is old enough I would definitely recommend neutering. This should be done for male and female cats alike and regardless of whether the cat is an indoor or outdoor cat. Neutering can often help with spraying but may not solve it completely.

There are two types of indoor urination in cats. One is 'spraying' or marking behaviour where the cat sprays a small amount of urine on a vertical surface. The other is 'inappropriate urination' where the cat leaves a pool of urine (large or small) on a horizontal surface. It's very important to differentiate between the two as the reasons for them are very different and thus the treatment is very different.

Spraying is a territorial behaviour but is often exacerbated by stress - the stress can range from decorating the house, a new cat in the area, a visitor or new baby in the house etc. If your cat is spraying you need to try and identify the stressor and remove it if possible. Feliway diffusers and Kalmaid can be very helpful and are available from your vet. Feliway is a pheremone diffuser which is used to calm anxious cats. It's a plug in diffuser but won't have any effect on people! Kalmaid is an oral supplement also used for anxiety in pets.

Inappropriate urination can often be caused by a medical condition so it is important to have your cat checked over. Stress can also contribute to feline cystitis and be responsible for inappropriate urination and in this case Feliway diffusers and Kalaid can again be helpful.

Other important things to remember are that you should NEVER punish your cat for doing this - it will only make the problem worse, and you must clean up the area where the cat has soiled very carefully. Cats will continue to urinate in areas that smell of their urine. Areas should be cleaned with biological detergent or 'Urine Off Cat' which is a great product and removes urine stains as well as the pheremone markers that encourage cats to return to an area.

Lastly check out www.fabcats.org for lots of excellent information on caring for your cat - if you search for spraying it will give you a very helpfull overview of what I've just discussed.

Good luck!