I need your help! One of my five cats keeps peeing on clothing that is outside the laundry nook (down a short hall from the catbox). I know we aren’t keeping the litter box as clean as we should, and I am going to fix that problem ASAP.
However, what to do about removing the urine odor from the clothing? I’ve tried washing them in cold water with laundry detergent and adding vinegar. I’ve tried the same with hot water. I have washed one shirt in particular several times. The smell is still there.
Here’s what I want to know: What products have you, the Cat-Owning Doper, personally used and had good luck with? I did a search in GQ about it, and a lot of people had a lot of suggestions, but they were along the lines of, “I’ve heard that such and such works.”, or, “Do a search and try some of the things that come up.” I don’t want to end up shelling out big bucks for a product that is supposed to “break down the enzymes” or what ever only to find that it doesn’t work. I use Febreeze on the carpet but I think that probably doesn’t REMOVE the odor, it just covers it up. It seems to work okay though.
I will be eternally grateful for your suggestions, as I am becoming more and more frustrated- I do NOT want to be one of these people that has a house that reeks of cat piss!! Thank you in advance.
For some reason this has been asked a lot recently. I was always sure me and my cats would survive my wife’s pregnancy intact, but here, not two weeks since we discovered her condition, I am alone in a catless flat. Except my wife is here (he adds hastily) and that is all the purrign I need, etc.
I buy it for about $10/gallon at the store. Douse the stain thoroughly, let it air dry and sit for a day or two, then wash it. It leaves behind a sweetish smell after a while. I (unfortunately) use it fairly often, and it’s never let me down.
Stains and Smells (I think). It’s an enzyme cleaner, and I suspect that others work as well
We used it for cat pee and it mostly works. A couple of caveats that are on the label:
don’t treat the stain with anything else first, as it limits the effectiveness of the enzyme cleaners and may actually set the stain
make sure you get all of the stain. I bought a flourescent black-light to locate all parts of the stains. Urine floureses a pale green (liquid Tide is blue)
more than one treatment may be necessary, but it eventually works. Buy the most economical one (usually the largest)
neutering the offending cat worked wonders for us.
My mother had to add a second litter box because one cat decided that one corner of the living room is now the prefered location for bodily functions. He now uses the box in the corner rather than the carpet.
Color me soundly in the Simple Solution camp. And believe me, I tried 'em all.
Simple Solution is one of those enzyme products, but be assured it does everything it says it will do. If you try this product I promise you will join me and slackergirl in the ranks of the walking advertisements for Simple Solution.
One caveat: If you have problems with the cat messing on your carpet, DON’T make the same mistake I did. I poured a nice healthy bottleful of Simple Solution on a particularly popular section of carpet my cats (and several previous owners’ pets by the look & smell of the carpet) fouled. Oh sure, it eliminated the problem with the carpet, but now I had a new problem: I used WAY too much liquid and permanently warped the hardwood floor (quartersawn oak planks) BENEATH the carpet. Stupid, stupid!!
I use Nature’s Miracle for when the little darlin’ throws up on things. It works like a voodoo charm (compared to everything else I’ve tried) and they have several different types of cleaners.
Thanks to everyone who answered. It looks like we’ll be making a trip to the pet store soon. Or can I get Simple Solution at a regular store?
Just to let you know, all of my cats are neutered/spayed. We have more than one litterbox in the house, too. I feel pretty certain that the peeing is happening because we haven’t been cleaning the downstairs litterbox enough. I HOPE that’s the only reason.
There’s a magazine ad for either a type of litter or a type of litterbox (one of those ‘self-cleaning’), that says something like, “The average cat visits the litterbox five times a day.” With five cats, that’s twenty-five separate pees and poops!! It boggles the mind.
I just bought some new stuff to get rid of the odor from a cat I owned since I was 6. It is made by the Zep company and has a pretty pungent odor that dissipates after about a half hour. It’s commercial grade stuff(I know…that doesn’t mean jack these days…)but it kicks ass.
CATS RULE!!! I just watches a cat stalk a squirrel for ten minutes…awesome!
Cheap, easy, and the best thing I know of is Vinager.
Last week my son was playing out in the yard and we have a stray cat that comes around from time to time.
Well, Dylan took it out some food and petted it and such, so the cat decided to mark Dyl as his.
The cat sprayed Dyl through the fence! I quickly dunked Dyl in the tub, and tossed the clothes in the wash with vinager and let them soak a bit. Then ran them through with my normal detergent.
I had a friend who used tomato juice to kill the smell also.
Yup. It will glow sort of greenish. Most animal body fluids fluoresce a little bit, so you’ll also get to see where the cat and your roommates puked, and where your roommates did, uh, other things.