Any advice on getting rid of "Dead Animal" smell? (REALLY GROSS OP- squeamish be warned)

Factual Questions
1

This is gross, but…

A large kitten or small cat- hard to tell from the remains- apparently crawled up into the wheel well of my car and either was killed when I drove off or died of influenza or swallowed hemlock or whatever, but however it died the damned thing was dead and I didn’t know it until I got a whiff of that godawful decomposing animal smell as described in the Anthony trial.

I used a stick and one of those “grab” things to get out most of the maggot ridden remains; they weren’t easy to reach- and to quote Jules from Pulp Fiction it was “some repugnant shit”. The thing came to pieces. I pre-dug a hole in a small wooded area behind my house and buried the pieces there as soon as I drug the pieces out.

The smell is lesser but it’s still there. (It’s possible that there’s still pieces of the damned thing up in there but I’m really not wanting to run my hand through, even gloved, to check, plus it’s minor acrobatics to get my arm where the @#$(&@#ing thing was.

I’m going to take the car through a drive through wash that does undercarriage pressure wash. Just in case that doesn’t get all of the remaining carcass or all the smell, is there anything that gets rid of dead animal smell? It doesn’t seem to be inside the car at least, just the undercarriage where the remains were.

For that matter, any suggestions on how to clean out animal remains without putting your hand through there? (I don’t have a weak stomach in general, but even with rubber gloves I just don’t want to get that close to maggots and remains.)

2

Keeping it in a cool and dry place will help a little until you can get it washed. The power wash will probably eliminate whatever remains.

If the stink remains, there are a lot of commercial odor removers that use enzymes and/or bacteria to speed up the decomposition process. Similar products can be found in most grocery stores, sold to eliminate pet urine odor. I think some are made especially for dead animal smell but any bacterial or enzymatic odor eater will help if you can reach the area with a spray bottle.

3

Thanks Crazyhorse.

4

That’s what I was going to recommend.

5

Try a car wash that includes an engine compartment shampoo, and show the attendants where the cat was so that they can clean that area in particular.

6

Take it to be detailed, and heavily tip the workers. Very, very heavily.

7

If you don’t get all the cat bits, I doubt the smell will go away. Once the feline gobbets are gone, spray with Nature’s Miracle, available at most pet supply stores.