Problem with Cat hurting other cat, marking- Need advice (kittens, male, furniture)

[Marfiki]

Hello everyone. I have 2 cats, Marley (male) who is 4, and Rafiki (female) who is 6. I've had each of them from the time they were kittens. I'm not sure when it started, I don't remember a specific point in time, or an incident that may have kicked it off. Marley attacks Rafiki often. Sometimes it seems like it could be as an attempt at play, but Rafiki is rarely in the mood and will hiss, and I think that upsets Marley and he goes after her pretty harshly. Fur flies and Rafiki screams and moans at him. Other times, it is purely an attack. Sometimes just out of the blue, but always when Marley sees another cat outside. It's like he's looking around the house for the other cat, sees her and that's it. They can be in the same room together, eat together, and hang out on my bed at the same time. Marley might just all of a sudden decide he wants her gone so he hits her.
One thing I remember is about 2 years ago, I tried to adopt a friends cat. He was very mild mannered and about 6 years old. After more than 2 weeks of trying to introduce them slowly, Marley was still not having it. (the cat actually got out of my house accidentally, and walked the nearly 5 miles to his old home! where he stayed.) I'm not sure if that triggered this, I don't remember noticing it at the time.
Marley also marks a lot. He is fixed, but pees on piles of laundry, furniture (not usually anymore tho) and my bed! I make sure to clean his litterboxes often, have checked for urinary tract infections, and redirect him if i catch him in the act. I didn't know if these two things could be related or not.
Ok, so this is a long post. But i wanted to give all the info in case someone has experienced it before. When he attacks fiki in front of me, i spray him with a water bottle.
that's it. Thanks for any ideas or advice you might have to offer!

[chaseystarz]

Do you know at what age Marley was neutered at? If he was neutered late he can still have tom cat tendencies. And is Rafiki fixed also? If not that can be causing some issues right there too.

[Heidi60]

Marley might be in need of more exercise or play toys to keep him busy. I take our cats out for a walk, yes they follow me like I'm their mom, and after we get home again, the house is quiet as they peacefully sleep. Does Marley get plenty of one on one time with you? We have not been able to stop my male from only going after the youngest female but we have reduced the problem from multiple outbreaks a day to only one or two a week. We also keep them separated when we are not home. You might also get some help from the ASPCA or Humane Society sites for littler box issue and behavior. Best of luck and bless you for your patience.

[FiveHorses]

OP, you want to look up "redirected aggression in cats" - there are far, far too many good articles out there for me to post links to all, but just pick a few and read. It's certainly one issue your male cat has.

I have a male very, very similar to yours. He will have a go at one of the two other cats (both females) pretty much whenever the mood strikes him. He used to have a go at both, but one had a guts-full and flattened him. He's left her alone, or only sort of play-attacks her now. The most submissive one is the one he'd like to shred. The more she hides and runs away from him, the worse he becomes it seems. He was raised with her - he and she lived together in a "condo" in rescue before I took them both and that was nigh on three years ago now. Both ended up in rescue when they were just months old, so age was on their side too. Both fixed young.

With ours, the piddling isn't a litter-box issue, a health issue or anything other than a pure behavioural issue. He will piddle to mark territory (door frames, bits of furniture, the sewing machine ) and the amount of piddling varies in direct correlation to when the last time Stripey Cat was around. Stripey Cat is a big feral tom that our cat hates/is terrified of and is the root cause of 99.9% of the trouble we're having. Our cat's redirected aggression waxes and wanes depending on when Stripey Cat was last seen. It isn't that it just goes away when he's not around, but attacks are somewhat less frequent, and piddling will stop altogether.

I don't have an answer or a quick fix (there isn't one) but you'll find helpful suggestions in some of the articles I'm sure. I seem to remember finding this site's article on redirected aggression quite good - but do search around as some will be more "illuminating" than others.
Cats International - Welcome!