odor...

I'm super sensitive about my place smelling like kitty litter. I clean it daily, and the whole thing is cleaned every 4-5 days (I use the pine pellets). Even still, I know my place smells faintly of cat pee and god knows what. I can't smell it anymore unless I've been away a few days and sometimes when I walk in I wonder "my goodness, does my place reek like this??"

What can I do to make my place smell nice? I'm not for Fabreze and other room scents as they are not healthy for you.

Is there a particular brand of cat littler that's exceptionally good at odor control?

My place is 800sq feet and aside from my bedroom pretty much one big room so it's hard to hide it or put it in another room.

Who takes care of things while you are gone? We have found that even though we pay a professional petsitter, things are not as well scooped/cleaned as what we do. We use horse feed (pellet) for litter. Very similar in behavior to pine, but less expensive.

I'm very sensitive to odors, and we're putting our house on the market probably so I have been meeting with realtors. They've commented on many things, but the kitty box isn't one of them.

I like Fresh Step Multiple Cat (w/Carbon) Unscented. The store was out of stock two weeks ago so I picked up another litter and the result was a smelly room. :eek:

(no, I don't work for or have any affiliation with Fresh Step. :D )

Maybe try a few strategically placed (but hidden) bowls of baking soda or vinegar near the box(es). Like, in a decorative bowl on a bookshelf or something. I know vinegar is good at countering cigarette smoke (don't know about it's effectiveness with cat pee smell, besides as a cleaning solution) and baking soda absorbs any smells.

I agree about Febreze. I can't stand that stuff.

I use Tidy Cats Multiple Cats, but they also have a Small Spaces which is meant for places like ours (mine is ~700 sq ft and also just one giant room besides the bedroom). I've got two cats. I have found that it's not usually the litter per se that stinks up a house, but rather the places your cats urinate outside the box. My little fat orange girl kept peeing under my piano and I would infrequently detect the odor of cat pee - mostly when I'd been away for a few days. I didn't figure it out until I caught her doing it (never saw wet spots on the carpet, ever). I steam cleaned the carpet in my entire apartment and now it doesn't smell - I've even had third parties tell me it smells fine (also got my orange kitty to stop peeing under the piano).

You might sniff test your carpet or invest in a cheap blacklight to see if there are any hidden sources of urine odor.

yikes! I would hope that none of them does that, but one never knows. I have all hardwood and no carpet, so I'm hoping that there isn't a secret corner where one is peeing. I know that one of them likes to pee on plastic bags if I leave them out after putting the groceries away. And because of her strange behaviour and the fact I can't really trust her anymore (she's 18 and isn't quite herself anymore), the cats are banned from the bedroom so I know they don't do anything in the bedroom.

I know that the pine pellets themselves have an odor so I think I just need to find a good air neutralizer.

You're smart to think about this. We fed the cat in the neighboring apartment when we lived in Chapel Hill a couple of times (and scooped poop) when the couple and their young daughter went out of town, and it STANK. This was an 1100 sq ft apt. with only one cat. I almost couldn't stand to go into it. We had Paisley (our Boston Terrier), but our apt. didn't smell at all, even if we'd been gone for several days or more and would notice it if it did, when we walked back in.

Our litter box is drowned out by the Essence of Labrador that permeates our house.

Roxy

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Originally Posted by channlluv

Our litter box is drowned out by the Essence of Labrador that permeates our house.

Roxy

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Ours is currently drowned out by the essence of puppy pee. :(

I am reading these suggestions with much interest!

Try SwheatScoop or World's Best Cat Litter. I have 2 cats in a small apartment and there never is a urine smell. It also clumps really well so it's easy to get it all scooped up. i scoop twice a day.

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Originally Posted by ccnyc

Try SwheatScoop or World's Best Cat Litter. I have 2 cats in a small apartment and there never is a urine smell. It also clumps really well so it's easy to get it all scooped up. i scoop twice a day.

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I used the World's Best Cat Litter when one of my cats had her thyroid treated (you can flush it down the toilet). It worked really, really well. Come to think of it, I should try it again.

I used Sweat Scoop for a while, and can't remember why I stopped. I've pretty much tried all different kinds of litter and I always come back to the pine pellets. It could've been the fact that the corners of the box always gets gummed up with too much pee saturating the granules and makes it really hard to clean overall. But I should give it a go again. I'm sick of being paranoid of my place smelling of animals. When I had my dog the place certainly smelled of dog...

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

There are several types of cleansers that degrade cat/dog pee and remove the odors on a biological level. I don't remember the names, but they are industrial/commercial products used by hotels and such. I will try to google and figure out what these could be. Not cheap. But definitely worthwhile.

Edit. It's something like this enzyme product that is supposed to degrade organic compounds. Works on blood and other bodily fluids.

I googled 'industrial strength cat urine remover.'

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Nature's Miracle is one. They changed the formula a few years back and it's not as good at it used to be, but it does work. You have to use it directly on the accident though, so for a new puppy who might 'drip' a bit or hide their 'mistake' for a few hours, it only marginally helps.

We are just waiting until she's trained and then we plan on getting the carpets cleaned professionally (or replaced with hardwoods if we don't need a new roof between now and then ;) ).

I am going to try a bowl of white vinegar in the room to see if that helps at all...

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

Nature's Miracle is one. They changed the formula a few years back and it's not as good at it used to be, but it does work. You have to use it directly on the accident though, so for a new puppy who might 'drip' a bit or hide their 'mistake' for a few hours, it only marginally helps.

We are just waiting until she's trained and then we plan on getting the carpets cleaned professionally (or replaced with hardwoods if we don't need a new roof between now and then ;) ).

I am going to try a bowl of white vinegar in the room to see if that helps at all...

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I like the Nature's Miracle formula for cat pee (it's called Urine Destroyer or something similar). Seems to work better than the regular stuff. Also great to add to laundry that gets soiled by kitties or puppies. I've never had a detectably pee-smelling item come out of my wash after using that stuff.

May I suggest an air purifier? Assuming there has not been a secret accident, smells persist in the air and get into fabrics.

I use Arm and Hammer Multi-Cat cat litter. It works pretty well. They also have a baking soda additive that you can sprinkle in the litter to help as well.

Litter pans need to be washed periodically. Our office cat has IBD and when it is out of control the litter pan itself has to be washed at least weekly. It is changed twice a day. Most one cat households should be able to get by with daily scooping, twice weekly complete changes and monthly washing.

I'm quite fastidious and the boxes (I have two)and they get washed out once a week and new pellets put in at the same time. I'm honestly not sure what more I can do to keep my place smelling fresh.

On air purifiers: are there any good ones that are natural (as opposed to Fabreze and other crap that's not good for you)? I've tried the natural orange/citrus air freshener, and others labeled as "air neutralizer"s but they never really do the trick.

I'm trying an odor absorber - one with charcoal bits in it and I'm hoping it works, but alas, I live in it so I can't tell if it's working or not.

Badger, are you sensitive to all scents? If you're not, you could use a few drops of an essential oil (like lavender) in a glass of water or placed on a warm lightbulb to add a nice scent to your home. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but vinegar can also be used as a room deodorizer.

I'm sensitive to smells as in I think I actually am able to smell more than most people. So, what I smell may not be detected by others or as strongly. I don't mind scents like essential oils. I'll try the vinegar, I'm willing to try.

I'm also thinking it's time to try clumping litter again, like the sweat scoop. I think I remembered why I switched back to the pellets, though - sweat scoop's not the cheapest thing out there!

I would suggest putting some white vinegar in a shallow bowl and leaving it out overnight periodically. See if that helps.

I'm also hypersensitive to smells. I know about bowls of vinegar, but find I can't stand the smell. I can tolerate lightly scented candles, and will light one of those occasionally. If anything has a strong scent it gets banished outside. Somehow I don't find the smell of brownies baking offensive. :rolleyes::cool:

For the litter boxes I use clumping clay cat litter and scoop as much as possible - usually after I've used the toilet and before I've washed my hands. I've found the kitties and I don't like the scented cat litters. Can't remember off-hand what cat litter I currently have. I do find the pine / ground corn husk / paper / compostable litters not worth it - they don't hold a clump very well, so the pee goes through to the pan bottom.

Now if I can just convince Chloe that she doesn't need to dig a hole to the foundation in prep for her toilet time, it would be better. A little litter on the bottom helps absorb things. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by badger

On air purifiers: are there any good ones that are natural (as opposed to Fabreze and other crap that's not good for you)? I've tried the natural orange/citrus air freshener, and others labeled as "air neutralizer"s but they never really do the trick.

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I meant an electric device with a HEPA filter and a carbon filter (for odors). I'd recommend mine, but it is no longer produced (Hamilton Beach, model unknown).

I use World's Best because it doesn't have a lot of additives. I put a bit of regular baking soda (not the stuff that is sold to keep litter boxes fresh) in with it. That seems to work just fine. I know what you mean about the pine pellets. They aren't the best.

I have a Rabbit Air purifier for my allergic dog. It is supposed to neutralize odors too, but I notice that it only comes on strongly when DH walks by with cologne. Normal household odors don't seem to make it react.