posted on November 7, 2000 01:09:18 AM new
Okay, kinda weird topic but someone probably knows the answer to this one:
As cats will do, one of ours has been peeing in one of the carpeted rooms (of course, there are only 3 rooms with carpet and the rest of the house has tile but of COURSE the cat pees in the bedroom).. and I need something that will remove the odor so she doesn't keep going back to that spot.
I have used a carpet shampooer but it doesn't do the trick. We're hoping to replace the carpet in there anyway in a few months (it's burnt orange, UGLY, but fairly new, came with the house, previous owner's selection) but until then I need to stop her peeing in there.
Catbox is always clean, cat has been vet checked.
Anyone know of a sure-fire product to remove the smell?
Oh, on a totally diff. subject: and any do-it-yourself types want to tell me if it's easy to replace carpet on your own or not? I wonder if my husband and I could handle it. We have a huge amount of carpet in the garage my mom got from a hotel that was remodeling.. it's in great shape, and is a better color (gray), but we don't have the money to pay someone to rip out the old and install this for us. My husband is NOT "handy" (except with the computer), but we can both read and follow directions, if there's a way to learn how to do this sort of thing yourself.
posted on November 7, 2000 02:18:02 AM new
Try a pet shop or specialty store for an odor neutralizer. A place like Pets.com should have something too.
On the carpet, my husband has tried putting carpet in our house, and the hardest part was getting the wrinkles stretched out of it. We finally got it, after a lot of tugging, but it still really has too much "slack" in it that will probably turn into a wrinkle after a period of time. Maybe see if you can rent a carpet-stretching thing? (sorry for the lack of proper terminology!)
posted on November 7, 2000 04:32:53 AM new
My husband and I have had luck with a product called Nature's Miracle, but you need to keep the cat away from the area for a couple weeks afterwards. We bought it at a petshop. My sister didn't have as much luck - her cat had been using her bedroom carpet for a longer time and kept returning even after she treated it - she thought he was doing it out of spite because he had a clean bill of health and just seemed to use the carpet when he was upset with her.
If you can rent a carpet stretcher, you can probably install the carpet. My father and his neighbor did that. He's the type of person who likes to fix things but had never installed carpet before.
[ edited by SAABsister on Nov 7, 2000 04:39 AM ]
posted on November 7, 2000 04:33:11 AM new
Agree. Purchase a cleaner that's specifically designed to remove cat urine; they usually have this at petstores and it contains odor neutralizer. If you need a backup to this, I recommend a product called "Orange Mate" that will make the house smell like a citrus grove and kill any odor. We have 7 cats and go through a lot of the stuff (luckily we don't have carpet and the cats don't pee outside their boxes, but they are still pretty smelly sometimes).
On the subject of keeping cat from returning to the spot, you can also get at a pet store a product with a smell objectionable to cats, but that can't be detected by humans, which might work to keep her from going back.
I always wonder why cats do this (unless they aren't spayed/neutered, then I guess it's territorial). I have had many cats and I've not had this problem but I know many people who have. Oh well, who can figure out cats.
________
I never had one, and I didn't want one, and I don't, so now I do...
posted on November 7, 2000 04:41:07 AM new
Laying carpet is pretty much idiotproof; all it takes is a bit of muscle and the right tools (which are rentable, often at Home Depot/Lowes etc.). That's assuming you're laying over padding. Since we use our carpeting as a base for our Oriental rugs, padding would've been downright hazardous; so we used a low-nap, high-density commercial carpet (woven back, not that foam rubber stuff) and water-based carpet adhesive. No stretching involved, precious little muscle, and although the adhesive holds the carpet in place, when you want to replace it it's easy to rip out in one big piece.
When we acquired Speck, our vet smiled kind of knowingly. Speck's gray and white (marked like a cow), and the vet said that in her experience cats of that color mix seem to like to "mark" more than others, and also don't much care where they pee.
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Nov 7, 2000 04:47 AM ]
posted on November 7, 2000 05:37:06 AM new
I had a cat once that did this. I replaced the carpet she was using with hardwood. She just found another spot (with carpet). I took her to the vet, she was in good health. He kept her for over a month trying to get her to use the litter box. She never would. I had had her declawed and she was an indoor only cat. After trying everything I and the vet could think of to get her to stop this behavior, we finally had her put down. I wasn't willing to have a cat that peed all over, and she couldn't become an outdoor cat due to the lack of claws. BTW HCQ, she was a gray and white cat too.
And now, page 2....
I think the carpet question has a number of different factors. How big an area are you thinking of doing? How many obstacles are there to have to cut around, or is it just a square room? Are you going to glue it down or use padding?
If it's a fairly small room, with few cut outs, and going to be glued, I'm sure you can do it. The further you go toward the other end of my continuum, the harder it will be. (Well, I guess the glue vs padding isn't a continuum, but you know what I mean.)
posted on November 7, 2000 10:32:20 AM new
If you do use that odor neutralizer, put aluminum foil down over "the spot." In many instances it will keep the cat from going back to that spot until the stuff has time to work. (Most normal cats supposedly don't like walking on the foil.)
posted on November 7, 2000 10:36:06 AM new
One of my cats peed in my husbands chair a month or so ago. Down between the back and the cushions in a 1920's overstuffed chair.He hasn't noticed yet. I have been trying to get the smell out of it but not having much luck. Can't get rid of the chair and can't get it all re-done. Thank goodness my husband is smelling impaired![I spray it with flea spray before he gets home from work so he thinks that is the smell]
This cat is red-brown,strange color. She used to pee in his shoes, on his side of the bed and on his tools in the basement! Thankfully she stopped doing that years ago. Don't know what got into her to pee in his chair!
I guess I am telling this tale because in all that time I never found a good de-smeller for cat urine.
posted on November 7, 2000 12:56:25 PM new
Our two year old sister cats like to pee in two different corners when they were young. After we broke them of this, we made many many applications of white vinegar and water to the smelly spots. We would drench the area, and then blot it up. We did this probably 20 times over a period of 2 weeks. The smell finally went away. We did lift the carpet up in these corners so the vinegar could get to the wood and padding also. I think I made the solution half and half.
posted on November 7, 2000 03:10:37 PM new
Okay, the cat question first:
Is the cat's food near the litter box? If it is, move the food. The cats don't like to potty by their food.
I have cats (strange for a Lab I know! )--I worked at a shelter before. BAD BAD things to try to cut the odor.
I have a neutered male that was declawed front. He had a really nasty habit of just going wherever he pleased. After nice communication with the vet and knowing from other sources, the cat is now outside and NEVER tries to come inside. We are both much happier than before. Cats don't use their front claws to fight when they are really fighting and they can jump high when they need to get away from an enemy. He has been out for 2 1/2 years and is doing great. We live in town.
I use a product called oxiclean by Orange Glow that is great on items that you can put in the washing machine to soak. No odor and great.
For the chair...rawbunzel when one of the little varmits got my pit group, I used another Orange Glo product called Orange Eliminator. I sprayed it on and used a dry rag to rub the spot dry and by the next day there was absolutely no odor! Test in an inconspicuous place before doing the whole chair. My pit group is new, but I don't know what it would do to a collectible type chair.
This would also work on the carpet on the floor.
Another trick besides the foil (which didn't phase my naughty herd) is to make circles out of duct tape (what else! ) with the sticky side out. Put those around and over the area that you don't want the cat to be. Cats really HATE it when there is something sticking to their paws and will go away from that area. This works on your counter tops and tables too. After a short time when the cats have found the sticky junk there, they will say ick! and never go back there.
The carpet...when we did a room of carpet, we took the old carpet out and layed it on the driveway on top of the new carpet and cut around the old carpet including the vents and then layed the carpet in and stretched it out. We could use a kick stretcher in that particular room. Our larger family room had to have an electric stretcher.
posted on November 7, 2000 04:37:09 PM new
Nature's Miracle works really really well. We found that treating the area on the carpet or the upholstered furniture did actually neutralize the odor. While it was drying, we isolated Sophie in the bathroom for a week or so to acclimate her to using the litter pan regularly.
All of the medical tests showed that her urine and bladder were normal. She kept returning to the spots, however, and urinating. We were at wit's end, just about to put her down, and finally my vet, after conferring with here partners, decided to treat her for intersitial cystitis, a bladder irritation that does not show up in the normal tests--we give her a drug that works for women with intersitial cystitis--amitriptyline--and it did the trick! Every spring she starts again, and we up the dosage for a few weeks, and she stops right away. What a relief! She's turned into a delightful pet.
We did find that renting a carpet cleaner and mixing the Nature's Miracle with the cleaning solution helped get rid of the residual odors--they can be very persistent, and return when it get humid.
Please be sure to consult with your vet as much as possible to look for medical reasons for your cat's behavior. It seemed so cruel at the time to isolate her in the bathroom with the litter pan, but it was really necessary, and it did get her back into using the litter pan again. Also you could try different types of litter--put two pans in there--to see if she has a preference. Good luck, I know it's a heartbreaking problem if you really love the cat.
posted on November 7, 2000 09:18:31 PM new
When we were potty training our pup, someone suggested we use an enzyme odor remover (or neutralizer). It worked great for us! Something about the enzyme formula works very well for urine. You can get it at just about any pet store, we used to get it by the gallon. When we cleaned our carpet, we used the enzyme stuff first, then the regular cleaner and it worked like a charm. Good luck with all of these great suggestions!
~~MouseSlayer is not a cat =^..^= ~~
[ edited by mouseslayer on Nov 7, 2000 09:33 PM ]
posted on November 8, 2000 04:58:27 AM new
Amitryptiline? A tricyclic antidepressant to treat cystitis? How odd - but there it is in the medical documentation!
posted on November 8, 2000 05:58:24 AM new
HCQ--here is one for you--I have to give a bit of background here, or this would sound REALLY freakish and it is freakish enough with the background.
I purchase my peanuts from a local recycler. He is a small operation and is happy to sell the peanuts. However, when I pick up the peanuts they are not neatly packed into bags, they are just in the containers that people put out for him to pick up, thus every once in a while, there are extra "goodies" mixed in that people missed when unpacking their boxes, etc.
I sift through my peanuts pretty well, but one of them, obviously slipped through because...
I shipped my winning bidder's package. The customer wrote to me, laughing uproariously about the extra little "gifts" that she received in her package...a sampler box of Prempro and a religious tape! Can you IMAGINE????? I was SO embarrassed! She thought it was hilarious and was very nice about it!
Now to the freakish part (as if this was not enough! LOL)...she is a vet and said that actually she could use the prempro because vets prescribe it for their older and incontinent labbies.
So....Prempro for your incontinent pet...interesting...we learn new things in the most interesting ways...
posted on November 9, 2000 06:58:29 AM new
Oh I forgot. If you are looking for the source of the odor and can't seem to find it, grab a black light and turn off the other lights. Hold the black light about 6 inches from the surface (chair, carpet, whatever) and the urine will fluoresce so you will know exactly where to clean.
posted on November 9, 2000 09:11:15 AM newlabbie1 - Surreal. Next we'll find out Nyquil stops hair loss
BTW, how old's your Lab? Lily just turned 8 and she's getting really creaky in the mornings - although she's always been an incredibly lazy, depressive type, giving the term "hangdog look" a whole new dimension. Anyway, so far a Bayer first thing helps her just fine, but I"m so used to our dogs living to be 16 or so that she seems so young to be getting old! (This couldn't be projection on my part, could it??? LOL)
posted on November 9, 2000 10:22:37 AM new
HCQ--LOL
My labbie is 3 years old. I can tell you that I had a Newfoundland/Border Collie mix who was about 110-130 lbs. (depends on the time of the year). He started getting gimpy and began taking asprin at about 8 years old. He lived to be 16. He was the lassie to my Timmy. There was just a connection that only happens once! Wonderful boy!
Not that my current boy isn't just adorable and I have been told he and I are joined at the hip , but it isn't quite the same if you know what I mean.
posted on November 9, 2000 12:20:15 PM new
May I (please) assume that the sire of your late mixed-breed buddy was the Border Collie? Pretty scary thinking of the reverse, both at conception and whelping...although I have to admit, imagining a Border Collie trying to get romantic with a Newfie in heat is pretty hilarious.
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Nov 9, 2000 12:21 PM ]
posted on November 9, 2000 01:18:24 PM new
HCQ--Not a clue! I rescued him when I caught a farmer with a burlap bag and some rocks down by the river (do I need to paint a more vivid picture here?). The pup looked at me and licked my nose so I grabbed him and ran! I thought he was a black and white cocker spaniel (okay, I didn't know breeds back then so I was clueless about those paws that looked like hooves!LOL )! Boy did the vet have a good laugh!
All of my pets have been rescued except for the lab that I have presently--and his mom was a rescued purebred lab with papers.
My brother and sister-in-law own the parents of my boy. They are inside dogs and when the humans got a smaller bed, they bought an antique daybed and put it in their room for the displaced dogs! LOL Not the worst life.
His sister is owned by my niece and her husband and is also a house dog.
I also have a rescued Australian Shepherd and my brother and sister-in-law have another of the dogs that I rescued--a golden retriever/chow mix which worships my brother and nephew).
When we all get together at Christmas, it is quite a time! Every color of lab and the two non-labs. Throw a ball and move out of the way of the thundering herd as they chase it! You can barely throw anything away without having it retrieved!
posted on November 10, 2000 08:55:14 AM new
Thanks, everyone, for all the useful replies to this topic.
The cat's food and the litter box are in different rooms entirely, so that's not it. There are two 'sister cats', still fairly young, and I'm not certain who is doing it. A simple solution would be to just keep the doors shut in all rooms with carpeting, but for some reason the rest of my family can't 'grasp' this concept! Arrrgh.
As far as the carpet goes; it's a fairly rectangular bedroom with a hall and a long vanity area into the master bath that we'll be replacing the carpeting in. The carpet we have to replace it with is more of a commercial grade carpet, came out of a motel.. not that stuff that is like astro-turf but not exactly plush either. I'm not sure if we'll have to replace the padding or not, I supposed it depends on how bad it smells after we get the carpet up (where they've been peeing). I'd planned on changing the carpet anyway from the day we bought the house.. it's a horrid burnt orange (did I say that already?) and I get ill looking at it and it clashes with ANY color scheme.
BTW, the turn this thread took brought back fond memories of our beloved Lab, "Butch", who left us 3 years ago. My mom got him for me in high school from an acquaintance at work who was heading for the pound with him. He was 1 year old at the time. He ended up being my mom's dog through and through and you couldn't have asked for a more loyal, loving, well behaved animal. Truly her "shadow". She always said she figured he was an ex of hers reincarnated, the way he glued himself to her feet. Wonderful dogs, aren't they? Unfortunately he was terrified of gunshot (and hated water, quite a Lab, huh?) and when my mom moved in to a place near a shooting range, the sound terrified him. So much so that one day, when she had the door open and was sweeping off the back steps, he heard the shooting sound and frantically took off in terror. This was a dog who NEVER roamed, ran off, or left my mom's side. There was an overgrown cornfield right behind her house and he was instantly out of sight. She searched for days for him.. eventually learning he'd run out into a nearby busy road. The road crew brought her his collar as proof. I don't think she'll ever let go of that guilt. We sure do miss him.
posted on November 10, 2000 09:32:59 AM new
Sheri,
I'm so sorry to hear about your dear Butch. It is truly difficult to lose a beloved pet. There is a site called rainbowbridge.com where people can post pictures of their pets that have died and add a memory of them. It is very healing for many people to be able to share the loss with others.
It was great that your family and your mom in particular saved him from almost certain extinction (the pounds get LOTS of labs and shepherds!) and gave him many great years that he would not otherwise have had.
posted on November 10, 2000 03:58:41 PM new? Unfortunately he was terrified of gunshot (and hated water, quite a Lab, huh?)
Our Lily refuses to go into the water - even into the Bay in the summer when the water temp is about 90 degrees. She winces in the rain. She considers herself an indoor, city dog, and is perfectly content to sleep behind my armchair all day long, going out to pee ONCE in 24 hours (and then only if I tell her to). Throw a stick - she can't follow it to fetch it. Her eyes are fine, though, because she can always see Bink (our neighbor's kitty) when he comes into the chicken yard 100 feet from the window (Bink likes to hang out in the sunshine with the ducks) and goes into a frenzy. However, she doesn't want to catch Bink, because she's rather intimidated by cats.
Mind you, this is a dog to whom a hand has never been raised. It's like living with Ferdinand the Bull, except she's not quite as graceful as a bull in a china shop All she's good for is love.
posted on November 10, 2000 04:59:12 PM new
Now that you mention 2 cats, I have a question - do you have separate litter boxes for them? I have been told that cats don't like to share litter boxes and this may be why one is using the carpet.
Another thing to remember is that some cats are extremely fussy about their litter boxes - they want it clean all the time. A friend of mine cleans/scoops several times a day with her cat.
I understand the concept of not closing the doors for carpet - the same thing happens in my house. I have both a cat and a dog and my house has one throw rug. When one of them gets sick or can't hold it, they would search for hours if they had to, to find that 1 rug.
I told my husband (who is like HCQ and would have every stray) after replacing the carpet in our porch for the third time (because of pet accidents), that there would be no more carpet bought, unless he planned on taking the dog to the pound the same day. It was our compromise and it worked. He didn't buy another carpet and he gets to keep the dog.
Good luck with your cat problem - there is nothing worse. I once had a cat who jumped in my car and did his thing all over my seats - my fault for petting the darn stray to begin with. I ended up taking it to someone after the Florida heat the next morning had me nauseated enough to fix it. The used some sort of oxone neutralizer and it worked beautifully - never had the smell come back again and NEVER left my windows down in the car again. PEE YEW
www.xenavalloneantiques.com
posted on November 11, 2000 05:11:34 AM new
Since I have multiple cats in the house (the Australian Shepherd uses them for her flock and cares for them like babies! They're all rescued.), I purchased two electric cat boxes--one up and one down--and they are life savers! Right after the cat has done it's business (10 min. wait to let the cat scratch) the thing turns on and scoops everything into a container and it is gone! I love these boxes! Talk about odor control! And no more dogs with cat crunchy breath--if you know what I mean! Ack! They are worth their weight in gold and the cats are very happy with the constantly clean box.
My lab retrieves well and as pups, my brother and sister in law allowed them to swim freely in the small fish pond that was only about 1 1/2 to 2 feet deep. The pups loved it and liked chasing the fish and turtles.
Bo has not been shot over, but has great hunting instincts and would be a great hunting dog (except that I have ruined him because I made him a mamby pamby inside dog! ).
But he had never been in water over his head until last summer when he mistakenly thought the big fish pond was the same depth as the small one (nope! 5 feet deep! LOL) and just took a flying leap in. I never knew a black lab could have a surprised look, but he sure did! LOL He swam out just fine and never got that close again! LOL
BTW, here he is:
I am just putting links so as not to make this thread load slow.
I have been trying to get the smell out of it but not having much luck. Can't get rid of the chair and can't get it all re-done. Thank goodness my husband is smelling impaired![I spray it with flea spray before he gets home from work so he thinks that is the smell]
I don't think she'll ever let go of that guilt. We sure do miss him.
