Smell...?

[fatrockstar]

Grady is a good cat. The worst he's ever done to the house is barf, and that is easy to clean. Recently I've been smelling this cat-like smell, and I have no idea where it is exactly. His litterbox is taken care of, so it's not like it's there. It would be more accurate to say it's in the hallway somewhere, but it can't be pinpointed.

The black light isn't as helpful as you'd think. The previous owners had the carpets professionally cleaned, but old pet stains will always leave a mark that a black light can find. Determining which blotch is recent is easier said than done, and I'm not eager to crawl on the floor and *sniff* for a fucking cat smell.

Like I said, Grady is a good cat. He doesn't climb up on countertops, sharpen his claws anywhere he shouldn't, or do his business outside the litterbox. If anyone has an idea what else I should be doing to locate the source of this smell, please feel free to share. There are several things that smell like cat pee to me. Two of them are juniper and passion fruit. Neither of those things are in my hallway.

It may be time to just bite the bullet and re-carpet the entire house.

Comments

[skwairpegsback.livejournal.com]

I am constantly on a seek and destroy mission to locate cat pee... I have no carpeting in my house except for some area rugs so I can only imagine that having your house re-carpeted would have a fat price tag. Before you go to all that trouble you may want to have him checked over at the vet, just to make sure he doesn't have a urinary tract infection or something. My cats pee in odd places not because they are sick.... oh wait, I just caught Moose peeing by the stairs... no shit. I'm typing this and I hear "scratch scratch scratch" and look over and Moose is trying to cover the area he just sprayed on the wall. It's amazing how many mornings I spend cleaning up animal messes! Anyway. They are doing it, I think, because there is a stray cat hanging around my house and they've seen him/interacted with him. I'm going to try to trap him and take him to the shelter so he can stop antagonizing my cats.

The moral of my comment is, I'd hate to see you go to all the expense of getting the carpets done and then finding the same problem down the road. And short of crawling on your hands and knees sniffing the carpet, I don't know how you can pinpoint the source of the smell. Moose is so blatant about what he's doing, I don't have to search for his messes.

If you find it, I know of a good home remedy that you can mix up and soak the carpet with, and it will kill that smell.

Cat pee = bane of my existance!

[jbluemoon.livejournal.com]

Yeah he's spraying-sounds like he's stressed out. He's likely picked up on your stresses and gone with it and/or there are other cats outside as well.
Time to check out Feliway and see if it helps him calm down.
http://www.vpl.com/product.php?catmain=&mainkey=&pid=58&key=24&cat=Behavior
You can find it at local pet stores. It has also helped at our house with stress licking. Our little Edward was licking herself raw in various parts of her body and this stuff has calmed her down well enough that the licking is starting to stop.

Re: Cat pee = bane of my existance!

[winifred.livejournal.com]

Would he spray on the floor or on a wall? I am unfamiliar with spraying. The Feliway is probably a good idea, though. He's responded well to it in the past.

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

Same problem here -- though we have a good idea of where if not why. We're simply pulling up the carpet, laying down decent bamboo (Looking currently at Morning Star and Schön). We'll add rugs for soft and color -- those are more easily replaced/cleaned/hung outside to air ;>.

The other easy option is carpet tiling -- those give you carpet (if not of the thick, wiggle-your-toes-in-it variety) while allowing you to remove individual squares for replacement far more easily.

[kistha.livejournal.com]

Also you could just treat the entire hall with the Pet Enzyme cleaner - it's fabulous stuff, and if you soak it in enough, it should get to the pad underneath.

Also, anal glands. Though, that is a different stinky cat smell, and has happened with our boy cat only once. (They just need to be expressed, or they have been and that's what you are smelling.)

[dishapeaches.livejournal.com]

I agree - just treat the entire hallway with that enzyme cleaner. It works really well. You have to use a lot of it though, enough to stay wet for so many hours. Beats replacing carpeting just to have it happen again to the new carpet.