38 Chapter 3tail held vertically and quivering, with the hind feet treading alternately. In this posi-
tion a stream of urine is directed backwards, usually onto a vertical surface (Fig. 3.13).
The amount of urine passed can vary and may depend on how full the cat’s bladder
is at the time (Neilson, 2009).
After normal squat urination cats will attempt to bury or cover the urine, but
there is usually no attempt to cover spray marks and the urine is deposited at cat ‘nose
height’ so that it can be clearly evident to other cats. Cats show a lot more interest in
spray marks than in urine eliminated via squatting and investigation of a spray mark
can often elicit a ‘flehmen’ response (see Chapter 2), activating the vomeronasal organ
(Bradshaw et al., 2012).
Urine spraying is most frequently and commonly performed by entire males and
more often when in the vicinity of a female in oestrus. Entire, sexually receptive
females also urine mark (Bradshaw et al., 2012). Therefore, urine spraying is most
likely to be a means of transferring information about fitness and sexual status (see
Chapter 4). But all adult cats, regardless of sex and neuter status, can and often do
leave scent marks in this manner so sexual marking cannot be the only reason for the
behaviour.
Indoor urine spraying by neutered cats seems to occur when the cat is anxious and/
or stressed (Amat et al., 2015). It is also more likely to be performed in the area where
the cat has previously felt insecure or at threat. There are many possible causes of feline
stress and anxiety but when associated with urine spraying the cause is most often real or
Fig. 3.13. Urine marking (spraying). (Source: Commander-pirx at German Wikipedia, under
a CC BY-SA 3.0 license.)