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There is no doubt that cats are great companions: elegant, playful and intelligent. However, sometimes, situations can occur that disconcert us and break the harmony in our coexistence with our feline friends. One of these situations that can dislocate us and annoy us is the marking inside the house.
First of all, you may wonder why cats have the need to mark, even when sterilized. Well, this behavior is because cats are very territorial animals, because despite being predators, they are also vulnerable to other animals or possible “intruders” of their own species, leaving olfactory and visual marks, delimiting their territory and they create a safe area in which they feel safe. They also provide information about their age, sex, state of health, time of the reproductive cycle, etc. Keep reading in to know some practical solutions when a sterilized cat keeps checking.
There three forms of marking on cats: facial, with urine, and with nails.
Sterilization usually corrects between an 53% and an 78% of the cases of urine labeling in males [1]. In females, if it is due to marking by heat, it usually disappears completely, not disappearing if the underlying cause is another.
El facial marking and with the nails, do not respond to sterilization. All these data must be taken into account when deciding whether or not to sterilize our cat and clarify all the doubts about our veterinarian, setting realistic expectations of what castration entails.
Then we will review in detail the three types of marking with some more detail and some tips to avoid them as much as possible when they pose a problem.
Consists in rub the sides of the cuello with vertical objects or with other animals or people. This behavior leaves a olfactory brand that the cat considers as its safe area and helps reduce the stress associated with the changes. It is usually a sign that you are comfortable and that you are “at home”. Normally it does not cause rejection in the owner, on the contrary, it is a sign of affection and trust.
It is undoubtedly the one that most often worries the owners and even occasionally, is a reason for consultation and abandonment in the worst case. To begin with, it is very important to know how to differentiate when our cat has a behavior of marking and when is it due to a pathological process.
When a cat marks with urine, it performs spray micturition on vertical surfaces, lifting the tail. He usually makes them all over the house and continues defecating inside the sandbox or outside if he goes outside the house (marking with feces is very rare). When the cat is whole (uncastrated), the marking is much more frequent and the smell of urine much stronger, due to the presence in large quantity of a substance called felinin.
In cases of enfermedades of the urinary tract (the most common is cystitis or inflammation of the bladder), urination is usually on horizontal surfaces and the animal usually does a small amount and often (dysuria), even showing signs of pain (stranguria) and, in Sometimes, urinate with blood (hematuria). In cases of aversion to the sand tray, usually urinate near the same but outside and in normal amount, and often defecate also outside.
If we suspect that the behavior that shows may be due to a health problem, it is important contact the veterinarian to explore it. Especially in males, it can be serious and must act fast (also, in sterilized and overweight cats it is more common to have problems in the lower urinary tract).
When the marking persists after castration, it is usually related to stress problems, being more common in multigato houses. Also, diseases of the lower urinary tract may be due to infectious causes, but most are also triggered by situations of chronic stress.
Therefore, The advices that we will give you, above all, aimed at minimizing stress in our cats:
In this case, we must also differentiate the case of marking with the filing and wear of the nails and exercise of the claws. When the cat is wearing nails, usually doing so by standing upright on a vertical surface, scratching the surface and stretching the back. They often use tree trunks if they are outside or scrapers and / or furniture if they are inside the home. In this case, they always choose the same sites. It is a physiological behavior and necessary for the mental and physical health of our pigs.
In case of marking, they usually do it all over the house, choosing strategic places such as door and window frames, walls . this type of marking leaves a visual mark with the scratches and olfactory by the sweat glands present in the plantar pads, notifying other members of the same kind of the boundaries of its territory.
To avoid scratching the furniture and make it easier to use the scraper, there they go some tips:
If our kitten is still young, it is important to accustom him to new situations, to new people, to other friendly animals, etc. so that when he is an adult he is not so sensitive to stressful situations. If our cat is already an adult and we see that the marking and other signs of anxiety become more acute, their quality of life has diminished and we are not able to manage it, we should put ourselves in the hands of a veterinarian specialist in clinical ethology to assess the case.
If you want to read more articles similar to My sterilized cat keeps checking, we recommend that you enter in our behavior problems section.
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