My house smells like cat pee and the litter box is clean

[Domina]

I am on the WARPATH! I'm going room to room and smelling EVERYTHING. Where is this smell coming from? Hints on places I should check first? It's vile.

[chasingbutterflies]

have you checked carpet? like crawled around sniffing? our cat used to like the dining room :yuck

check furniture too.

I'm really sorry :(

[mamamonkey]

Black light works the best to find "hidden" pee. :hug

[Domina]

Black light works the best to find "hidden" pee. :hug

Oh, good to know! Can you buy a black light flashlight to carry around or something?

[FaithHopeLove]

Oh, good to know! Can you buy a black light flashlight to carry around or something?

I bought one at the pet store and it came with a special enzyme cleaner to spray on the spots once you find them.

I think the last tenants put the litter box in a kitchen cabinet that is on the dining room side of the bottom cabinets. If the door comes open . . . ugh, what a smell! I have to figure out how to tackle it without ruining the wood.

Hope you find the offender! Is your cat male or female? (If male, check spots he could have sprayed -- such as the edge of curtains and such.)

[LovinBeingMommy]

My cat favors truly hidden places, like between furniture and the wall. He also loves plastic bags and cardboard boxes. He's awful about peeing in plastic bags before we get them emptied after a shopping trip. :doh Those are the places I'd check first. Then soft things.

[Domina]

Thanks, guys. :sigh Guess I will be making a trip to the pet store. He's a male cat, so he could have peed just about anywhere. :sad

I just found one place in the bottom of the coat closet. :sick But I don't think that's all of it.

This just motivates me even more to get new flooring this spring.

[crunchymum]

This motivates me to never get a cat. :shifty

[Domina]

This motivates me to never get a cat. :shifty

Are you sure? Cause I have one free to a good home. :shifty

[FaithHopeLove]

He also loves plastic bags

Mine too! (And she's a girl.) What's with the plastic bags? Especially black ones here. We never leave bags on the floor because she'll always go for them. Yuck!

Good luck, Domina! You might also want to check out some calming things for cats that help them stop marking so much. I've heard good things about Feliway: http://www.petco.com/shop/searchresults.aspx?Ntt=feliway I haven't tried it though.

[Mommainrwanda]

On the warpath you say? Hmmmmm, this could be somebody getting early notice that they're pregnant... :think

[FaithHopeLove]

This motivates me to never get a cat. :shifty

Aw, but mine is pressed up against my hip right now cuddling. And she follows me all over the house and head butts me when she wants to be petted. We get nice displays of her playing with things as she scoots them across the wood floors that are pretty funny. At our old place we used to find her "collection" of things she liked to play with (My Little Pony Accessories, change, pieces of paper, a paperclip, or a stray bean or bead or whatever, but especially those My Little Pony Accessories!) in the entry bathroom because she figured out the floor was the most slick n there and she liked to add the difficulty of batting them around the toilet. Sometimes she'll take something to play with under a dining room chair also to up the difficulty level. And she sleeps on my feet. Okay, I hate that, but she finally figured out to move over and I love the company.

(Can anyone say single cat lady? :shifty :haha)

Plus, she never drags her butt across the floor like dogs do! :no

[Domina]

On the warpath you say? Hmmmmm, this could be somebody getting early notice that they're pregnant... :think

Definitely not. :giggle

[chasingbutterflies]

btw, if this is a common problem and there's no medical indication (like an uti or something) for why he's peeing, for my cat, a round of psych meds really helped. :shifty

also, cat attract litter is awesome too.

[Codi]

CLEAN clothes basket/pile. They like to "re-mark" the stuff that doesn't smell like them anymore.

[itzj]

There is almost always a cause. Medical, a dirty litter box, stress, territory, etc. Anything going on?

[Keeper-of-Mr.Monks]

My female cat would pee on furniture they suspected she has diabetes once she pees on prices changing table she was removed from the home my male i had would pee in the bathroom sink when he had kidney stones to let me know he was sick like he would do it right in front of me -_-

[Domina]

There is almost always a cause. Medical, a dirty litter box, stress, territory, etc. Anything going on?

Toddler? :shifty

[LovinBeingMommy]

Toddler? :shifty

Abuse from a toddler is what set mine off most recently. I started pushing harder for Monkey to be nicer and encouraging him to hold the cat (with lots of help) and the peeing has ceased for now.

[Domina]

Sumo is really sweet and gentle with the cat, but he is loud and he runs straight at him. Also, the cat is rather jealous. :shifty

[itzj]

Ok, does the cat have enough safe havens? Nooks and high places? Are food and water in a quiet spot? Can kitty get to the litter box without being disturbed? Is the litter box clean enough?

[Rabbit]

The litter box needs to be in a completely child inaccessible place. They will not use it if they don't have privacy and safety. They'll use your closets instead, yes indeed.

[FaithHopeLove]

My kitty is also pretty sensitive about how deep the litter is. She likes it very shallow. She's also much happier now that her box is out in an open room rather than tucked back behind the laundry by the water heater. I would have thought she'd prefer the more tucked in place, but she'd hang her bottom over the edge of the box and go on the floor while standing in the box, for some reason!

[Rabbit]

They want to be free to run, especially in a multi-cat or kid house. They feel extra vulnerable when occupied with their business.

[Marrae]

Are you sure the smell is cat pee? There are some things that smell like it. :sick

I know this because we have searched and searched and found a similar smell from other things. One was waterproof overalls but I can't remember ATM what the other was.

:hug. It is a nasty smell.:hug