Male cats always mark their territory?

I have always had male and female cats and the females were the ones that always peed on clothes, towels, rugs, etc. One of the male cats sprayed a lot, but I read someplace that if you had them neutered before they reached sexual maturity, that this was not as much of a problem. We had 2 male cats since then, both neutered at about 12 weeks old and neither of them have sprayed and their urine was much less pungent in smell.

No. If male cats are neutered as a young kitten (3-4 months old) they will never mark territory. The only time they may do this is if they have a UTI (urinary infection) or sometimes if an entire male is outside your house spraying around.

I have owned more males then females and NONE of them ever marked territory. I did have 2 breeding males and I was lucky they were the only entire male cat in the house and didn't mark.

Neuter the cat before the age of 6 months.


A far as dogs marking.. That is a TRAINING issue.

I've usually had male cats and spraying was never an issue unless they had a medical issue. Did you ever consider that?

I currently have two males and one female. One of the males was 3 years old when he showed up and he sprayed all over the outside of the house and even indoors until I got him neutered. After that, he's never sprayed, marked, or even peed inside...he'll cross his legs until he can go outdoors to pee. My other male, who was neutered 30 seconds after his balls dropped, is very much the same way, however, he will use the litter box if desperate. My female, who showed up as a stray last year prefers a littler box and will often come inside from outdoors to use the box...boy do I wish she was like the fellas as I'm tired of cleaning up litter messes.

The vast majority of my cats have been male and I prefer male cats. If I were to choose another cat (vs. being chosen by the cat like I was with the female), it would be a male.

I've had several male cats and several female cats. The only one that marked in the house, to my recollection, was one of the females. If you get them neutered early enough, and if there is nothing in the household to make them feel they have to stake out a territory, no cat will mark.

If you get a male cat neutered before age 4-5 months rhey never spray.

funny, i have two males about 3-years old. in rased them from kittens. they were neutered about 1-year to 1-1/2 years of age. neither of them "sprays" their territory.
they know this home is theirs.

when i let outside male cats indoors, as i like cats, when they finish eating, they will walk around and "spray". this i clean-up with a small bucket or bowl of warm water, laundry soap, and white distilled vinegar.
this works really well. sometimes, i go around the house and do the walls, and cabinets, tables, and bureaus about 2-foot from the floor; sounds funny, but it cleans-up any spots i might not have noticed.
this is a good clean-up mix: warm water, laundry powder, and white distilled vinegar.

A cat neutered prior to becoming sexually mature almost never, ever sprays. You either waited too late to neuter him, or he was marking territory because the dogs were allowed to pee in the house. I've had more male fosters than I care to count, and of my current cats, 3 are male. No one sprays in the house. When a cat pees out of the box, it's a symptom that there is something wrong, and rarely is it spraying. Someone else peeing in the house, the dogs preventing the cat from getting to the box, not enough boxes, a dirty box, or even a urinary tract infection. Declawing is another one. You need to discover the cause - and in over 99% of the cases, there IS a cause.

You have to get them neutered really young, at about 4 months old before they develop the spraying habit.

If you get your male cat neutered early, he won't mark his territory. There is NO other way around it. If you wait too long to get him neutered, it could become a habit and may keep doing it even after being neutered.
I currently have a male and he started spraying at about a year old. I got him neutered right away and this solved the problem. I also had one 15 years ago and got him neutered before he sprayed, so he never marked up the house. So decide if you have enough money to get your kitten all of his shots and neutering right away before you decide to adopt one.

Get him neutered early. If there are no other pets in the household, marking shouldn't be an issue. If there are other pets in the household, it may be. If the kitten is stressed and feels in competition with others, it may still mark. I have an older male that was really bad about it when I had other male cats. Now that the other males are gone and there are only females, he's stopped.

Territory marking only happens when a cat is not neutered soon enough.
Once the problem starts, its very difficult to stop.
A kitten can be spayed or neutered once they reach 2 lbs. Neutering early does not cause any issues, in fact it prevents many medical issues from happening on later in life.

Anxious untrained animals mark regardless of gender....... as you have not stopped your cat/dogs marking in the past it will make zero difference if you get another pet, that will do exactly the same

I've had many male cats, and they will mark their territory unless you have them neutered as quickly as you can, within the age guideline set down by your vet. Male cat urine is very pungent, and once the territory is marked, no amount of rubbing and scrubbing will completely eliminate it, so the cat will go back over and over again and reinforce the marking. All cats want to be clean by nature, so it's always helpful to provide a litter box that's readily accessible, but the neutering is equally if not more important.