Photo by ifer endahl on Unsplash
by Nomi Berger
The unpleasant smell of cat spray is far too familiar to far too many cat owners! Why? Because their kitties all too often urinate outside their litter boxes whenever they feel either ill, stressed or threatened.
Not only does the odious odor linger, here, there and everywhere in your home, it’s especially challenging to eliminate. Sound – or smell – familiar? If so, consider some of the following suggestions to help get rid of the scent of your own kitty’s spray easily and effectively.
Purchase a blacklight: Cats re-spray in places bearing the smell of their urine — around doors or windows if there’s an outside stressor or on any new, unfamiliar items. After tracing the odor to one particular room, use the blacklight to pinpoint the spray (the phosphorus in dried urine will make it glow neon green or yellow under UV light) by darkening the room and sweeping the light over the floor, baseboards and walls in search of spray patterns. You might even have to look inside closets, behind furniture and, yes, among piles of clothes! Once you locate the spray pattern, mark its perimeter so that you’ll know precisely where to clean.
Use an enzyme cleaner: Unlike many cleaners that simply mask the scent, active enzymes in this cleaner break down the compounds causing the odor. By eliminating the smell completely, it keeps your kitty from picking up the scent again and leading her to re-spray that area. Shake the bottle, saturate the spot, and let it sit for between 10 and 15 minutes, allowing the smell to slowly dissipate. More severe stains, however, will require several applications before all of the urine is removed.
Sprinkle baking soda on the stain: While it doesn’t clean fresh stains completely, it’s a simple remedy for removing the smell. Use paper towels to soak up as much urine as possible, sprinkle baking soda over the spot and leave it there for 30 minutes or until the area’s dry. Once it’s odor-free, suck up the baking soda using a wet-dry vac with a HEPA filter since standard vacuums may be damaged by the baking soda’s fine powder.
Try a mixture of vinegar and water: As a quick fix for fresh urine on walls, hardwood floors and/or carpets, mix one part distilled white vinegar with one part water in a spray bottle. Blot the offending stain(s) with paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible and saturate the stain(s) with the prepared mixture. Wait a few minutes, blot the area thoroughly with more paper towels and allow it to air dry.
Set up a “spray station”: If your cat stubbornly “insists” on spraying, use two litter boxes, setting one inside the other at a 90-degree angle, thereby creating an L shape. Fill the bottom box with litter and put the vertical section against the wall where your cat sprays. As she grows accustomed to using this makeshift “station,” you can gradually move it to a more discreet area of your home. While it may not resolve the issue, it will make cleaning up after her easier.
