my2cats
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Post by my2cats on Apr 21, 2009 19:45:41 GMT -5
So I leave my apartment for work this morning, and find a note from my landlord just outside - apparently the other residents in the hall have complained about an "odor" coming from my apartment, and the maintenance staff have "verified" it and determined it's related to my two cats. My lease states that if the cats become a problem, they can force them to be removed - so far it hasn't come to that, but I am worried it will soon if I don't figure out how to clean up the odor. My apartment isn't that messy - I have a lot of books and things stacked on tables and shelves, but the floor is pretty clean (this varies depending on my stress level.. but it's been a major achievement that I can get the place clean and vacuum in a couple hours). However my cats definitely have issues with peeing "outside the box". It started when I tried to get them to use an automatic litterbox they were terrified of and even though I'm providing another box now, I am pretty sure they all still peeing elsewhere. The problem is I never SEE them do it, so I have no idea where it is. I never see stains on the carpet, but it's beige so I don't know if I would?! And a couple times I've found pee on a plastic bag I left on the floor. So basically, I don't know where to look - are they peeing in one place or all over? Is there any way to get the order out? I've been spraying with the pet odor remover for close to a year now whenever I suspect there is a spot (sometimes they go #2 outside the box as well, so I use it to clean up that and the surrounding area). But clearly that isn't working. The most frustrating part is I can't even smell it. I really don't doubt there is an odor.. (I admit I'm shocked it's strong enough it can be smelled in the hall). But I can't smell it myself, probably because I'm used to it. Arg. How am I supposed to tell if it's gone away?? It's also really embarrassing - I wrote the landlord a polite letter this morning, saying I was embarrassed and would immediately look into getting the carpets cleaned and identifying the source of the odor, but how am I supposed to verify it's "gone"? Will it ever be "gone" without replacing the carpets?! Do I just have the maintenance people over every couple days to take a whiff and tell me if they still smell anything?? So far I've put down a ton more cat urine remover in the area around the litterbox, and an area behind the TV I suspected they were using about a year ago (and at the time I doused in urine remover and vinegar). I also have gotten about 3 different kind of air fresheners: one that automatically sprays every 9 minutes, hooked to the inside of my front door. One that is an open "solid" air freshener for pet odors, sitting just inside the door, and a heated oils one plugged in my kitchen, in the closest plug to the door. On top of that I got 2 different scents of Febreze and have been applying it liberally all over the apartment. I also bought a box fan I'm going to install in the window blowing out, to hopefully keep the airflow going from the hall to the outside instead of from my room to the hall. I also made an appointment with a professional carpet cleaner for an estimate (Coit), but have read online that may not help because they only go over it once - and I might be better off renting a RugDoctor for a couple days and just going over the rooms again and again. I somewhat despair of getting the odor out - at this point I'd settle for keeping it in the apartment - could I apply weatherstripping to the front door to make it airtight?! I am really at my wit's end.. the letter from the landlord didn't give me a timeline, it just said to take care of it "immediately"... he didn't threaten to make me remove my cats yet, but he did ask me to refer to that section of my lease if I have "any questions". He is a pretty nice guy overall I believe, he likes cats, but I don't doubt he would ask me to if I don't fix this. I would not get rid of my cats.. I would rather move. But there is a clause in the lease saying if I move early they charge $1500 for breaking the lease, and I worry I would have a hard time finding another place without a reference. I am really worried - any advice from people who may have dealt with something like this before?! I hate living in apartments - I've had so many problems with landlords and maintenance men coming into my apt at weird hours, showing up randomly, which was always a problem when my place was a complete disaster.. and now I'm doing a little better, but this is happening. Ug.  |
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heather
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Post by heather on Apr 21, 2009 19:57:26 GMT -5
Are they fixed? Could it be spraying?
Do you think they might have bladder infections? That supposedly makes kitties pee elsewhere.
As for cleaning up the smell, I don't know. I've tried numerous remedies, and haven't been completely happy with any of them. Nature's Miracle is probably the best. But I still end up throwing out the stinky material. I don't know about carpet and apartments, though. :/
Best of luck. Hope someone here can help you better than I can.
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Post by Di Dreaming on Apr 21, 2009 19:57:44 GMT -5
To find the puddles, get a black light. Cat urine glows under black light and you will know where they are going. I shampoo my carpets with Clorox but I really don't recommend it especially if there is a lot of urine, chlorine and ammonia can be a toxic combination.
If you are in the US, Dollar tree has a pet odor eliminator that is pretty good if sprayed heavily on carped after deep cleaning.
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heather
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Post by heather on Apr 21, 2009 20:02:18 GMT -5
Yeah, bleach + ammonia = chloramine gas.
I could never get the black light thing to work. How do you do it? Is it just some types of cat, or something?
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Post by disarray on Apr 21, 2009 20:17:40 GMT -5
My2cats, it sounds like you're doing an awful lot to get the smell out. I don't know what else you could possibly do!
I understand about not being able to smell it yourself. My sister has dogs that apparently had a lot of accidents in her spare bedroom. The spare bedroom is now the baby's room. My sister sprayed it down with febreeze and other things after her baby was born. (This was two years ago.) She doesn't think it smells anymore, but I can definitely still smell it! Of course that's only because I don't live there so I'm not used to it like she is. I don't even know how to break it to her that it still smells.
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Post by moggyfan on Apr 21, 2009 20:18:03 GMT -5
In addition to cleaning the carpets, I would immediately purchase several new catboxes and put at least one in each room & keep them scrupulously scooped and clean--attractive for the kitties to use.
I'd also put something under them--maybe a small mat of some kind, in case they "miss" -- with something smallish like a large bathmat or whatever--you can toss it in the wash.
Good luck!
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my2cats
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Post by my2cats on Apr 21, 2009 20:21:21 GMT -5
Do you know if the black light would work on older stains as well as newer ones? I'm really boggled that I can't see any visible stains - if only I could get some of that non-toxic dye that doctors use for certain diagnoses that makes your pee turn colors.  I am in the US - not sure if we have Dollar Trees around here though, I am in Ohio. I have heard Nature's Miracle does pretty well, so I will try that - it just seems like I need so much of the stuff to completely soak the carpets in both rooms... Im just wondering if a carpet machine would work? I've actually heard of it making it worse in some cases (because it wet the carpet and the old odors came out), so I'm a little afraid to try... |
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my2cats
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Post by my2cats on Apr 21, 2009 20:25:45 GMT -5
I will follow your advice and get a litterbox for the other room - I have 2 in the back room already but adding another one to the living room can't hurt (it's not like I can have guests over with the smell anyway...)
Also, I'm pretty sure they're not sick - they have been to the vet for check ups since all this started and seem to be in good health. I really believe it's because they started not liking the litterbox, so found some other spots to go, and since then have been returning to those spots.
It's not that they don't use the litterbox at all - they often do - but apparently not often enough. OR, the smell is caused by old odor. I don't really know which.
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my2cats
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Post by my2cats on Apr 21, 2009 20:26:51 GMT -5
And I just completely dumped both litterboxes 2 days ago and filled them with fresh litter.. so I think they should be pretty fresh and clean overall. One of the boxes is also a huge round one, that they both seem to like reasonably well (they usually go in it rather than the other one), but I guess not well enough.
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heather
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Post by heather on Apr 21, 2009 20:28:54 GMT -5
Re: wetting/renewing old carpet odors...
An oppossum got trapped in one of my garbage cans for about a week before I found out about it. In the meantime, it had been peeing in there... for a week. It leaked out through a hole in the bottom, soaking the wood underneath (beneath that it's concrete). They warped and turned gross. The smell was awful.
I cleaned it off as best as I could, but, for weeks, every time it rained, it smelled like pee. But every time it rained, it smelled LESS like pee. A couple of months later there was no smell.
So it helps more than it hurts. Clean it multiple times.
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Post by gettingsomewhere on Apr 21, 2009 20:29:52 GMT -5
wishing you all the best my2cats. when dobbin was doing his cleanathon someone, i think it might have been lilith, suggested bowls of vinegar around the apt to neutralise odours. i wish i could help, but as i can't i'm saying a prayer for you and the cats and sending good vibes.
hugs to you.
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my2cats
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Post by my2cats on Apr 21, 2009 20:33:11 GMT -5
Yes.. I think it might be a weekend of me + Rug Doctor + various enzyme cleaners, urine removers, and vinegar.
If I wet/dry clean it over and over and over.. SOMETHING has to come out, right? Urine isn't magic, it's just persistent. And.. if I can even make it smell like something other than urine (vinegar...) that might be good enough.
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my2cats
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Post by my2cats on Apr 21, 2009 20:36:15 GMT -5
I also found a urine remover wet vac carpet cleaner solution for a somewhat affordable price.. I'm thinking I could mix up gallons of it and just pour it on the carpet (keeping cats elsewhere) - let it sit awhile - and then wet vac it up.
I was tempted to just buy it and do that without the wet vac.. but was concerned the chemicals left behind when it dried would be dangerous for the cats if I didn't wet vac up most of the liquid.
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my2cats
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Post by my2cats on Apr 21, 2009 20:41:07 GMT -5
I found this on another site, sounds promising: "In fact -- after a week of use with the rubber weather seal and the door sweep... it has provided great results! Not only has the fix cut down on ambient noise from the hallway, it has also DRAMATICALLY (and i can't stress that enough!) reduced any smells from cooking and next door neighbors smoke. I can still smell it a TINY bit sometimes if its HEAVY smoke or HEAVY cooking but nothing at all like before! Get a Glade Plug-in in your favorite scent and youre good to go. I had family over this weekend and they said everything smelled great inside (third party review  Your results may vary depending on your door, width of gap, and amount of "smell" Home Depot had a variety of different sizes of the weather sealing and it required NO drilling ... all self-stick and has held well so far! I'm pretty pleased." That won't help much if they come back and sniff around inside the apartment... but may keep down further neighbor complaints, and show them I'm trying. |
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Post by ctrlz on Apr 21, 2009 20:41:11 GMT -5
I would also try different types of litter and boxes. Some cats dislike certain litters, or covered boxes, or boxes that are too small.
And seconding the suggestion to make sure they are clean at all times: the only time I have had a problem with a cat peeing outside the box, it was because she wouldn't use it if another cat had been in there.
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