My Lily has started SPRAYING!!

[Kirsten]

Go figure! This girl is 10 years old and was spayed at the age of 7 months. However, she had always done this "quivering tail thing" when she was excited; you know, turning her butt towards a wall or furniture, lifting her tail up in the air, shaking her butt... only without the spraying part (I think over the past 10 years it happened three or four times that a little urine came out). But now, it happens more frequently, I found urine sprayed against a door the other day, and twice against the drawers of a cabinet. The strange thing is, the liquid is not smelly!

I don't think it's Luna who's doing that, because - even though she's dealing with litter box issues all her life - I have never seen her showing this spraying procedure; she would just sit down and pee or poop onto the floor (which is bad enough, but I've learned to live with that, and usually it's easy to clean). I'm pretty sure it's Lily because I saw her doing this little quivering tail dance all the time. But I wonder why it's now that she actually started spraying! Did it take her 10 years to figure out how to do it? Are there any medical conditions? Or is it a behavior thing? A few days ago, she seems to have decided she's the ruler of our house as she claims my part of the bed and complains when I'm in there; she wants it for herself. So she's definitely power-tripping, so I wonder if the spraying thing has something to do with that?

[Catty1]

Could be a UTI. You might want to rule that out first. Doesn't mean there's crystals - just inflammation, maybe. <3

[Kirsten]

Could be a UTI. You might want to rule that out first. Doesn't mean there's crystals - just inflammation, maybe. <3

Well yes, you're right; I need to rule that out. The next time I find urine, I'll try to get a sample and get it to the vet. Just to be sure.

Luna is dealing with UTIs and crystals all her life, but her symptoms are different.

[catmandu]

Sad to say but Miquelito sprays when he feels threatened by bigger Cats and even the new Kitten.
I hope that Lily is all right, I know how this can stink.

[Kirsten]

Sad to say but Miquelito sprays when he feels threatened by bigger Cats and even the new Kitten.
I hope that Lily is all right, I know how this can stink.

Thank you, Gary. I'll call my vet tomorrow, but I guess she's alright. As for her feeling threatened; it's the other way around, it's Luna who feels threatened by Lily, especially now that Luna's legs are getting weaker. But on the other hand, it could be that Lily is confused by Luna showing signs of weakness.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm so sorry to hear this. I know how frustrating this can be. It could also be a behavioral problem since you said that she's trying to be the alpha cat now. When a cat does the quiver tail without spraying, this happens because they're overcome with emotion towards their owner or even just another person that they've become very fond of. My Ziggy used to do this daily towards me and I thought she was trying to spray but she never did. I did a search about it on the internet and I found that it was because she's in love with me. My RB Storm used to sometimes do this too. Even a male cat that I was cat sitting for did this a few times to me.

I'll now share my own very recent spraying story which I haven't told PT yet. As most of you know Alani just had PU surgery because he was blocked and he had severely damaged the tip of his penis. Ziggy has always growled and hissed at both Alani & Blaze since they were kittens and it never seemed to phase them at all. Ziggy usually likes to stay in my bedroom most of the time but she does come out to the kitchen area during feeding time. On Tues. morning she growled at Alani like she usually does. Alani responed by doing the quiver tail and he did spray a little bit. I was shocked. I cleaned it up with some enzyme cleaner. It didn't have an odor either probably because he's been neutered for several years. He then proceeded to spray on a scratching post and I was able to stop him from doing very much. This all happened in my dining room and I already have a feliway diffuser going in this room.

I e-mailed my vet and she said that his PU surgery shouldn't be causing this and that he may still be in some pain and if it continues that I should bring him in for a urine analysis. Now I've been keeping Ziggy away from him and so far so good. Before this happened though, I also noticed that Alani will sometimes bully both Sky and Colby almost like he's trying to become the new alpha cat. My RB Storm was the alpha cat. To me Alani doesn't seem to be in pain so I think that his is a behavioral thing. I just hope that it doesn't continue to happen. Yesterday I bought more feliway plugins as well as some new adapters since the others are very old.

Good luck and I hope that Lily doesn't continue spraying. I feel your frustration.

I looked up quiver tail again and this is what it says about it: When a cat is very excited and happy to greet its owner he will hold his tail straight in the air and it will quiver or twitch. This is the cat's way of saying he is so pleased to see you that he is overcome with emotion.

[smokey the elder]

My cats Spike and Marnie do this! They want me to pet them. I hope you can sort out your cats who are spraying inappropriately.

[Kirsten]

Glad to hear I'm not alone with this one! However, Tracey and smokey the elder, I'm sorry to hear you're dealing with something similar!

So far, there was no other spraying incident, but I called my vet and told her about the problem. I will try to get a urine sample to be on the safe side, but she thinks it's more a behaviour thing as Lily seems to be getting into alpha mode.

(...) When a cat does the quiver tail without spraying, this happens because they're overcome with emotion towards their owner or even just another person that they've become very fond of.

(...)

I looked up quiver tail again and this is what it says about it: When a cat is very excited and happy to greet its owner he will hold his tail straight in the air and it will quiver or twitch. This is the cat's way of saying he is so pleased to see you that he is overcome with emotion.

This is actually very cute!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Last night Alani sprayed again right in front of me. This was also shortly after I plugged in new feliway plugins with their new adapters. I noticed that his pee pee area does look a bit red so maybe he is in pain. I was able to make an appt. for him this Sat. at 2pm and Blaze will be going in too. Blaze has been having diarrhea problems and needs to be seen for a regular check up any way. Alani will be checked out again and most likely have a urinalysis done. These boys have been stressing me out lately so I hope that things will return to normal soon.

I hope that Lily continues to do well with no more spraying problems. Good luck.