We’ve had indoor cats for over 30 years and never had any problems with cats spraying until a couple of years ago. My alpha cat, Kira, a female who had reached the age of 13 started spraying while we were fostering a large litter of cats — mom and 6 kittens.

We have been unable to break her of this nasty habit. When she is unhappy, she sprays the backs of our leather recliners. They are fairly easy to clean up, however, the spray tends to drip onto the carpet below and getting that smell out is not easy. The enzyme cleaner works pretty good but it’s not what I’d like my house to smell like either.

We are still fostering and well, Kira was really upset about our last fosters: Poppy (the little feral momma) and her 4 kittens. She actually sprayed our computer! Yep, a MAC BOOK laptop computer that is no longer functioning — dead, dead, dead. Here’s a cartoon my friend, David Booth, created when he heard about it:

My little stinker, Kira

Can Vanilla help?
A couple of days ago while visiting an old friend, she mentioned that her daughter uses vanilla flavoring and that stopped her cat from spraying and covered the smell. Well, I’ve been trying it for 2 days and so far so good. Here’s what I did…

1. I put vanilla flavoring (actually imitation) into a small spritzer bottle I bought at the drug store in the area where they sell small travel items like shampoos.

2. I cleaned the areas Kira sprays real good, let it dry, then spritzed the vanilla on the spots and also on the carpet below.

3. I spritzed the vanilla again before I went to bed and when I woke up the second morning.

So far so good. No spraying and my house smells wonderful!!! It’s worth it just for the smell. lol

I’ll let you know how it goes. Try it yourself if you have a cat that sprays and please leave a comment letting us know if it worked for you.

Purrs, Frankie

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