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House Infested With Cat Urine – What Now?

If your home is infected with cat urine, you may be looking for ways to get it back to normal, and prevent it from happening again in the future…

Why has my home become infested with cat urine?

Sometimes your house cats can start urinating everywhere around the house, and it can be due to behavioral reasons, medical conditions, or just marking their territory. The kidneys, bladder, and liver problems can cause cats to urinate frequently, often not being able to reach the litter box in time.

Also, your cat can start urinating at random places due to anxiety, stress, or frustration due to lack of attention. A new member of a household and similar changes can cause anxiety and stress. Most commonly cats that are not neutered will mark their territory when in heat, but also when they suffer from anxiety, in need to feel more secure in their environment.

A cat can start urinating at random places around the house because it doesn’t like the shape or location of the litter box, or the litter material is not attractive for the cat or not changed often enough.

How can I clean the cat urine out of my house?

The best way to clean a cat’s urine and its smell from your home is to treat it with ozone, and clean stains with vinegar, or with enzymatic cleaners.

House treatment with ozone is a procedure that requires a special ozone machine to work inside the house for two or three days. The substance in cat urine which gives its sharp smell is ammonia, and in presence of ozone and nitrogen from the air, it turns into odorless ammonium-nitrate.

The vinegar is a solution of acetic acid, which will react with ammonia in stains and produce odorless salts which can be easily removed with water. Another efficient way to clean it from your carpets and other porous surfaces, which are the only ones that can be permanently stained by a cat’s urine, are special enzymatic urine removers.

Is it a good idea to use a UV light to check for cat pee?

A high-quality UV light that is rated at 365-385 nanometers will show every cat urine stain no matter how old it is. As I’ve said above, the biggest problem with cat urine smell is the ammonia that is present in it, which soaks into a surface.

But, this is also helpful to find the stains, because when lighted by UV light with wavelengths between 365 and 385 nanometers it will glow yellow or fluorescent green, depending on how powerful is the UV light.

Not all UV lamps will show the cat’s urine, some do not produce the required wavelengths of light. Only those that have the above-mentioned rating, or produce mainly the UVA light are good for this.

How long does it take for the cat’s urine smell to go away?

If the cat’s urine stains a porous surface, the smell of it can stay forever. Sometimes it can appear as if it has gone away, but in reality, you have become desensitized to it and its strength has decreased slightly because it has dried. This can happen after you have cleaned the stain with conventional detergents.

But, as soon as the stain is slightly moistened, and just the change of air moisture can be enough, it will start smelling again. Also, if you leave your home for a day or two, on your return you will start smelling cat urine.

How can I get rid of the smell of cat urine?

To get rid of the cat urine smell you must remove the ammonia from the surface it has penetrated. This you can do in several ways, but the most efficient are the ones that neutralize ammonia by some chemical reaction.

Vinegar, ozone, and enzymatic urine removers are the most efficient means for this.

How can I prevent my cat from peeing in my house?

The best way to prevent the cat from peeing around the house is to teach it to use the litter box. It will instinctively prefer the litter material in which it can bury feces and urine. But, if your cat has started urinating around the house, you must get to the root cause of this behavior and deal with it.

Sometimes just changing the litter material can do the trick. Or get another or more litter boxes, if you have more than one cat. But, you should also check with a veterinarian because urination around the house can be a symptom of some medical conditions.

What can cat urine do to my furniture?

Cat urine will make your furniture smell very unpleasant because of the ammonia in it. Because it is wet, it will also stain your furniture, especially if the cat urinates repeatedly on the same spot. But, the biggest problem is the smell which is very unpleasant and practically stays forever in your furniture.

Unless you remove it completely by chemically neutralizing ammonia.

Is it normal for a cat to pee in a house?

No. But, If a cat is not neutered or is anxious because of the presence of another pet in the house, it is expected that it marks the territory by peeing or marking. In both cases, a cat will use urine for this.

Do cats pee in the same area, or does it vary?

Cats usually pee in different areas until a certain spot becomes saturated with their urine when they will start using mostly these familiar spots. If they are a male that is not neutered, they will also mark their territory and will do so in several spots, but always in the same ones.

How do you fumigate a house of cat smells?

You should never fumigate the house with cat smells. Heat and moisture allow the substances that are causing cat smells, primarily ammonia, to penetrate deeper into fabrics and other porous materials. So, fumigating your home will not remove them, but make it just harder to clean your home.

The best way to remove them is by some means that are causing a chemical reaction that neutralizes the ammonia. Vinegar, ozone, and enzymatic cleaners are the best.