Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with catpee

Getting kitty pee out of a dog bed

k8t — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:20:02 -0800

Cat Pee question - this time preventative and on a dog bed Our cat(s) are/were peeing on our dog's bed. I bought a UV light for cat pee detection and didn't see any on the cover, but then I took out the insert pad and it was soaked. I haven't ever seen them pee on it, which makes me believe that they do it when we are out of town.

We humans and dog really like the dog bed. He likes sleeping on it and we like how it keeps him off the rug and keeps our rug dog hair free for a day or so.

I machine-washed the insert (not recommended, but I figured that it'd be worth a shot) and cover. I'll inspect them with the UV light but I don't have high hopes, especially for the insert, I ordered another insert ($50!). Is the cover beyond repair too?

My questions:

First, our dog has been sick with intestinal problems for the last few months. Could the pee-soaked bed be related to that?

And second, any recommendations for preventing the kitties from peeing on the new one (we do Feliaway and IckyPoo and all that stuff) and/or avoiding the pee from setting into the new dog bed? (maybe could we put some of those absorbent pads in between the cover and the insert?)

Why u p on mah couchz?

PostIronyIsNotaMyth — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:23:06 -0800

Why does my cat keep peeing on the same spot on the couch? Srsly. Enough is enough. My cat keeps peeing on the same spot on the couch, regardless of whether it has a cushion or not. As of right now her litter box is clean and remains untouched by her kitty urine. Is there a reason she would be avoiding it? Her decision to pee on the couch seems random and confusing. Is there something going here that I'm not getting?

Open second story windows = nasty cat reek. Advice?

GardenGal — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:57:21 -0800

Open second story windows = nasty cat reek. Advice? Ah, the warm days of early Spring. Open up the windows to get a whiff of that sweet .... cat pee stink.

Every time we open the upstairs windows, the upstairs fills with the stench of cat urine. It's very, very strong. (The downstairs windows seem unaffected.) We thought it was caused by our own two cats spraying, but we've kept them out of those rooms and it has STILL stunk of cat pee while the windows are open. Close the windows and the smell is gone in an hour or so. Open them, and in it comes.

I thought maybe the previous owner's cat had peed on the window screens (it had sprayed lots of other places) but really, it shouldn't stink this much five years later, after all those Maryland rain storms. Besides, the screens themselves don't smell, to my nose. Regardless, I've tried dousing the screens with Mrs. Meyers cleaning solutions, to no avail.

I've sniffed on hands and knees all around the floors in those upstairs rooms, and nothing. Not even any suspicious stains. And that wouldn't explain the relationship with the windows in any case.

My next thought is, could it be something in the walls around the windowframe? Are there any insects or termites or something that produce a smell like cat pee?

Anybody else have this problem, or an idea of what might be causing it? I'd like to air our house out before selling it, but I don't think this reek is a strong potential selling point. What is causing this stench?

Cat pee boots, yuck

alltomorrowsparties — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:15:39 -0800

The cat peed in my daughter's Doc Martins. I'm pretty sure I know why (she had visited another home with cats, one may have been in heat), but how can i get the smell out? I've tried baking soda and febreeze. Oh, the cat is a spayed female and it was not a full on pee, more of a marking squirt. Smells terrible though.

So stinky

gnutron — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:53:16 -0800

My dog has cat pee on her. She stinks. HELP. Sometime today, our little dog rolled around in some cat pee in our backyard. We bathed her, but she still stinks. Any ideas on how to abate the odor? Vinegar?

I Hate The Yellow River

plinth — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:45:54 -0800

Inappropriate cat pee issue. I've read through this and other inappropriate peeing threads. I'm at my wit's end.

My 16 year old female cat has been peeing where she shouldn't. When her litter boxes were in the basement, it was not so much of an issue other than clean-up. She has a great deal of difficulty accessing the litter box there, so we moved one upstairs in a place that is more accessible, but it is a three season porch and we're on the fourth season.

She uses it, but it also pees on clothing, carrying bags, shoes, near where coats are hung up, and in the bathtub. Most likely the cause is a combination of age and jealousy as we have a 4 year old special needs child who just learned to walk and a 9 month old who is getting close to crawling.

We're really worried about the health issues of our kids and with two full-time working parents, it's getting really hard to keep up with cleaning up after her and trying to figure out where she's peed this time. In addition, the semi-isolated litter box on the three season porch is going to very soon burn a lot of fuel if we keep it accessible to her.

We've tried Feliway - did nothing but burn a hole in my monthly budget. We tried lavishing more praise on her. Upping the toy count. Introducing her to catnip (she was a catnip-free cat at that point). Vet checkup revealed no issues. If there were a better place for the litter boxes, believe me, they'd be there. I've only caught her once or twice and negative reinforcement clearly didn't help.

I feel like I have to choose between my kids health and the cat at this point, and the cost of failed solutions is mounting.

The vet as a final suggestion offered a behavioral consultation with Tufts and offered nothing else.

What do I do? From the other thread I'll try L-lysine and will investigate kitty prozac, but besides that?

Is our smelly closet a lost cause?

catfood — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 13:23:58 -0800

We have a large closet in our apartment that has always smelled of cat urine. Despite taking every measure we possibly could to eliminate the odor, it still smells, 2 years later. Is there anything left to try? When we moved into our apartment 2 years ago, we had one closet that smelled *very strongly* of cat urine. We had the apartment management do everything we could think of to eliminate the smell. Below is everything we and the management have done to try & get rid of the cat piss smell.

Saturated the carpet and closet walls with Nature's Miracle, allowed it to soak and then dry.
Washed the carpet and closet walls with water to rinse any residue out.
Bought 2 Oust fans and a few things of baking soda to let sit in the closet to neutralize the odor.
Removed the carpet and carpet pad, saturated the floor boards and wall closest to the door with more Nature's miracle and let soak and then dry.
The management then installed tiles in the closet where the carpet had been (not real tile, those dumb adhesive tiles).
Closet still smelled so I put refills in the Oust fans and let them run until the batteries died.

This closet is supposed to be a combination coat / linen closet, but I do not want to put coats or linens in there because I don't want them coming out smelling like an old cat lady. We even have cats, and their litterbox area never gets to smell like this! We have always kept the closet closed because we are also afraid that our cats might mistake it for a second litterbox.

We've used this closet for storage for things that won't absorb odors (our vacuum, some cleaning supplies, snow shovel, etc), but we're at the point where we need the storage for the coats & linens we have had to pack into our bedroom closet (which is bursting at the seams).

Is there anything else you can think of to get this closet to smell better?

Alternately, can you recommend any non-expensive ways to store linens & coats in this closet without having them come out stinky?

Cat pee--Help!

fabesfaves — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 19:58:17 -0800

My kitten (4 months) was just accidentally stuck in our spare bedroom for ~7 hours and peed on my down comforter--How do I clean it without being worried that he will think he's supposed to go on it again? Should I be worried? We went to a BBQ today and the wind blew our spare bedroom door shut--unfortunately Scout was in there the whole time, and couldn't hold it for 7 hours, so he decided to pee on my down comforter. I am currently washing everything very thoroughly--it doesn't feel like it got too far into the mattress itself--it had to go through a duvet cover, the comforter, a sheet, a mattress pad... Is it enough that I just wash these things, or do i need to throw them out? I know that cats tend to pee where they have already gone once. Since I know this was a freak accident and he only went because he could no longer "hold it", should I worry that he will go on my duvet cover again? Sorry if that's being totally paranoid but I want to be SURE that I clean it all well enough so that this doesn't happen again. I'm a first-time cat owner and want to do the kitty right! I should also note that he is a very well-behaved cat and ALWAYS goes in his litter box under normal circumstances. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Any experience removing cat urine odor from a mattress?

pants — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 14:47:48 -0800

My cat peed on my mattress about 24 hours ago. I removed all the bedding for laundering. Google's results are either ambiguous (both 'vinegar works' and 'stay away from vinegar' advice) or commercial sites. Any success using homemade remedies such as baking soda?