10 methods to discourage cats from marking the door

How to stop a cat from pointing at the door?

People living in private houses often notice streaks of urine under the door and an unpleasant odor at the entrance.
This picture is a consequence of the fact that the neighbor’s cat has marked his territory or the cat living here is now in heat and wants to get to her. Sometimes you can see the markings even if you live in an apartment in a multi-story building. In this case, either the neighbors let the pet go for a walk, or it ran into the entrance while the door was closing. To correct the situation, you need to understand how to discourage cats from marking the door. If nothing is done, they will continue to commit crimes and continue to interfere with the life of the owner of the property.

Radical method

To prevent cats from marking doors, you need to find out why they do it. Animals, especially street animals, are guided by instincts alone. For example, in a pack there must always be a leader, and only he has the right to mark territory . The other cats wait for the leader to weaken before they challenge him. A similar situation occurs with the door and with other people's cats.

The owner of an apartment or house must understand that poking an animal into its scent is pointless. A more strange, radical method will help here. Its essence is to talk with the offender in the “native” language. The algorithm of actions is as follows:

• Catch the cat when he marks the door, tightly grasping him by the scruff of the neck.
• Raise it in front of you to eye level. The animal will tuck its tail and paws.
• Make sounds similar to hissing directly in the animal’s face.
• Against the background of playing a menacing hissing sound, begin to sharply, but not very forcefully, slap the offender on the ears. This should be done one at a time and it is advisable to touch the nose a couple of times.
• When the cat starts covering his face with his paws, hunching over, squeaking and trying to run away, he needs to be released.
• You should make loud hissing sounds in pursuit of the intruder.
• The door will have to be treated and “marked” with its smell.

The most important thing in this process is to remember to look into the animal’s eyes at all times. If you look away or do not perform your actions convincingly enough, the cat may not understand the essence of the process. In this case, he will continue to mark the door, thinking that he was just being played with.

Marking a place with your scent means throwing the owner’s sweat-smelling item there for a while, for example, a T-shirt after running or wearing socks. Girls can use their favorite perfume for this. A cat may come to the door, but it will not shit when it smells the person who humiliated it.

In most cases, one procedure is enough. If it was not carried out convincingly or there are several violators of the order, then the whole process will have to be repeated. Basically, the cat marks the disputed territory, but after identifying the “true” owner, he no longer encroaches on it. Sometimes even when you see an animal on the street, you can see the fear in its eyes, which indicates the correctness of the chosen method.

Castration and its effectiveness

It is believed that castration of cats is one of the most effective ways to wean a cat from marking its territory. This is true, because after surgery, only 5-7% of pets continue to leave unpleasant marks, the rest of the animals begin to go to the litter box, which is due to changes in hormonal levels.

This method should be used for animals that have not reached the age of 12 months. The optimal age for surgery is 7-8 months, because during this period the animal’s body is physiologically formed, so surgical intervention will not harm it. After the operation, the animal stops leaving marks for 2 weeks or more; castration may be ineffective in the following cases:

• at the time of surgery the animal was more than 1 year old;
• the animal had contact with a female before castration;
• the cat’s bad character, because some individuals will continue to leave marks out of a feeling of harmfulness or anger towards the owners;
• incorrectly performed operation.

This is the most radical method that many pet owners resort to. It is worth remembering that after castration your pet’s behavior may change for the worse. Some cats become apathetic, others begin to eat a lot, and still others become aggressive.

Methods for removing urine and scaring away cats

Leaving the smell of cat urine, there is no doubt that other members of the feline family will begin to mark this place. To prevent cats from marking, you need to treat the door in one of the following ways:

1. A weak solution of potassium permanganate is perfect for treating the surface that the cat is marking. The remaining stains can be wiped off without much difficulty.
2. Vinegar is considered a time-tested odor remover. Its greatest advantage is the ability to quickly weather. You can use vinegar in its pure form, but then you will have to rinse the area with water.
3. Hydrogen peroxide can not only disinfect the area where the cat marks the door from the street, but also solve the odor problem. However, if its surface is varnished, then this product must be used with caution so as not to damage the coating.
4. If someone else's cat marks the door, you can treat it with alcohol . Animals do not like its smell, so they will take their natural needs elsewhere.
5. By dissolving 5 drops of iodine in 500 ml of water you can get a good cat repellent. Representatives of the cat family don’t like its smell, so they won’t even come to the door.
6. When cats piss on the door, ordinary laundry soap can save you. It hides odors well and can be used on all surfaces.
7. By sprinkling red pepper on the place where the cat relieves itself, you can be sure that he will not return there. After treating the door, you need to leave the product for several days, and then wash everything well.
8. A strong soda solution copes well with foreign odors. However, the area next to the door will have to be swept after the product has dried.
9. Bleach usually works well when it comes to stopping cats from marking the door. It is applied to the crime scene and left for 2-3 days. The main disadvantage of the method is the caustic composition. It can only be used if you are absolutely sure that the surface of the door will not be damaged.
10. The smell of fruits from the citrus family is very pungent for animals. They will not urinate in the area that is treated with it. Lemon juice is especially helpful.

Professional remedies can help solve the problem . They are sold in virtually any pet store. Among the special means created to prevent the cat from marking the front door and to get rid of the smell of urine, the most basic ones can be identified:

Medicines for cats that will help stop them from marking their territory

Drops, powders, sprays and other products help fight not only unpleasant odors, but also the pet’s habit of leaving marks at the front door and throughout the apartment. It is better to use products that are sprayed directly on the surface, because drops for cats and cats used orally harm their health, causing diseases of the genitourinary system and the formation of malignant tumors. The advantages of using sprays include:

• removal of fresh and old stains;
• removal of unpleasant odors;
• the cat stops marking the treated territory;
• economical consumption, because most often 1 bottle is enough to wean a cat from marking its territory.

Let's look at the most popular and safe sprays that will help you:

• Api-San products. A safe, odorless spray that can be used on both hard and soft surfaces. Removes all odors, is economical in consumption, the line of products includes sprays that help prevent the appearance of marks in the corridor and other rooms.
• Organics Zoo-Zym. A safe and natural spray, it can be used in the presence of an animal that you are weaning from marking the apartment.
• Products from the Perfect Coat and DuftaPet brands protect against stains and odors; the brand’s lines include repellers and baits.

Important! If you are just training your kitten to use the litter box, use bait sprays or litter. Such products have a strong aroma, but they help the cat find the tray and get used to it. We are talking about products from Api-San, Simple Solution, SynergyLabs Xtreme and others.

Why does a cat mark doors?

Males that have reached puberty mark using their own urine. This is a warning to other cats that the place is occupied, and also an invitation to females.

This is what cats do when they walk in the yard. They show other relatives who is boss at the entrance. But even a pet can play pranks. In addition to the marks associated with puberty, the animal asserts itself and tries to become second in the pack after the leader.

Sometimes the cat gets offended by the lack of attention paid to him and becomes mischievous. In this case, something worse than a door tag could happen. Pet shits in shoes. Cats mark too. They do this during estrus. But they prefer to do this on walls, other vertical surfaces, and furniture.

How to stop street cats from marking my front door?

To prevent someone else's cat from leaving marks in front of the door, cat repellers from among folk and professional means are used.

Folk remedies

Of the substances that repel cats, you should use those that do not damage furniture, are effective and inexpensive. The most convenient remedy is table vinegar.

The pungent odor quickly dissipates, converting the fetid amines of cat urine into odorless compounds. The animal will feel that someone stronger has marked the territory and will retreat.

In addition to vinegar, you can use the following products:

• hydrogen peroxide;
• weak aqueous solution of iodine;
• vodka;
• lemon or other citrus juice;
• red pepper.

Cat owners report that household bleach and soda discourage marking. But after using the same products, it is necessary to thoroughly wash the treated surface.

Special means

Traditional methods can cause dissatisfaction on the part of neighbors in the entrance.

Therefore, it is wise to use the following professional tools:

The drugs are produced in aerosol cans, which are sprayed from a distance of 20-30 cm. The male may ignore the first application of the repeller, but after the second or third application he leaves.

How to stop a cat from pointing at the door?

For domestic cats, weaning methods are different. It is inconvenient to use folk remedies in an apartment - they smell unpleasant and can ruin floors and furniture. Sometimes housewives practice spraying corners with their favorite perfume.

If you have a personal plot, experiment with natural repellents growing in the garden, such as:

Special products such as Antigadin wean the animal from peeing and pooping in the wrong place and force it to use the cat litter box.

There are other ways to wean someone off tagging. The radical method is castration. This is what is most often used by owners of cats living in high-rise apartments. However, it must be done before the pet acquires sexual experience. Otherwise, the habit of marking persists for a long time.

If the owner decides to keep the gonads, sedatives will be required. Kot-Bayun in solution or tablets contains phytoestrogens, which in structure resemble female sex hormones. The effectiveness of the drug lies in the estrogens it contains, which inhibit the secretion of testosterone. The animal calms down and stops leaving marks.

Before use, open the bottle of sedative. Put on the dropper cap and pour 2 ml into a teaspoon. Pour into mouth or drinking water. Leftovers are stored in the refrigerator. Multiplicity 3-4 times a day. The course of treatment is 5-7 days. If you carry out preventive therapy monthly, there will be no marks in the apartment.

The supplement acts similarly on cats. Only in this case do phytoestrogens replace the female sex hormones. She receives satisfaction as after fertilization and calms down.

The following drugs have a similar effect:

If your neighbor doesn't respond

If the animal owner does not admit guilt, instead of thinking about how to poison the neighbor's harmful cat, use the following methods.

For example, you can stop your neighbor’s cats from pooping on your property:

• dripping 9% vinegar onto small boards or plywood and spreading them over the entire area. The procedure must be repeated every time the pungent odor disappears;
• Watering freshly dug beds frequently to keep them lightly moist at all times. The neighbor's cat will not use such soil as a toilet;
• sprinkle the marked areas with pepper.

To keep your neighbor's cats away from your property, you can get your own animals. A dog or cat will not allow strangers to mark their territory.

If we are talking about an apartment building, the door should be thoroughly washed and sprayed with vinegar or a spray with a citrus smell, which cats hate.

We recommend reading: “Quiet mode in an apartment building: how to legally find control over a noisy neighbor.”

How to stop cats from marking the door / shitting under it

The situation is this: in the entrance, pets regularly mark the door or shit nearby. To be fair, I note that they do the same with neighbors’ doors, but nevertheless I want to ask - how can they be weaned from this?

IMHO, cats - no way. Marking their territory is their vital necessity. But dogs seem to be allowed. If these are dogs of people living in the house, it means that the owners do not take them out for walks on time, they are overexposed, the poor dog cannot stand it for so long. It is necessary, IMHO, to punch the owner in the face a couple of times. Stray dogs should be scared away with sticks and bricks (without self-harm).

That is, the fight against animals must begin with two-legged and hornless animals. Set up a camera and broadcast the TV show “Entrance 1” on the Internet. I have never caught owners with dogs “by the hand”, and “this is not mine” everyone says like 1.