HELP....Cat Urine Smell

HI. I am new to this forum so first of all I want to say hello to everyone!!

I have a cat named "Sassy". I am in desperate need of a problem. I have been smelling urine really bad where I have her litterbox. I had even clean box daily and still the smell. So I figured ok she has peed on the carpet. Well I shampoo'd carpet and cleaned everything. Still there was the smell.

(this is gonna sound odd) FINALLY, one day I caught her. SHE WAS SETTING ON THE AIR CONDITIONING VENT IN FLOOR PEEING!! So apparently she has been peeing in the vent for a while and I could not figure out where until now. I tried cleaning out down in the vent as far as I could reach. Well,,, still when air/heat comes on the smell still comes out really bad. I even poured a little bit of lysol down in there thinking it would help cause I have no idea what else to try. Can anybody help? I just cant handle the smell.

I have had her to dr. and she is fine! I guess one day she just started peeing there and always went back. Any help I would really appreciate!!

Thanks!

First, get her another litterbox. Some cats do not pee and poo in the same one.

If you can afford it, hire an HVAC sort of company to come clean out your pipes. Then, if you have more than one duct, cover that one up entirely with cardboard or something, and put the second litterbox over the spot, and slowly move it day by day to where you want it to be.

If this does not work, there is something wrong with her litter, the location of the boxes, or she is stressed about something totally unrelated to her litterbox.

And welcome to TCS!

Actually she has been using the litterbox latey. But I have been trying for a week or so to remove the smell.

Is there an alternative to getting rid of the smell besides having someone to come out and clean out the pipes?

I feel I have cleaned it so far down that I had to get all the pee out. It only goes down so far. Please forgive me for asking but what is HVAC?

THanks

HVAC is heating, ventilation and cooling I think. If you own your house it needs to be done every once and a while anyway, so why not now? If you rent, and can't find any other way to get the smell out, you'll get charged a hefty fine for it when you move out that will probably be more unpleasant than paying for it to be done.

But you could try doing it yourself. Get a drain snake and attach your cleaning tools to it, stick it down there, and try to scrub as far as the snake will go. It won't work as well, but without seeing your pipes there's no way to decide how far down the cat pee has gone. It could be only barely beyond reach, it could be through your whole house.

Also, use an enzymatic cleaner, which will say that it is specifically for pet stains on the bottle, on the carpet around the vent. And if you can get ahold of a blacklight, it will be really useful. Actually you could try that first, stick the blacklight down the vent as well as one of those mirrors that lets you see around the corner, and the pee will light up like Las Vegas, and you can see how far you'll need to clean.

ok, I will get my a black light and go from there. I do own my home so I will check on having my pipes cleaned also. I am sure that needs to be done anyway. Wish me luck. Right now I have that vent closed off. I just cant handle the smell.

Thanks so much!!

I once had a cat who urinated on new carpeting. When I called the manufacturer, they told me to use clear, non sudsing ammonia. I did that and it worked. The odor was gone and the cat never went back there to wet the carpet again. So try some. It won't hurt anything and it may get rid of the smell.

Actually today I bought some Urine-off and tried my best to clean the vents. I called my local heating and air conditioning place and they recommended me call a place called Serv-Pro. So I called and they told me if I did not have any luck getting the smell out myself they would come clean up my entire system for about $300.00 ..Pricely but if I do not get the smell out I will have them come do it. I worked on it a little bit ago so tomorrow I will be able to see how it worked. I will let you know. I have never heard of a cat peeing in vents like that. New one to me. Thanks to all who helped.

Serv-Pro is a company that cleans up your home after floods and fires. I would ask them exactly what they are going to do for the $300.00 and if there are any guarantees.

They said it would be $30 a vent and I have about 10. Also they said $70 to go under the crawl space. That includes cleaning unit and where fan is. So Actually... that is $370.00 But that is dust and clean free system. If it would get rid of the smell Its worth it to me. Every time the air kicks on there comes the smell I am still working on it with the Urine-off. I will keep ya updated. Thanks for the info.

Hi there!

I used to work in the HVAC industry. $370 sounds a little pricy to me ($370 Canadian, sure, but $370 US seems high), but it depends on what kind of service Serv-Pro offers. In most cases, companies that clean ducts and vents use a truck that is basically a super-sized vacuum: it rapidly sucks air through the vents and draws the years' and years' worth of accumulated dust and grime into a giant vacuum bag attached to the truck itself. Most companies now use HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arrestant) filters to do this, which eliminates a lot of allergens, and they claim to sanitize and deodorize the vents (but I'm not sure if this would take care of dried urine attached to the vents themselves). If Serv-Pro has something to go into the vents and actually scrub them clean, I think it would be well worth the money; if all they do is use the big vacuum-truck-thingie (my technical term for it ) you might want to check the Yellow Pages and see if there are any other companies that can help you out for a lower price (look under "duct cleaning" or "ventilation cleaning"). It's a good idea to have this done every few years (most contractors would say every year, but it's pricy and unless you have severe allergies not really necessary). Oh, and now is a good time to schedule a furnace check to make sure your furnace is ready for winter -- I recommend scheduling for first thing in the morning, when the weather's cooler and it's easier to check the efficiency (and the contractor will be less likely to be called away on an emergency). This concludes my public service announcement for the day.