He started last summer, at the age of two. He was fixed at 2-3 months old and never sprayed until he was about 2-2.5 years old.
For some cats, spraying is environmental/behavioral. Therefore, he might stop spraying with a change in environment.
He's kept with another male cat, so another thought is that if he is kept away from other male cats, the spraying might stop.
I have a male cat, and the foster I have in mind also has a male cat, so that would not be good. I do feel he can be helped if he can get into the right environment. Thanks for adding the details. It is unusual for a male to start spraying at that age. I would think he's worth a shot to place. The family should have posted those details on the ad they placed online about him. They would get MORE interest that way.
Unfortunately for him, he may run out of time. All I have available at this time is a tall/wide kitty playpen type cage (multi-level) in the barn. Obviously this would be a very temporary placement (will be getting hot in 1-2 months). How do I find someone who doesn't have any male cats, and no view of male cats outside, to adopt him? We have male cats now that don't spray and we have not found a home for them in the past year or so. I just don't think it's wise to take on a special case like this, when by July people would criticize me for having a cat in a cage, in a barn, in Summer heat, if he doesn't get placed by then.
I'd like to help, but here's the reality of rescue these days:
Many PERFECT (or almost) cats and dogs are put down every week at area shelters. A forumite reminded me of this when we discussed Boxy. So dogs like Boxy or cats like the one we are discussing, don't stand a chance unless someone steps up to take them on, and are committed to WAIT until the right home is found (no other males and no view of males in this case). There are many special cases that we never hear about, and they get put down all the time.
The partial remedy to the frequent shelter deaths of critters is obviously spay/neuter.
I only thought I'd have Boxy for a few days, and that a Boxer rescue would take him. Well that just shows how much I DON'T know about how BAD the rescue situation is (naive I am). I generally don't deal in dogs because I have limited space/facilities for them. I took Boxy on, so I will remain committed to finding him a suitable home. I am not going to give up on him, he's a special boy in several ways (blind eye, dominant personality, high energy), and I KNOW there is someone out there that can make Boxy their buddy. I am already his buddy, BUT I already have another dog buddy that is dominant, so he and Boxy won't work together.
In summary, I'd like to help, but I am apprehensive about the prospects of an adoptive home given the spraying history. I would NEVER adopt out a critter w/o giving the prospective adopter ALL the known history of said critter, so how many people would offer to adopt a cat known to spray, even if it was just a recently acquired behavior? Like I said, we have male cats that don't spray that have not yet been adopted.
