odor problems following me in public from cat odor at home

Has anyone ever been told they smell like they have cat? I just had my carpets cleaned and changed toArm & Hammer litter, but issues persist. I don't know what else to do! Help

In short, no.

To get rid of odor, you have to get rid of the cause (no, not the cat! Not suggesting that lol!)

So what is the odor smell?  Where from?

If it is litter box smells, then regular cleaning will do the trick; NOT masking it with fancy (chemical laden) litters, or giving food with 'odor reducers' (big problem there!), or even using the Arm & Hammer.  Now, I ASSUME Arm and Hammer (not being in your part of the world) is bicarb soda?  If it is bicarb soda, it can be a useful addition to a cleaning regime, but in all honesty, if cleaning 'properly', you probably just won't need it. So what is 'proper' cleaning??.... A minimum scooping twice per day.  A full clean out and bleach wash of the tray/s maybe once a month; you may want to do it once a week until everything is smelling good and see how long you need.  You may also want to just start from scratch with a fresh new tray/s, and then get into this routine.  Remember to rinse a billion times after you bleach soak, as you don't want any bleach left in the tray - being toxic to cats.

So that does the deposits, and any risidual on the trays.  Where else could the smell be coming from?  The area around the litter tray/s?  Same principle - clean.  But not with bleach on the floor as you can't rinse it off.  Use 50/50 vinegar water, or an oxygen bleach (sodium percarbonate - breaks down harmlessly with no toxicity to cats).  If you have pee marking, then you will have a bigger issue and require a black light to see it, and then a specific enzyme based urine cleaner to clean.  You may have to replace carpet/floorboards if it is that bad.

Or is it 'smelly cat BO'? In this case, you should review food and health, just as you would for a human.  You want a wet diet, as 'natural' (for obligate carnivores) as possible.  Loads of info in the nutrition section.  Maybe a vet visit is warranted?

Then I guess you have to ask how that smell (whatever it is) is getting on YOU.  Is it a closed air environment and it is stinking up you and your clothes?  Open the windows and get some fresh air in  (ok, I'm in Australia - no idea what your weather is like!).  Or has something gotten into your clothes...like a poo bedraggled cat bottom making a snuggly bed in your wardrobe?

Anyway, basically, it just comes down to finding the source, and eliminating...

Thanks TammyP! I use disposable boxes and I admit I generally only scoop once a day. I use vinegar sometimes for the floor, sometimes a household cleaner. I feed wet food also. One of my boys is overweight, and he has a hard time cleaning himself, so he could be the one causing the smell. My boys are 9 yrs old and I have had them since they were kittens, so no way am I getting rid of them. I will work on cleaning better and I just purchased a carpet shampoo machine so I can do some cleaning on my own. They also have a litter mat and the box is in the second bathroom. My son always turns on the vent fan in there, so I wonder if that's circulating the smell?

Is there any other way to ventilate the room - window?  I find bathrooms are pretty stuffy (they can retain human smells too!).  If not you could add another box in a different location, and then work on changing eventually to this location.  We have ours in our living room (only option).  The up side is you know immediately when a deposit is made and are compelled to clean asap!

On the food front, good to hear they are on wet food.  You could explore that more, if you haven't already, and get to know ingredients so you can get the optimum food for carnivores (eliminate ingredients that are not from animals, and the additives, including fillers and gelling agents).  The better the food in a nutritional sense (not the marketing or price), the better the health of the cat, and the less poo they will make.  On a fully raw diet, there is also actually ZERO smell - I attest to it, and my husband even put his reticent nose to one and exclaimed there was no smell.  We aren't on full raw at this time for various reasons, and I associate different smelliness with different foods, so you could also get deeply into finding what seems to produce least offensive smell over time.  As a bonus, with optimum nutrition, your cat's weight will just naturally lower and maintain at a good weight - you can feed lots, and not have an issue with weight.

Anyhow, just some ideas!  Sounds like you have some plans and hopefully will find the best solution (eventually!)

Hello all! I am still dealing with this situation and it is starting to affect my mental health also. I have changed my litter to the A & H, cleaned my carpets and ventilated my home by opening windows, etc... I don't know what else I can do? I am open to suggestions....

Have you ever tried "Nature's Miracle" from Petsmart?  It's wonderful.  It's an enzyme stain and odor remover.  Whenever my cats throw up, I clean the food off the carpet and heavily spray Nature's Miracle on the spot.  Within a short time,. the stain is completely gone.  I've used it on light tan carpet, too.  It removed a red wine stain from a white blouse as well.

A few more ideas... Nature's Miracle also makes a fantastic kitty litter - no odor.  My cats love it.  I clean my litter boxes with white vinegar and then I spray it with Nature's Miracle stain & odor remover.  I just let it dry or lightly wipe it with a paper towel.

I used to live in a house ruined by what my mother called "animal smells" and their bathroom "accidents". The few things that really helped were to get rid of smelly fabrics such as old blankets/sheets and to use an air purifier. We used to have a tall ionic air purifier that would eliminate most smells if run for a little while daily. If your cats have access to your closets or wherever your laundry is stored try blocking them off and putting pleasant smelling items around if that's something you like. I personally found Arm and Hammer double duty litter to be poor in controlling odor. I think Odor Buster litter is pretty nice so far. There is also another product I highly recommend for bad smells called Zero Odor, this spray destroys odor and once dry has no smell of its own (as in no perfumes). Good luck!!

I use Blue Buffalo walnut litter. I can always smell that powdery scent clay has. I fostered so I had a quarantine room. I read up on kennel cleaning and safety with cats. I found the recommendation of some shelters and catteries was a product called OdaBan. It is a cleaner and disenfectant safe for cats unlike bleach. I love it. I get it at home depot. It is only 2 something for 32 oz spray bottle. You can buy a gallon also. My room was hardwood so there were not fabrics for odors to sink in to.

I know someone who smells like a cat...It is not so much urine smell, it is cat body odor smell.

He has 4 cats. He also NEVER opens his windows to ventilate the house. The odor has seeped into his pores...

It is really gross..I cannot go anywhere near him..

I kind of describe it as a 'dirty' cat smell. I do not know why because he has house cats. 

It is not a dirty litter box smell, it is a body odor smell...if you know what I mean...like dirty clothes...but I know they are not...I am not the only one who can smell it either...other people have commented on it..

That is the first thing I ask people when they enter my apartment..and periodically ask if I smell also......

I think the important thing is to have adequate ventilation. and of course, being very good about the litter box and clothes as such...

I always have my windows open. I periodically 'air out the house' even in the dead of winter. 

We had tenants that had a shiz tzu (sp?) dog and he smoked like a chimney.  The odor is permanently attached to them. We had to evict them because they were so unclean.  We are gutting the place, but I can hardly stand to go over there--it is INSTANT headache for me.

My Buddies said:

Have you ever tried "Nature's Miracle" from Petsmart?  It's wonderful.  It's an enzyme stain and odor remover.  Whenever my cats throw up, I clean the food off the carpet and heavily spray Nature's Miracle on the spot.  Within a short time,. the stain is completely gone.  I've used it on light tan carpet, too.  It removed a red wine stain from a white blouse as well.

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I second the Natures Miracle. I sometimes lightly spray it on my carpeting just to help with stubborn odors; it really smells nice.

You can always try a moisture absorbing bag that they sell for cellars. I guess they sell it at home improvement centers, and try hanging it in the room you have the litter in.

They also just started selling these little litterbox deodorizer balls, that you shake into the box, to help with odor.