What can be done to prevent cats from marking the front door?

With the onset of spring, more and more often you can hear the fighting and marriage songs of representatives of the cat family, as well as notice unpleasant odorous streaks on the doors of private houses and even apartments in the entrance. Thus, the most powerful males mark their territory, indicating who is really the boss here. Our article will tell you what to do to prevent cats from marking the front door.

Many people unknowingly believe that their neighbors, and sometimes their own four-legged tailed beasts, show their unbending character in this way. Or they take revenge for punishment in the form of slippers, brooms, a bucket of cold water, etc.

Everything is much more complicated and depends on the nature of the furry creatures. People are aware of the high olfactory ability of dogs, while underestimating cats. And their world is just as predominantly consists of smells that play the role of media, alarms and messengers.

Cat tags are concentrated portions of urine with pheromones, and not only males, but also females can delimit the territory. By marking the place, the animal thereby sets up a kind of barrier for other animals and a reminder for itself that it is necessary to show increased attention here. There may be several reasons for this.

1. The territory is marked by the alpha male, wanting to show the rest who is in charge of the pack. No matter how cute and domestic these animals may seem, the ancient instincts laid down by mother nature will always be stronger.
2. This is a manifestation of the cat's sexual activity. If your cat is in heat, potential "suitors" will not fail to announce their existence.
3. Cats also experience stressful conditions. This may be due to renovation, the appearance of a new pet in the house or in the neighborhood.
4. Another anxiety factor is the appearance of a baby in the family.
5. Disease.

Experts believe that both one factor and their combination can cause an unpleasant phenomenon. In some cases, the animal begins to tag for a specific reason, and the owners, without understanding, constantly punish him for this. As a result, the intensity of the tags only increases as the cat becomes very nervous.

What to do in such cases? The most important thing is not to punish when it comes to a pet. He will not understand the reason and will continue his work. Let's consider several possible ways to solve the odor problem.

The best option, if it's not a sire, is to castrate it. When the level of sex hormones decreases, the search for a partner will cease to disturb the animal, and anxiety outside the boundaries of its own territory will not be expressed so clearly. There is one important point here - the procedure should be performed until puberty of the kitten, at about seven months of age. There are many known cases where neutered cats continued to tag. This indicates that the operation was carried out late, when the pet had already tasted the fruits of feline love.

If you have a purebred breeding cat, castration is not considered. There is another way, which seems ridiculous at first glance. However, it uses a direct impact on the psychology of the animal.

To begin with, in natural conditions in large prides, only the main male marks the territory, everyone else is simply allowed to inhabit it. Take a look at your life together through the eyes of a cat: you groom him, bring food, clean the litter box, play and entertain. According to the mustachioed, this is a demonstration of the behavior of a lower creature in the pride, weak and powerless. And therefore he is in charge. And he will put marks where he sees fit.

You can try to radically change this situation and show that the main person in the pack is still a person. It is worth starting such education from an early age, then the likelihood of foul-smelling marks will tend to zero.

1. If the pet was caught hot, you should take it by the scruff and raise it to eye level, support a large animal from below with your second hand. This is how all mother cats carry their cubs. An adult can only be lifted by a very strong opponent, this is intuitively understandable for any cat.
2. We begin to hiss loudly and furiouslywithout taking your eyes off the animal and accompanying it with light blows with your fingertips on the face. Remember how cats fight? They wave their paws alternately on both sides. This is how you should strike your blows.
3. Don't look away until the cat tails between his legs and squeals. Only then can it be considered that he admitted defeat.
4. To secure the rights of the "main cat" the mark should be removed and put on your own. Here, it is not at all necessary to become like animals, it is enough to put on top or next to a piece of clothing with a pronounced smell of the winner (perfume, lotion, deodorant). You can simply treat the surface with your own perfume.

If necessary, the procedure should be repeated until the result is fixed. The method is easy enough to carry out with a pet. But what if the front door is marked by strangers, neighbor's cats? Scaring off the tailed beasts is not so easy. If you are not ready to selflessly guard your door day and night, you can try one of the proposed remedies.

Pet stores sell various products with a specially formulated composition, which does not harm cats and at the same time scares them away according to the assurances of the manufacturer.

It is common knowledge that cats are very sensitive to odors. For example, they don't like the citrus smell. With a slight amendment, we note that there are representatives of felines who adore citruses and quite successfully eat lemons, eating tangerines. This method is nevertheless available and it is simply necessary to try it. Another option is sprinkle this place with red pepper, mustard powder, grate with a raw onion, treat with iodine solution.

Another way that is found on forums is covering the tag with foil, which works like a garden scarecrow. This is a budget option, but not all cats will get scared, it is likely that they will even decide that this is another toy.

Adherents of more radical methods advise smear the place of the mark with chlorine-containing cleaning agents and even a solution of formidron.

In order to get rid of the pungent odor, you can use:

• UV flashlight for calculating the mark - in the event that it is not possible to find the exact location of the jet hitting the surface, for example, behind the battery;
• vinegar;
• "Cocktail" of water with vodka in a 1: 1 ratio;
• concentrated solution of potassium permanganate;
• lemon juice - on leather and fabric surfaces it is better to use diluted form;
• baking soda + hydrogen peroxide;
• professional products in the form of a spray or granules against the smell of cat urine.

Good luck fighting bad odors!

For information on how to get rid of cat tags, see the next video.