Friend's house smells like cat pee
by
Grady
+16
My friend's house smells like cat pee and I don't know why. Any ideas?
14 answers
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Has it always? Could it be that a previous owner had cats (if they have recently moved in) and the scent is now coming through? We found that a male cat was 'spraying' our front porch from time to time and that was a tough smell. I used half water and half bleach to clean the deck area and I "THINK" he has stopped visiting us.
Jan
on Nov 19, 2014
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My friends parents built the house as my friend and I are both 16 and my friend has never had cats. He does have dogs, yet dog pee doesn't smell anything like cat pee from what I've heard.
Grady
on Nov 19, 2014
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It could be a cat spraying on the exterior of the home either on the a/c unit or anywhere that the airflow picks up from. Another scenario to consider is potentially mold. Mold can have a wet, acidic smell too.
Distinctive Deck Designs
on Nov 19, 2014
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I heard about the mold, but this house was built during the summer and he lives out in the middle of nowhere, so unless there's feral cats around, it's not cats. Any other ideas as to what it could be?
Grady
on Nov 19, 2014
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Could there be critters living in the roof? Perhaps bats or possums? If they pee in the roof cavity the smell would pervade the whole house probably? We had a rat or possum die in the wall cavities of our house and we were told the smell would last a couple of weeks and then fade but it lasted a good six months. Whatever died in there was pretty big and took a while to fully decompose judging by how long the stench lasted.
Carole
on Nov 19, 2014
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He lives in a place where bats and possums don't live. He lives in farm and field country meaning the nearest neighbor is at most 10 miles from him.
Grady
on Nov 19, 2014
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Check for mice nests and snakes. That was the problem at our current house when we moved in. I fogged it and even put a fogger in the attic. The mice all left. During the remodel a few months later, the workers found many snake sheds and countless abandoned mice nests.
Letty
on Nov 19, 2014
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Could it be the vent system needs professional cleaning?
Gail
on Nov 20, 2014
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You're smelling the ammonia from a 'critter.' Could be from one marking territory outside(other animals besides cats do this!), or a critter could have set up house in an attic, under the house, etc. could be coming through in heating/air ducts(the smell, not the critter). We live in a very remote spot & check roof, foundation & soffits & gutters for critter signs. If there's a very strong smell, I'd have a professional pest company look the house over to see where the critter's getting in & remove it. After that, you maintain that & fix any areas critters can get in. Mice & rats hate the smell of peppermint, we grow mint around the house to deter them even more even coming in. There are several great cleaners out there to remove the smell, once you find out where the critter has marked. I've used the baking soda/ dish soap/ vinegar solution that I've used when any of our dogs have tangled with a skunk. It works great. The first thing to do though is to find the spot where critters are getting in and address that.
Laura
on Nov 20, 2014
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There's a type of evergreen that smells like cat pee. Don't remember what kind, but we had one by the front door. Dug it out smell was gone.
Dottie Hunt
on Nov 20, 2014
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the evergreen is a Yew (just what I was going to suggest) Very strong smell and very much like cat pee.
Susan B
on Nov 20, 2014
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Check for Bats, I smelled what I thought was a strong odor of cat urine in a friends shop building and it turned out to be a small colony of bats. The odor is strong enough to penetrate walls and ceilings. Do not disturb if bats, get professional help
Diana Lafavor
on Nov 20, 2014
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I have heard all of these things, but none are correct. Any other ideas?
Grady
on Dec 01, 2014
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As could be a type of boxwood bush unfortunately I have one also
Mary Margaret Keller Domschke
on Mar 24, 2015
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