Our 12 week old male kitten uses the litter box for #2, and does #1 wherever. Why does he do this, and how can we make him stop?

It sounds like tour cat has a uti. Try crushing a crambarry tablet and deluting it with water. Not recomanded for every day use, maybe once a week. You may have to feed it to him through a dropper.Uti is most common im male cats.

Un-neutered male cats spray. It's a natural instinct for marking their territory. (Lions and tigers spray, too!) It's such a strong instinct that my 18-year-old neutered male cat (neutered at 6 months of age) still goes through the motions of spraying sometimes, even though nothing comes out.

Neutering will eliminate spraying in most cats, but it isn't a cure-all. Somewhere between 10-20% of males will still spray even when neutered. For both neutered and intact males, there are drugs that a veterinarian can prescripe that may help, if you want to go that way.

Neutering seems "cruel and unnatural" to many people, but there are several points to consider: Intact males generally develop very strong-smelling urine as they mature, making odor control at the litterbox more difficult. Intact males are more likely to spray. They will also "cat around" with other males or chasing after females in season, often resulting in injuries that can be expensive to have treated at the vet, or even a drastically reduced life span.

And, finally, with growing feral cat populations in so many places, allowing an intact male to roam around and help produce more kittens is seen by many as being irresponsible pet ownership. Most shelters and many pet stores now require purchasers to pay for neutering/spaying at the time of purchase to try to ensure the pets will be spayed.

I've had both intact and neutered males cats, but I won't keep an intact tom again. Aside from the smell and the injuries, I've found that neutered males make better pets. Consult your vet about any questions or concerns you have about neutering your pet, and please give it full consideration as a solution to the spraying problem.