Life ramblings and the journey through adoption.
So our beloved Cougie-bear has a small pishy problem. If you leave shoes or a bag out, he will just pee in it. It does not matter if it is ours, yours, theirs, or the boogey man's, he'll pee on or in it. It's just one of his special traits.
So here I am, on the sofa, Narda having just forgotten to put her shoes in the closet, and I spotted a small glisten on the hardwood floor around her shoes. I stopped to investigate, and lo and behold, Cougie peed on her shoes. We cleaned it up, used some lovely orange glo cleaner, put her shoes in a plastic bag to be put in the washing machine, and we think we're done.
But we both look at eachother. We smell it. cat pee. And we CAN'T FIND IT. We are crawling around the couch, the coffee table, pulling things out, smelling EVERYTHING, and we CAN'T FIND THE CAT PEE. But then as soon as we sit on the couch, we smell it.
I'm totally baffled. It's NOT on the couch. It's not behind or under the couch, either.
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*****UPDATE*****
We were wondering why, after every time a soft breeze blew in the window, it got a bit stronger... We lifted the couch cushions, etc. And then Narda got down on her hands and knees around the couch, and BINGO! The wool rug.
Great.
He probably peed ON something that someone left on that corner of the rug. And LONG enough ago that the spot is BONE DRY. So it's DRIED IN PEE. Ugh. Narda's using a bit of Resolve now, but I don't have the heart to tell her it's futile to remove the odor of cat pee. I think we need to get that organic apple stuff. But hopefully, at least it will do for now.
side note - I updated based on Narda's suggestion - I said Mazel Tov, we found the pee, she said: "are you going to update your blog?"
I guess so.
And of course, ANY and ALL cat pee odor removal suggestions are welcome. I prefer organic, Narda likes full force chemical assault. Just remember who writes the blog when you offer suggestions....
:)
OK, AS I was writing this, Narda calls from the bathroom, saying she needed help, as Cougie was just peeing on the floor (she was um, indisposed). He usually goes IN the litter box, faces the back, and gets a little out of the box, because someone faied to teach him that it's his ASS that has to be IN the litter box, not his HEAD, in order for his pishy to make it IN the litter box, but he's our special little guy, and cute as ALL get out, and 13 years old, so we forgive him for MUCH. But just now, OY! He just went and peed on the carpet that the litter box sits ON. I know it's his way of saying, "look lady. I am prissy and I LIKE a clean litter box.. I know you scooped the stuff this am, but REALLY. Could you just change the whole gosh darn thing for me please? I'm a little delicate." Or at least that's what he would say if he could use words. And he then proceeded to go and eat his kibble, as if NOTHING happened.
I think this is Ha'Shem's way of training us to CONSTANTLY be cleaning up pishy and poopy things. Have I told you that he poops in the shower? I mean, if you're going to poop somewhere totally inappropriate, the shower is as good as any - I always know where it is, and it's easy clean up. More or less.
And in all honesty, it just makes you laugh. I mean, I know when it's his FLUTD, and when he's just acting out. And it's usually just acting out. OY.
17 comments:
I'm just catching up now on your news.... It;s fantastic!! I'm keeping you in my thoughts. And everything is crossed!!
Good luck finding the source of the smell... :)
LOL i was about to tell you to go and buy a mini blacklight so you could search for the pee!
our pet store here - the non chain ones that is- carry organic pee scent removers.... i suggest going somewhere like that - you gotta have that in NYC!
We've had good luck cleaning up cat pee at my dad's using the enzyme stuff. I can't remember the name, since I've never had to buy it.
BTW, it's Monday. Thinking good parenting thoughts for you.
we use nature's miracle for cat barf (thankfully our kitties have never peed outside the box). It's non-toxic and works great for odor stuff.
I'll second the nature's miracle. We get it at petsmart. Cleans up pee pretty well, we even used it with water in a steam cleaner, it was awesome for the ugly carpet in our last apartment that our cats hated so much they decided to pee in one corner repeatedly.
Also - it got all the puke smell out of Sarah's parent's van after a friend overindulged and didn't manage to tell us to stop in time. They never even knew someone puked all over the back of their van.
Thinking good thoughts about your current "situation"...
Thank G*D someone else's cat does this! I swear, we play "where did martha pee today" anytime she doesn't leave a gift in the shower! We gave up on organics though and got the enzyme stuff from Home Depot (also sold @ our pet store but it costs more). It's supposed to make her stop, but that's not been our experience - but the smell is gone. (She was an abused/rescue cat so we forgive her).
Vinega dilluted with water is what has worked for me.
Check out this site for dealing with wool rugs:
http://www.av-at.com/carpet.html
When we brought our second kitty home, he and miss Jezebel were not getting along and one of them peed or sprayed on the futon. I thought I might not be able to get it out, because you can't exactly tear open the futon to get down in there, but I did it! We use essential oils for a lot of things, and I attacked the cover and the futon cushion with lemon, clove, and a blend called Purification (made of citronella, lemongrass, lavandin, rosemary, melaleuca- that's tea tree oil, and myrtle). One or two of those probably would have worked fine, but I wasn't taking any chances. Two hours of scrubbing and a lot of oils and water later- no smell! Then, on to chastising those cats! Good luck.
I poopie in the shower sometimes. Mom doesn't like that at all!! I only do it if it's raining REAL hard outside though.
The kitty psychologist at Cornell Vet told us that the cat will keep peeing in a spot unless the smell is out, something we mere humans can't smell. She said apple cider vinegar works and we've used it. Also, she suggested spraying feliaway on after cleaning it. Good luck!
If it's psychological, Feliway may very well help to prevent future incidents. It did us. As far as smell & stain goes - Oxyclean does wonders. Claims to be "made from natural ingredients and contains no toxic chemicals or cleaning solvents and is completely biodegradable and environmentally friendly". Don't know how that stacks up on your "all natural" criteria but it's worth a look. My mom who had a white carpet and incontinent pets swears by it.
I'll second the OxyClean-that stuff is da BOMB!!! It will clean ANYTHING out of a carpet-we use it all the time for kitty barf, since Peachy tends to be bulimic at times (and makes multiple "tags" around the house in one feeding). We even use it in the steam vacuum....
As for the cat pee on the carpet, Buddy (Piss Boy) had a problem in the corner of our living room and was marking it regularly, and I looked online to find a good cleaner/deterrent. I found out that if you mix white vinegar, water and baking soda, it will lift the old stain (baking soda) and keep the cat from coming back, because they don't like the vinegar smell.
A more commercial product that I used was the Hartz pet odor remove product-it also has baking soda in it. I used it first on the carpet and pad, then used the vinegar/water solution as well-they haven't been back there since. I think that I got it in the regular supermarket, but I'm sure any pet store has it....
Also, cats hate citrus smells, so if you add fresh lemon or orange to the water, they'll avoid the area. Then, Cat suggested to me putting a dish of dry food in the area to avoid any further taggings-they won't pee where they eat.
You might have to clean it several times to fully get the smell out, or at least, enough that Cougie won't smell it anymore.
Okay, all this talk of peeing has made me have to GO!!!
:)
Thanks for the vinegar trick -that seemed to do the job!
AND we have feliway already, so I just whipped it out and sprayed it.
We'll see what happens in the next few days.
THANKS!
Ah, the things we do for our fur babies... ;-) My husband and I just sit and laugh sometimes at how we've subtly rearranged our lives to accommodate these creatures. But we love 'em!
One of the toughest dirt to remove is cat poop. We have two cats at home and I fully understand the kind of mess that they leave behind. Our carpet suffered badly. My wife cannot take it any longer so she contacted professional (Seattle) carpet cleaners. There were a couple of advanced strategies that the (Seattle) carpet cleaner used like hot water extraction to remove stubborn dirt that clung to the fabric of our carpet. Fortunately, that did the trick and our carpet looks really fresh now.
Hope you'd be able to find a good solution soon. Thanks!
I know this is super super late, but just in case you still check your blog comments I know a 'magic' way of getting cat pee smell out of things.
You need a 16 oz bottle of hydrogen peroxide, 1 tablespoon baking soda (or bicarbonate, I don't know where you're from) and 1 teaspoon dish washing liquid. Put them in a spray bottle and stir well - DO NOT USE METAL!
I tried everything to clean the cat pee smell out of a couch my husband's grandmother gave us. Finally I came across this recipe. After I sprayed the entire couch the first time, the smell was noticeably lessened and by a third time, the smell was completely gone. This solution also works on carpeting and clothing and shoes, but always test an area first since peroxide has bleaching powers.
One of my 2 cats (both neutered males) had taken to painting all of my walls, furniture, and anything else he could reach. I was horrified when I got a UV light. He never did that in all of the 9 years I've had him and didn't when I got him a buddy (they love each other and did so right away) but when a strange black cat started showing up outside both of my cats went nuts and the older one (9) started his wall painting, as well as the curtains out in the kitty room. I couldn't keep up with it.
My cats are indoor cats so it's not like the stray is actually going to get in here but they both hate him (and he is weird...my neighbor's cats hate him too). I've tried cleaning with a pet urine enzyme and then spraying some "No More Spraying" but that hasn't worked. He's a sneaky little bugger too; he waits until he thinks I'm not looking and then does it. He's learned that the minute I see him backing his butt up to something he gets yelled at.
It wasn't until I found "Cat Spraying No More" that I was able to finally get rid of this tiresome behavior.
Now my house doesn't smell like a litter box anymore :)
Here's a link the their site if you're interested in checking it out: http://nomorecatpee.com
I hope you guys don't mind me sharing this. Cheers!
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