Pets

[Brynmala]

Oscar (the caramel point) is actually a Balinese - a 'long' haired siamese. He's a rescue and not as well socialised as he could be, but he's becoming more 'siamese' every day.

As for Noodle the alternative breed to Exotic is British Shorthair, which is I think more likely as they are far more common. They do come in pointed - somewhere way back someone bred the Siamese colour into them. I don't know if you've seen the Simon's Cat animations - she's becoming that cat.

[Kittiara1]

So i have two male cats, snow and Mr. Binks. they are both male and pee on our couch... this is very stressful as we love our cats and our two year old is ultra attached to the point that when we spent the night at my grandparents house christmas eve he screamed all night for his cats...

Therefore, getting rid of them is not an option... we know fixing is usually an easy solution, but we don't want to do to the fact that Snow is a purebred Siamese Himalayan and we would like to put him for stud. We cannot fix the other cat, because this can cause dominance issues...

So, is there any other solutions we can try without fixing them... thank you.

[Intempestivity]

It sounds like there might already be dominance issues with the cats if they're repeatedly urinating in the same place, as cats use urine to mark territory.

How many litterboxes do you have in the house? Where are they located? What about perches--do you have shelves or climbing units for the cats? Are they spread throughout the house? You really should have a minimum of one litter box per cat, and in different areas of the house. Covered litter boxes are better, as cats like their privacy and to be forced to eliminate in front of other cats could absolutely cause dominance and aggression issues. If you can stand to have a couple more (two per cat) and spread the four litter boxes in various rooms in the house, that would be best.

The same goes for perches. Cats like to settle in an elevated place to observe the area around them, and ideally you should have several perches scattered throughout the house where the cats can go to get away from one another and relax.

Cats are not pack animals in the slightest, and to have multiple cats living together in a shared space can create aggressive and unhappy cats if you don't provide them with as much a chance as possible for privacy. You didn't specify whether they're indoor or outdoor cats, but I'm assuming indoor cats as you haven't had them neutered. These sorts of problems tend to be exacerbated in indoor cats, because they can't claim territory outside and they're constantly forced to share the same space, which makes providing separate litterboxes and perches particularly vital. If they're outdoor cats having this issue, ignore the litter box bit, but see if more perches helps the situation. Additionally, if they're outdoor cats, you really need to take responsibility and get them neutered, because it's not fair to end up creating dozens of unwanted kittens who end up in shelters because you might stud one of them some day.

[TNHawke]

Take a look at how many pure bred animals are euthanized every day, and ask yourself if you REALLY want to add to the problem, then reconsider your decision to not neuter.

Fixing will most likely help, but once they have begun to spray, they sometimes retain the habit, so there's always a chance that it won't.

Not sure where you got the idea that fixing one and not the other would cause dominance issues. Right now, with two intact toms, you have dominance issues. Each is trying to establish that they are #1, hence the spraying in a high visibility (scentibility?) place. The one who gets fixed, will likely settle down after a couple of months once all that excess testosterone has worked out of his system.

What are you using to clean the couch with? Furniture is among the hardest stuff to get urine out of, even with enzyme cleaners, because they have padding, wood, fabric and empty space. It's just super hard to get the enzyme cleaners through to ALL of the urine. And as long as the couch smells like urine, the cats are going to continue to spray it, covering over each others' marks, and freshening up their own.

A couple of things that may help. Keep at LEAST 3 litterboxes around the house, in different locations. Maybe as many as 5. This allows them to pick and choose where to appropriately potty and can cut down on the stress that can cause marking behavior.

Use unscented, clumping, low dust litter, and clean the boxes daily. No one wants to use a nasty outhouse, right? Scented litters may be nice for humans, but the scents are usually FAR too strong for sensitive cat noses, so they may avoid the box.

Speaking of scents - if you use air fresheners, incense, candles, or anyone wears perfume or cologne - STOP. These may smell nice to humans, but they are too strong for kitties, and many pets even have allergic reactions to them. Being overwhelmed by these scents can make cats want to mark, to try to overpower the already overpowering scent with something that smells 'better' to them.

Try using both covered, and uncovered boxes. Some cats prefer privacy, while others don't like to feel cramped while they do their business.

In that same vein, make sure your litter boxes are large enough for the cat to stand in and comfortably turn around. I have 4 cats and ended up turning a large Rubbermaid bin into a litter box, it works GREAT!

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=litterbox <-- good article about litter boxes, AND it has a photo of a box similar to the one I made! (but I can't find the link to the article I followed to make mine - but essentially you get a BIG rubbermaid type bin, and cut the entry hole in the long side, not the short side, because it encourages kitty to step in, and then turn 90 degrees so they don't potty outside the door. Make sure the bottom of the door is high enough that you can keep 4 inches of litter in the box without spilling. Don't keep the lid on, it's too easy to skip cleaning the box when you can't see how dirty it is.

A point on stress- Are the cats picked up, carried around, dressed up, or otherwise bothered or harassed frequently? Even if they flop and seem to tolerate or even enjoy it, it may actually be highly stressful to them. If they don't feel they have a safe, secure place to quietly rest or hide, they're going to be stressed and that can cause marking. Make sure they have a place or two where they can get UP. Cats like heights, being on the ground with everyone else looming over them is stressful. Build a shelf or few and attach a soft bed, or even just a layer or two polar fleece to it. Get a scratcher tower or two. You need more than 1 and more than 1 location because you have two cats and both are intact. they each need their own space. Designate a spot for the kitties to sleep (where they like to sleep) that is a "do not touch" zone. When kitty is there, don't bother them! This goes for every member of the family.

Ok, back to the couch.

You may need to replace the couch, depending on how soaked it's gotten. A good Rug Doctor type steam cleaning may help. But once it is clean, or replaced, how to curb the issue from continuing?

Do NOT punish your cats! If you can catch them BEFORE they squirt, go ahead and dissuade them - a sharp "NO!", a quick squirt with a water bottle, may help. But if they are in progress, or just did, punishment only ups the stress levels and can actually encourage the behavior, or move it to a new location... such as beds... which you certainly don't want.

So, try a good, thick blanket that will cover the couch. Get two or three. Keep the couch covered and change and wash the blankets as needed.

There's a new product called Never Wet. I want to try it out on fabric and see if it makes things crunchy, or if it stays soft and pliable. if it DOES work, I would treat the entire couch. It will not soak up urine- or anything else! spilled drinks and food, etc.

Ha! I got ninja'd by Intempestivity, but it looks like we're both saying many of the same things, and I agree with her points, too.

[Rainwater]

In addition to what TNHawke and Intempestivity said, Feliway (copy of the feline facial pheromone) may also help with spraying.

[TxCat]

I'll move this to the pets thread to get more feedback.

-- TxCat

[JadaNae]

I now have the following pets -> Mice ( in too many colors to count), Rats (in beige, blue, and black), 1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa, 2 Ball Pythons, and 6 corn snakes The rats hold my heart the most. They are so sweet,wonderful, and cuddly.

[Brynmala]

Take a look at how many pure bred animals are euthanized every day, and ask yourself if you REALLY want to add to the problem, then reconsider your decision to not neuter.

I second this wholeheartedly. I have 3 pedigree cats - all were rescues, two of them - Oriental types, like your Snow - I could only really describe as damaged goods, they are not well socialised with humans and even after a year here are still nervous. And these were the lucky ones. Unless you are showing Snow and he's winning enough to get titles you aren't going to get reputable breeders wanting to use him - you'll get backyard breeders who want to make a fast buck out of crossbred kittens. And no matter how hard you try unless you breed him to another pointed cat you aren't going to see his wonderful colouring coming out.

There are far too many unwanted cats - domestic and pedigree - in the world, so please, unless you are going to be breeding absolute top quality cats, have both your boys neutered. Your house will smell better for it too

[TxCat]

Hermes will be neutered as soon as he is old enough (we just hit the twelve week mark). I went to a lot of trouble to find a breeder who would either allow this or --- better yet --- insist on it. I figured if Hermese is as good as I think he will be at his job, then I can go back to the same breeder.

[Silenxia]

how many nice is too many to count? I like mice, they are cute and their colors are so endless. At a pet store, I once saw a beautiful black and white mouse (even managed to take a picture of her)...but I'm afraid to handle very tiny animals...I know I won't hurt them on purpose (I can never harm an animal...except spiders), but my hands are large and I might make one slight wrong move and end up hurting them...this isn't just with small rodents, it's happened with snakes, and even a Chihuahua pup, no harm happened of course, but I was very aware of how fragile it was and I didn't want to make an accidental move...

Jackson was a different story, he bounced a lot when we first got him and he was small that we tripped over him a lot. Now he's far from big, but he's getting fat...we've tried to limit how much food we give him, but he this idea of that he needs certain company before he can eat his food and that happens usually later on.