Your cat isn't that far removed from their wild roots. They feel an instinctive urge to stake their claim by leaving their scent. While most territory marking is done through innocent rubbing or scratching, issues with urinating can also arise.

But don't worry, you can teach your cat to stop using urine to mark their territory!

The importance of scent

Scent is the primary way that cats communicate. For example, when one cat comes home from the vet, the other cats in the household may treat them like a stranger at first, based on their smell. They'll have to get a good sniffing before they're part of the family again.

Since cats can't be in two places at once to monitor their territory, they have many scent-based ways to leave their calling card.

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Marking by rubbing

Felines have scent glands on their cheeks, paws and flanks and when they rub against something—a door, a chair, you—they put their own personal scent on that object. This leaves the message for other cats that they've been there and laid claim. Rubbing against you is a way of marking you as theirs telling other cats to back off.

In a multi-cat household, all this rubbing helps to establish territories (at least temporarily) and to create bonds between the cats. When two cats in the house meet up, they'll sniff each other and one will start rubbing and maybe even grooming the other. This helps to ease tension between them.

Marking by scratching

When your cat scratches something, they're doing more than sharpening their claws; they're leaving their scent as well.

Cats have scent glands on the pads of their feet and scratching is another way cats mark territory. Don't punish your cat for doing what comes naturally—just train them to use a scratching post and leave the furniture alone.

Urine-marking takes two forms:

Spraying urine on vertical surfaces

Urinating on horizontal surfaces

Spraying is when a cat backs up to a vertical surface with their tail erect and squirts urine. Their tail often quivers while they're spraying. Regular urinating is when they squat to pee on the furniture, the floor, things lying on the floor or any other horizontal surface. Both males and females can (and do) spray and squat. Marking with urine is not a litter box issue.