TLDR at the bottom. Sorry in advance for the long post. I have a 3 yo neutered male (single cat) who was previously a stray. We neutered him as soon as we took him in about 1.5 years ago, but he's continued to spray in our apartment, I assume to compete with a neighborhood cat spraying outside of our apartment (including on my front f***ing door). Lucky me, his favorite place to spray is our HVAC return air vent, so you can imagine how well the smell has managed to travel through the whole apartment. I've tried Feliway diffusers in the past with little to no change, but I feel like if there's a time to try again it's now for several reasons:
1. Haven't seen the neighborhood cat in a few weeks. We've gotten 2 feet of snow in the past month and his family/someone could have just taken him in until the weather improves, so he'll probably be back in month or two. Or he could have succumbed to the elements. Not the cat's fault his owners suck, so I hope he's alright.
2. After coming home from a week-long trip and getting smacked in the face with the smell when I entered my home, I went on a massive cleaning and deodorizing spree yesterday, including deep-cleaning the area in question and straight-up replacing the now-corroded vent grille with a brand new one. We currently have aluminum foil on the ground in front of it in the hopes he won't want to walk on the foil. It's been 24 hours and he shows no interest in the area.
3. Switched his litter box to a LitterMaid. He's VERY picky about his litterbox both in cleanliness and what type of litter we use, so we're using the one he seems to like best (World's Best Litter - pine scent) and hoping the LitterMaid keeping it clean will encourage him to use it regularly instead of our walls/vent.
So basically I'm wondering if I should get the Feliway as a precaution, or if it's likely a waste of money? If I can get him chilled out before the neighborhood cat makes his reappearance and curb the behavior from continuing, great! But if anyone has had a similar experience and thinks I'd just be wasting $40-60/month, please do let me know! He's sprayed as recently as 48 hours ago (again, just cleaned yesterday) and I haven't seen any seeking/sniffing/spraying behavior since I cleaned, but it's really too soon to tell if the cleaning alone will do it, and I'd like to try to get him to stop before he even WANTS to start again. BUT, I have tuition payments soon and just work part-time minimum wage, so I can't afford to go throwing money out there for months just to end up back at square one, and I've already spent $150 on the LitterMaid, cleaning supplies and new vent grille.
TLDR: 3 yo indoor-only neutered male is in a turf war over my front door with a (currently MIA) neighborhood cat. Last sprayed 48 hours ago, I deep cleaned his favorite area and deodorized the house the best I can yesterday, and he hasn't sprayed since. Would Feliway possibly keep him from spraying once the other cat makes his reappearance if I start using it now, or is this college student on a strict budget likely going to be wasting her money?
Any and all experiences/anecdotal advice on Feliway vs spraying is also welcomed.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/ayipgd/help_feliway_for_neutered_male_cat_spraying_over/
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