title: Causes of urine marking in cats and effects of environmental management on frequency of marking.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate effects of environmental management alone on marking frequency in cats with urine marking and to obtain demographic data on cats with urine marking and data on owner-perceived factors that contributed to urine marking behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  Single-intervention study.
  
  
  METHODS
  40 neutered male and 7 spayed female cats.
  
  
  METHODS
  During a 2-week baseline phase, owners maintained a daily record of the number of urine marks. This phase was followed by a 2-week environmental management phase during which owners cleaned recently deposited urine marks daily, scooped waste from the litter box daily, and changed the litter and cleaned the litter box weekly while continuing to record urine marks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Male cats and cats from multicat households were significantly overrepresented, compared with the general pet cat population in California. The most commonly mentioned causative factors for urine marking were agonistic interactions with other cats outside or inside the home. Environmental management procedures resulted in an overall reduction in urine marking frequency. Among cats that marked > or = 6 times during the baseline phase, females were significantly more likely to respond to treatment (> or = 50% reduction in marking frequency) than were males.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest that male cats and cats from multicat households are more likely to exhibit urine marking behavior than females and cats from single-cat households. Results also suggest that attention to environmental and litter box hygiene can reduce marking frequency in cats, regardless of sex or household status of the cats, and may come close to resolving the marking problem in some cats.
authors.affiliation: Behavior Service, Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Pryor
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bain
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Cliff
mesh_terms: D000378:Agonistic Behavior; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002415:Cats / Q000523:psychology*; D004609:Eliminative Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006920:Hygiene; D008297:Male; D011156:Population Density; D012737:Sex Factors; D013731:Territoriality; D014556:Urine