# That's Where The Cat Piss Smell Comes From.... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 1, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513 "2005-03-01T23:54:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/101 "2005-03-05T00:17:41Z")
> [@Tenar](#): > > May I suggest that those who wish to debate the merits of methamphetamine use view [this thread?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=305243) Well, we do have some time on our hands while we eagerly await inkleberry’s next post telling us whether her neighbors are off to county lockup, or just PetSmart. I seriously doubt if anybody is willing to continue this fruitless debate much further, other than to just nod our heads at each other and say either ‘I agree’ or ‘you suck.’ But if I’m wrong, I suppose we _could_ take it elsewhere. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/102 "2005-03-05T00:35:47Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > **Indygrrl** , please forgive me for reporting your post above. I understand that is the shortest route to getting mine looked at by a Mod, and I’d like to get an adjudication as quickly as possible. Hode on now, you reported my post so you could get in contact with a mod? Not cool, kaylasdad99. No offense, but there are ways to contact mods without trying to get someone else in trouble. I don’t think I said anything remotely against the rules in either of my posts. Washoe–hehe, my dad has had a painting business for the last 30 years. Your anecdote gave me a funny visual. I know it’s not funny that meth-head was painting your house, but oh the stories I could tell of the wild people that my dad has employed over the years. Painters are a notoriously crazy bunch, but I bet that dude got a lot of painting done if he was on the meth. It might not have been good painting, but I bet it was quick. haha. I still don’t know what happens when someone reports your posts? Do you get demerits? Do they email you with a warning of some kind? Someone tell me, I’m getting all paranoid. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/103 "2005-03-05T00:44:38Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Well, we do have some time on our hands while we eagerly await inkleberry’s next post telling us whether her neighbors are off to county lockup, or just PetSmart. They are currently at home, and there is no odor. Lugosi, their black kitty, was on the porch, but has now gone back inside. Meanwhile, the police said they’ll “look into it” which means nothing interesting will be happening. HOWEVER, we do have a new manager as of today, and she has already starting cracking down on various building ass-clowns, so something may come of that development. Sorry there is no interesting news. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/104 "2005-03-05T00:46:21Z")
Keep your hair on, please; the text of my report was to ask the mod to disregard your post and to attend to mine. I’m told this is the work around to use because we can’t report our own posts. Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have mentioned it. Anyway I’m gone for the rest of the weekend, probably, so it’s largely moot. **inkleberry** I hope you and your family stay safe. ---
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/105 "2005-03-05T00:48:32Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > The cat piss smell slowly dissapated over the course of about an hour after they left their apartment. > > It hasn’t returned yet…today. > > What really weirds us out is that it is _sudden_ cat piss smell. For example, it isn’t there at 1pm, but all of a sudden it is overwhelming at 3pm. Usually it happens at night. > > They don’t have carboys or anything on their porch. One claims to be a hairdresser, the other is evasive about her job, if any. Mostly they keep to themselves. We have never seen the inside of their apartment. We know about their 2 cats because we have seen them in the windows. OTOH, they are very nice people when we do see them on their porch. > > Next time it comes back, we will drop a dime to the local PD. Then maybe the mystery will be solved. Hydrogen Peroxide (used to bleach hair) smells very strongly of cat’s piss, and up until fairly recently a lot of hair colourants used to contain ammonia - hence the “contains no ammonia” labels over most of them now. (In the UK at any rate) That smell builds up very quickly, can be quite overpowering, and dissipates quickly too - it’s basically there as soon as you open the bottle/mix the product and gone once you wash it from your hair. Normally left on for anything between 20 mins to 1 hour. They might be needing to bleach hair first to provide a neutral base for a more vibrant colour, so stinky smells could last a further hour or so. Although with the frequency you’ve reported, unless one of them is virtually bald from over-processing their hair you’d have seen several people arriving with one shade do and leaving with another. Plus the hours are hardly standard business ones, so maybe the hairdressing angle isn’t so likely, but lets hope it’s that rather than the Meth Cooking one. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/106 "2005-03-05T00:56:35Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Keep your hair on, please; the text of my report was to ask the mod to disregard your post and to attend to mine. I’m told this is the work around to use because we can’t report our own posts. > > Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have mentioned it. It’s ok, I’m not gonna go on a meth binge over it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/107 "2005-03-05T03:34:13Z")
> [@Tir Tinuviel](#): > > Hydrogen Peroxide (used to bleach hair) smells very strongly of cat’s piss, and up until fairly recently a lot of hair colourants used to contain ammonia - hence the “contains no ammonia” labels over most of them now. (In the UK at any rate) I find this strange. Neither smells like cat piss to me; in fact, hydrogen peroxide doesn’t smell like much of anything. Ammonia can be released by piss as it sits, but that’s not the dominant odor of cat piss in my experience. Most hair colors sold in the U.S. still contain ammonia (and the ones that don’t contain either chemicals that react to produce ammonia, or other strong bases. “Ammonia-free” doesn’t mean anything.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/108 "2005-03-05T06:54:15Z")
Here’s one that’s a little more subtle: > [@](#): > > “The relationship between a husband and wife should be equal” > Better: “The relationship between a husband and wife should be balanced” > > Equality means “the same”, and no two people are the same. No-one would think it was right to treat a dog and a donkey equally. > > Balance means ensuring that individuals are given privileges in accordance with their responsibilities, abilities and past contributions. Translation: the man is the boss. He makes the money, so he contributes more. He has more responsibility because he has the job. He’s better at most things than the wife because he is more worldly-wise. Therefore, the man should get his way 99% of the time. He’s thinking, “Women are the donkeys! They’re dumb and they need to be led around!” But he’s half right–he _is_ a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/109 "2005-03-05T06:55:26Z")
Holy crap, did I just do that? Wrong thread. Nevermind. I’m still getting used to tabbed browsing in Firefox. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/110 "2005-03-05T09:51:57Z")
> [@Q.N. Jones](#): > > Holy crap, did I just do that? Wrong thread. Nevermind. > > I’m still getting used to tabbed browsing in Firefox. heh heh What I wanna know is what thread WERE you meaning to post to? Because it looks interesting, just based on you reply above! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/111 "2005-03-05T15:37:10Z")
No, it’s okay, I understand - the cat piss smell is emanating from the husband’s attitude. ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/112 "2005-03-05T16:23:29Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I find this strange. Neither smells like cat piss to me; in fact, hydrogen peroxide doesn’t smell like much of anything. Ammonia can be released by piss as it sits, but that’s not the dominant odor of cat piss in my experience. Most hair colors sold in the U.S. still contain ammonia (and the ones that don’t contain either chemicals that react to produce ammonia, or other strong bases. “Ammonia-free” doesn’t mean anything.) Just speaking from experience: [ul][li]I have four cats, who behave when we’re home every day, but have pee parties in the litter room when we go away on trips. When we get back, there’s an overwhelming ammonia smell on the floor until I clean it up.[_]I had highlights put in a few weeks ago. Whatever they pasted on my hair smelled strongly of ammonia, especially when I was under the dryer hood. [_]I live in a very rural agricultural area where a lot of annhydrous ammonia is produced, stored and used. My bike rides take me past several storage tanks. A couple of times, they’ve had minor spills around the time I rode by, and the same overwhelming smell was in the air. [/ul]In all three cases, the smell was very similar. An overwhelming ammonia smell that takes root in your sinuses and makes things taste funny for a couple of hours. (Incidentally, there are lots of incentives to ride away as fast as you can, but a potential toxic gas leak ranks right up there).[/li]\* SuperNelson’s first list! ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/113 "2005-03-05T16:49:18Z")
Some hair dyes contain ammonia which smells like urine. But call you landlord anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/114 "2005-03-05T16:51:19Z")
Hydrogen peroxide is odorless. No one would gargle with it if it smelled of cat pee or ammonia. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/115 "2005-03-05T16:59:17Z")
Here’s a story from today’s SF Chronicle that talks about all the soccer mom tweakers who use it to lose weight and then can’t stop. > **[Meth speeds headlong into suburbs](https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/Meth-speeds-headlong-into-suburbs-3313563.php)** ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/116 "2005-03-05T17:28:27Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Hydrogen peroxide is odorless. > No one would gargle with it if it smelled of cat pee or ammonia. Yeah, I work with 30% H2O2 at work and I can’t smell a thing from it. Of course when I mix it with Glacial Acetic Acid… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/117 "2005-03-05T17:30:57Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > What I wanna know is what thread WERE you meaning to post to? Because it looks interesting, just based on you reply above! 😃 [This one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=305307) , about mail-order brides. ---
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/118 "2005-03-05T19:56:25Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Hydrogen peroxide is odorless. > No one would gargle with it if it smelled of cat pee or ammonia. Sorry, maybe I should have put - “\when\ used to bleach hair” I’ve never had any experience with it outside hair dressing. It’s been a while since I did it, but I used to bleach my hair every couple of months for a few years. There was a bottle of cream stuff, and a packet of blue powder, you had to mix to two to make the bleach. The cream didn’t smell of anything particularly, but the powder was awful! When mixed together the stench of cat’s piss/ammonia was cloying. Very heavy and choaking. Even in a well ventilated room it was harsh on the lungs. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/119 "2005-03-05T20:19:44Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > Hode on now, you reported my post so you could get in contact with a mod? Not cool, kaylasdad99. No offense, but there are ways to contact mods without trying to get someone else in trouble. I don’t think I said anything remotely against the rules in either of my posts. Actually, that’s what the mods want us to do if you need to report your own post. Report the post above or below yours, and use the message field to say which post you’re actually reporting. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513/120 "2005-03-05T20:34:43Z")
> [@PinkMarabou](#): > > \ > Going back to the OP, I in NO WAY support those who are endangering the lives of those around them to make a quick buck. If it happnes to be true that her neighbors are in fact running a small lab out of their apartment, I whole-heartedly agree that the book should be thrown at them. I do not advocate selfishness and carelessness. > \ Sorry, but I have to ask: Where do you think your illegal drugs come from? And, what do you think happens to the money you spend on drugs? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-where-the-cat-piss-smell-comes-from/292513.md?page=7)