I know it’ll probably involve some kind of dreadful chemical, but I need to know ASAP. The place is starting to smell, thanks largely to Katma, this big white Miss Thang belonging to one of my roommates, who won’t put her delicate flesh into a litterbox that’s even a little bit dirty. sigh
matt, the best thing that I know of is steam cleaning, and using the special soaps that go with the cleaners. I usually rent a steam cleaner (at the grocery store or the dry cleaning shop) and there is always a supply of soaps for sale with the cleaners. Look for the soap or additive that says “Pet Stain Remover” or “Pet Odor Remover”. I’ve had no luck with the grocery store spray/bottled stuff that you’re supposed to be able to dab on & vacuum off, but perhaps someone else has found the cure.
I had a cat like that and still have a ferret who stinks up the blanket in his cage. The best thing that I have found is Odo-Ban. It works great, however the only place I have been able to find it is at Sam’s Club. You may be able to find an internet site that sells it. It would be well worth your trouble.
I’ll add to Lost’s suggestion.
I use the Odo-Ban as a rinse in my carpet cleaner after I have cleaned the carpet with detergent made for my machine. I use it in the washing machine rinse cycle when I wash the ferrets blankie. Odo-Ban is a non-sudsing cleaner so it doesn’t get sticky and I’ve found it works better if you leave some on the carpet to dry.
I run into this problem from time to time in rentals. In my experience you’ll have to get rid of the problem, the cat and the roommate. Cat pee is awful and persistent. I usually have to discard the carpet and the pad and thoroughly wash the underlying floor. Cat pee crystallizes. In one case I had to tear up and replace the entire particleboard floor.
Unless you have caught the puddle before it soaks in I think you are fighting a losing battle. Most carpet treatments only mask the odor for a time.
And some tenants get angry when a property manager refuses to allow pets?
I have used vinegar in the past, it does neutralize odors.
Try a product called Nature’s Miracle, available in pet stores. No idea whether it works on cat piss, but it did the job when my Lab was a puppy.
There’s a spray made here by Exelpet which is fairly expensive but contains enzymes which totally get rid of the smell (they don’t just cover it up). I don’t know what brand-name it would be sold under over there, but it’s by the same people who make Pal and Pedigree dog foods (which I know you can get there).
Things like Refresh and Fabreeze are also worth trying and somewhat cheaper.
And never, ever, use a cleaner with ammonia in it on animal soil - to them it smells like pee and attracts them back to urinate in the same spot again.
To expound on a point noted by bare, I think it would matter what sort of subfloor you’re dealing with, here. A concrete slab is easiest; if worse comes to worst you can rip up the carpet, clean the subfloor, and install new carpet.
Pee soaks through the padding and into the floor. In one of our rentals we were fortunate to find a moisture barrier between the carpet and padding so that when we ripped up the carpet, the hardwood floors beneath were pristine. This is a rarity. A particlewood subfloor can easily (and expensively) be destroyed by noxious chemicals such as cat pee.
You may need to get rid of the cat, or change that litterbox daily. Changing the litterbox daily, or even twice a day, is a small cost compared to the enormous price of making a cat-pee-soaked apartment liveable again. Cat pee is exponentially worse than dog pee, smell-wise. If other measures fail, I’d try Febreeze; I use this regularly because I take care of an extremely incontinent old man who seems to desire for my entire house to smell like a homeless shelter. If my downstairs was carpeted, I would get rid of him, because carpet cannot be made truly clean. We have hardwood floors downstairs, so he can stay.
As an afterthought, if your landlord needs to expend hundreds of dollars to replace that carpet (or thousands of dollars, if he has to replace the whole subfloor) don’t you feel bad? Is the owner of that animal willing to shell out that money? Do you want to lose your security deposit because of your butthead roommate’s incontinent cat? Sorry for the mini-rant. I can’t help it; I’m a landlord, too.
matt, a google search came up with a lot of links on the topic.
If Ms Thang isn’t desexed, you may have serious problems - some female cats mark their territory just like males do.
It’s worth trying different kinds of cat litter too, particularly the deodorising ones (it may be the smell which deters her from using the litter tray).
The worst case scenario is that if the cat urine has soaked through to the sub-floor area, you could be looking at thermal fogging to eliminate the smell when you vacate the premises - trust me, you don’t want that kind of expense.
Just a side note:
If you want to see exactly where the cat has pissed,
( you may be shocked by how much and where you find it… )
get a blacklight, a handheld one is preferable… turn off all the lights hold it over the carpet,furniture etc and you will see where the cat has peed. It glows, no shit…
Matt - you can’t get cat pee out of carpeting. You have to get it out of a cat.
[sub]sorry[/sub]
What finally did it for the backseat of my car (long story) was repeated applications of baking soda, vinegar, enzymes, and then the better part of five months baking in direct Texas sunlight.
As for the carpet, if it’s happened more than once, or your didn’t get it absolutely RIGHT when it happened, the best answer is to clean the carpet and replace the padding underneath.
I just had a carpet cleaner guy at my house this morning!
His advice for anything smelly that comes from an orifice was enzyme, professional cleaning, enzyme. Baking soda once dry, vacuum often and reapply baking soda. Professional cleaning and enzyme again in three weeks.
That may be a bit extreme for cat piss, but apparently it’s essential when someone blows chunks from the sofa to the window blinds.
Vomit caused by too much red wine by one of my husband’s employees. $200 to clean a 100 sq ft. patch (yes, there was THAT much vomit) of light beige carpeting, plus the side of our sofa. $125 for emergency service on a holiday.
I have four cats, and I’ve had good luck with enzyme cleaners. If you use a steam cleaner, you can put some of the enzyme in the tank with the water and shampoo. When you’re done, squirt a little more straight on the carpet. Don’t be stingy with it, you need it to really soak in.
You need to ask your friend to buy a small steam vac if this is going to continue to be a problem. This is a good one:
http://store.yahoo.com/efendos/bisgreenmacs.html
(By the way, the description on this page is weirdly wrong. They are obviously describing some vacuum cleaner, not this cleaner.)
This is small enough, and simple enough to use, that you can clean up messes as soon as you find them. Or rather, your roommate can!
Here’s a link to a lot of cat cleaning products. It will give you an idea of what’s available.
http://www.petsmart.com/cat/shopping/stain___odor_control/psearch.shtml
Any large pet store will have cleaners like this. Wal Mart sometimes has a cleaner called “Out.” That’s what I generally use.
Here’s some sites with instructions you can try:
http://www.ehow.com/eHow/eHow/0,1053,2701,00.html
http://www.peteducation.com/pet_care_and_safety/urinestain.htm
I use a boxknife.
That works really well.
The look on the guy’s face when he gets the bill along with his pink slip: Priceless.