mysterious smell

vampcow

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So I cleaned my apartment yesterday and today I came home to a weird and awful smell lurking somewhere in my apartment....with two guilty looking kitties....

makes me wonder if they a: caught a mouse and its stashed somewhere but that is unlikely since I live on the second floor OR b. they managed to steal some chicken yesterday while I had it out and have it stashed somewhere. (they have done that before) sigh....I guess this means I will have to RECLEAN the apartment tonight to a get rid of the smell and to try and figure out what is causing it....

OR maybe...its from the people under me....
 

momofmany

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Originally Posted by Trillcat

Too soon for a mouse to start to stink, my guess would be the chicken.
Nah - a dead mouse can start to smell in about 8-10 hours. My dear darlings left one under my husband's pillow one time and the smell woke him up at 3AM.
 

trouts mom

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

Nah - a dead mouse can start to smell in about 8-10 hours. My dear darlings left one under my husband's pillow one time and the smell woke him up at 3AM.
OMG
 

trillcat

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I did not realize mice decompose that fast. Have had them in traps before I switched to humane ones and didn't smell them. One under the pillow though, eeeep! Though kittys were no doubt just bringing hubby a snack, sleeping now, stash it there, not their fault he did not notice!
 

catkiki

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Could they have gotten and hid a potato? One time I went grocery shopping and my potatoes spilled. One got missed picking up, (it had rolled into a crevice in the back of the car) and after a few days, the smell was awful until I found it.
 

kiwideus

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Originally Posted by Catkiki

Could they have gotten and hid a potato? One time I went grocery shopping and my potatoes spilled. One got missed picking up, (it had rolled into a crevice in the back of the car) and after a few days, the smell was awful until I found it.
That is possible - that smell is disgusting!


Better make sure that the neighbours haven't died.
 

carolpetunia

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Originally Posted by Kiwideus

...Better make sure that the neighbours haven't died.


But seriously... I just want to add that being on the second floor doesn't deter mice in the least. They're great little stairclimbers!
 

trillcat

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They can scale kitchen plubming from apt to apt like champs as well! Mice that is, not dead neighbors. Wow, that was bad. Sorry.
 

pushylady

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Originally Posted by Trillcat

They can scale kitchen plubming from apt to apt like champs as well! Mice that is, not dead neighbors. Wow, that was bad. Sorry.


We're on the 4th floor, and we've had mice before. Not dead ones under the pillow thank God!
As for rotten potatoes, OMG they do smell awful!!
 

threecatowner

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Several years ago a horrible "dead" smell would permeate my house - usually when I did laundry. My "ability to smell challenged" husband couldn't smell a thing. FINALLY I got him to believe me and investigate - he found a perfectly preserved mole in the back of the dryer - he had climbed in through the vent piping and couldn't get out. Poor little guy. We now have a cover over the vent outside the window.
 

forensic

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Originally Posted by Trillcat

I did not realize mice decompose that fast. Have had them in traps before I switched to humane ones and didn't smell them. One under the pillow though, eeeep! Though kittys were no doubt just bringing hubby a snack, sleeping now, stash it there, not their fault he did not notice!
How fast they decomp would depend on how warm it is... Until a pillow is pretty warm.
 

momofmany

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Originally Posted by Forensic

How fast they decomp would depend on how warm it is... Under a pillow is pretty warm.
I have to admit - it was summer, no air conditioning, and we had a water bed at the time. The heat was off, but the water retained the heat of the room. Before he found the mouse, he accused me of being neglectful of washing the sheets.
I accused him of not checking for leaks that had molded in the water bed. Boy, weren't we surprised when we found the mousy present!
 

wellingtoncats

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

Nah - a dead mouse can start to smell in about 8-10 hours. My dear darlings left one under my husband's pillow one time and the smell woke him up at 3AM.
Originally Posted by Kiwideus

That is possible - that smell is disgusting!


Better make sure that the neighbours haven't died.
Originally Posted by Trillcat

They can scale kitchen plubming from apt to apt like champs as well! Mice that is, not dead neighbors. Wow, that was bad. Sorry.
You guys are killing me!
 
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vampcow

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LOL your respones were really funny!!

The dead mouse under the pillow reminds me of the time that my childhood cat Mars dropped a "dead" mouse on my sister's head in the middle of the night...turns out the mouse was only PRETENDING to be dead and the MINUTE it hit my poor sis's head it RAN away like its tail was on fire!!

And the time Moo (who eats the mice) heard my alarm clock go off mid -mousey meal and decided to share the mouse with me by jumping up ontop of me with it in his mouth.

oh and then there was the time he left a half eaten mouse on the floor for me only I didn't know it and stepped bare footed onto it while he sat by purring proudly.

BUT thankfully after much searching I found the cause of that mysterious smell...it was a potato...Tilly stole one out of the cabinet when I wasn't looking and was batting it around the apartment and it rolled under a piece of furniture..hence the wonderful smell.
 
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