Cat peeing and carpet cleaning

[dylan1]

Hello,

First of all, if this is the wrong forum please move it to whatever forum would work best.

My 7 year old cat Charlie has never had any health issues and has always been well behaved. For some reason last summer, he started peeing in a couple of specific spots in the room where his litter box is located. We took him to the vet and the vet observed small crystals in his bladder that might have been causing discomfort. We switched his diet and went back to the vet and he is seemingly all good.

The issue is he kept peeing in the house in the same few spots and we couldn't get him to stop. He has two litter boxes and still peed in those without issue, but also liked to pee in the other spots. The urine isn't dribbles or drips, it's a calculated decision that he makes as I once walked in on him doing it. The biggest concern we had is electrical sockets, as one of his pee spots is right below one and he had peed into the socket causing it to smoke the next time we used it. We put him on Fluoxetine and it has worked great, although he will sometimes have a random episode. There is nothing at all that has changed about our house or living situation. My wife and are two of the most boring people on earth so nothing changes.

Because he continued to pee, the carpet is now ruined where he peed. In the end, we know we have to replace the carpet (we have to replace all of the carpet anyways as the previous owners had kids who loved fingernail polish). We have no issue replacing the carpet except for the fact that we don't trust him to not ruin that carpet.

In the meantime, does anyone have any advice at all cleaning up the carpet as best as we can? If it's something you can buy in the store, we have tried it. We ordered Odormute as we heard it is a great product but unfortunately it didn't help us. We've tried baking soda and vinegar with no luck. We've rented those carpet cleaners at your local grocery store with no luck. The carpet is in such bad shape that we can't even tell if he is still peeing on it because it smells like pee regardless. I'm sure this question has been posed a million times in the past so my apologies for beating a dead horse. I'm not against just taking a box cutter and tearing out that section of the carpet but not sure if there is something I'm not thinking about that would make the situation worse if I did that.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[syzygycat]

Hello,

First of all, if this is the wrong forum please move it to whatever forum would work best.

My 7 year old cat Charlie has never had any health issues and has always been well behaved. For some reason last summer, he started peeing in a couple of specific spots in the room where his litter box is located. We took him to the vet and the vet observed small crystals in his bladder that might have been causing discomfort. We switched his diet and went back to the vet and he is seemingly all good.

The issue is he kept peeing in the house in the same few spots and we couldn't get him to stop. He has two litter boxes and still peed in those without issue, but also liked to pee in the other spots. The urine isn't dribbles or drips, it's a calculated decision that he makes as I once walked in on him doing it. The biggest concern we had is electrical sockets, as one of his pee spots is right below one and he had peed into the socket causing it to smoke the next time we used it. We put him on Fluoxetine and it has worked great, although he will sometimes have a random episode. There is nothing at all that has changed about our house or living situation. My wife and are two of the most boring people on earth so nothing changes.

Because he continued to pee, the carpet is now ruined where he peed. In the end, we know we have to replace the carpet (we have to replace all of the carpet anyways as the previous owners had kids who loved fingernail polish). We have no issue replacing the carpet except for the fact that we don't trust him to not ruin that carpet.

In the meantime, does anyone have any advice at all cleaning up the carpet as best as we can? If it's something you can buy in the store, we have tried it. We ordered Odormute as we heard it is a great product but unfortunately it didn't help us. We've tried baking soda and vinegar with no luck. We've rented those carpet cleaners at your local grocery store with no luck. The carpet is in such bad shape that we can't even tell if he is still peeing on it because it smells like pee regardless. I'm sure this question has been posed a million times in the past so my apologies for beating a dead horse. I'm not against just taking a box cutter and tearing out that section of the carpet but not sure if there is something I'm not thinking about that would make the situation worse if I did that.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Hey Dylan,

Ive been through exactly what youre going through, Ill try to be succinct but its going to be a lot of info.

Off the bat, when a carpet is in the condition you describe, the DIY solutions won't work, don't bother with, peroxide, vinegar, ammonia, dish soap and anything else youve read online. That stuff could help on a fresh surface stain, it wont do anything long term for your carpet. Best advice I can give you, do not use steam, do not use anything that will soak the carpet (like carpet shampooers, it will get the surface clean but redistribute all the urine salts just under the surface everywhere.

Enzyme Cleaners work but not all equally I used a few when I had this issue. Natures Miracle;s stuff is a favorite here and on amazon, its not great odormute is a great value, but will fall short on tough stains as other. Rocco and Roxie works best but is pricey, Urine gone works almost as well. 24oz is enough to cover a 3'x3' area, meaning you need a lot. Saturate the carpet til its sopping wet, cover it wilg plastic for a 6 hours so it cant evaporate and soaks down. Wet it again, then let it dry naturally. 24oz urinegone is $9.50 at target, walmart, amazon. Unlike other cleaners, it smells like statfruit and goes away in a few hours (like someone ate star fruit in the room) not a strong chemical fragrance that supposed to mask the urine smell for weeks.

Have you pulled up the carpet, checked the under-carpet pad and the wood bellow. If hes hit the same spot multipe times you maybe be smelling odors from that more than the actual carpet.

if the carpet pad is stained/smelly. dont bother trying to clean it, Its 25cents a square foot, cut a the stained carpet pad off (if its a strip against the wall cut something like 2ft along the wall, cut a new piece that fits, duct tape it to the existing pad, staple it on the wall side.

If the wood bellow the carpet pad it stained/smelly. An enzyme cleaner will remove it if it hasnt soaked in. You can lighten the dark pee stain on the wood peroxide. If it has soaked in, dont make life harder for yourself, you have carpeting anyway. Buy a can of Killz Original Primer (its their oil based primer) 2-3 coats of that will block any smell from coming through. People say you have to do the whole floor, I just went past the stains by 16" worked perfectly. Takes a week for the paint smell to do away.

I couldnt find a matching carpet and the room is too big, I did the floor primer, replaced 1/3 of the carpet pad. And get rid of most of the urine odor with the enzyme cleaners listed (after a gallon of Natures Miracle cat urine destroyer failed).


For temporary smell relief, sprinkle a full box of (dry) baking soda on your carpet. It will reduce the smell for about 4-5 days, then vacuum it up, once its absorbed all it can it start giving the smell off again so you cant leave it in forever.


Ive got a similar cat situation, started as a mild healthy issue, turned into a psychological one. If your cat has no allergies, clean bill or health, litter/litter box problems are common issues. He had pain pain in that type of litter, so he doesnt like using it or anything that reminds him of it. They say firs step is to try types of litter youve never tried before.
We have puppy pads on Luke's favorite pee spots. With A LOT of experimentation we learnend we hates scented litter, doesnt like even unscented clay litter but will use it sometimes. He did not have a problem with this white cat crystal litter (never used crystal litter before). That didnt solve the problem either, I figured out he wants to pee stand up, with his tail up, so I needed an uncovered litter box large enogh for him to stand on all 4 legs and still pee, so Likes litter boxes are 20gal rubbermaid storage bins with an opening cut in the front. Between the new litter, and litter boxes he pees outside the box 2x a week from 2-4x a day. When I see him about to be on the floor I grab him and put him in his box and he will be there without complaining, petting him and giving him a treat encourages him to do it again.

I think i managed to get all that out if you have questions I can help with, please ask.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I think syzygycat pretty much covered it all. But, I wanted to add just one thing about the outlets (electrical sockets) - buy those childproof plastic covers and use those in the outlets you are worried about. I use those in the outlet nearest Feeby's box, just in case.

Keep us posted on your progress!!

 

[dylan1]

Hey Dylan,

Ive been through exactly what youre going through, Ill try to be succinct but its going to be a lot of info.

Off the bat, when a carpet is in the condition you describe, the DIY solutions won't work, don't bother with, peroxide, vinegar, ammonia, dish soap and anything else youve read online. That stuff could help on a fresh surface stain, it wont do anything long term for your carpet. Best advice I can give you, do not use steam, do not use anything that will soak the carpet (like carpet shampooers, it will get the surface clean but redistribute all the urine salts just under the surface everywhere.

Enzyme Cleaners work but not all equally I used a few when I had this issue. Natures Miracle;s stuff is a favorite here and on amazon, its not great odormute is a great value, but will fall short on tough stains as other. Rocco and Roxie works best but is pricey, Urine gone works almost as well. 24oz is enough to cover a 3'x3' area, meaning you need a lot. Saturate the carpet til its sopping wet, cover it wilg plastic for a 6 hours so it cant evaporate and soaks down. Wet it again, then let it dry naturally. 24oz urinegone is $9.50 at target, walmart, amazon. Unlike other cleaners, it smells like statfruit and goes away in a few hours (like someone ate star fruit in the room) not a strong chemical fragrance that supposed to mask the urine smell for weeks.

Have you pulled up the carpet, checked the under-carpet pad and the wood bellow. If hes hit the same spot multipe times you maybe be smelling odors from that more than the actual carpet.

if the carpet pad is stained/smelly. dont bother trying to clean it, Its 25cents a square foot, cut a the stained carpet pad off (if its a strip against the wall cut something like 2ft along the wall, cut a new piece that fits, duct tape it to the existing pad, staple it on the wall side.

If the wood bellow the carpet pad it stained/smelly. An enzyme cleaner will remove it if it hasnt soaked in. You can lighten the dark pee stain on the wood peroxide. If it has soaked in, dont make life harder for yourself, you have carpeting anyway. Buy a can of Killz Original Primer (its their oil based primer) 2-3 coats of that will block any smell from coming through. People say you have to do the whole floor, I just went past the stains by 16" worked perfectly. Takes a week for the paint smell to do away.

I couldnt find a matching carpet and the room is too big, I did the floor primer, replaced 1/3 of the carpet pad. And get rid of most of the urine odor with the enzyme cleaners listed (after a gallon of Natures Miracle cat urine destroyer failed).


For temporary smell relief, sprinkle a full box of (dry) baking soda on your carpet. It will reduce the smell for about 4-5 days, then vacuum it up, once its absorbed all it can it start giving the smell off again so you cant leave it in forever.


Ive got a similar cat situation, started as a mild healthy issue, turned into a psychological one. If your cat has no allergies, clean bill or health, litter/litter box problems are common issues. He had pain pain in that type of litter, so he doesnt like using it or anything that reminds him of it. They say firs step is to try types of litter youve never tried before.
We have puppy pads on Luke's favorite pee spots. With A LOT of experimentation we learnend we hates scented litter, doesnt like even unscented clay litter but will use it sometimes. He did not have a problem with this white cat crystal litter (never used crystal litter before). That didnt solve the problem either, I figured out he wants to pee stand up, with his tail up, so I needed an uncovered litter box large enogh for him to stand on all 4 legs and still pee, so Likes litter boxes are 20gal rubbermaid storage bins with an opening cut in the front. Between the new litter, and litter boxes he pees outside the box 2x a week from 2-4x a day. When I see him about to be on the floor I grab him and put him in his box and he will be there without complaining, petting him and giving him a treat encourages him to do it again.

I think i managed to get all that out if you have questions I can help with, please ask.

Wow, thank you so much for all that information. I really do appreciate it.

Nature's Miracle is actually the first product I tried to use and it didn't work very well. With that said, I think the issue is that the areas under the carpet are soiled. Is the Urine Gone! you speak of the "As Seen On TV" product?

I'll for sure lift the carpet and take a look at all of that. I wouldn't be surprised if the combination of all the urine and products I've tried to use has just ruined the area under the carpet.

As far as why he is doing it, that's been the toughest issue with this just because there is no pattern to his behavior. He will happily use his two litterboxes with no issue for weeks and then just pee on the carpet. I've been nervous to switch litter just because I don't want to give him an excuse to not use the littler box, but maybe I'll put some new litter in one box and keep the original stuff in the other box and see how he fares with that.

Thank you again so much for the write up. It's more than I expected and I (we) really appreciate it.

 

[dylan1]

Hi. I think syzygycat pretty much covered it all. But, I wanted to add just one thing about the outlets (electrical sockets) - buy those childproof plastic covers and use those in the outlets you are worried about. I use those in the outlet nearest Feeby's box, just in case.

Keep us posted on your progress!!

Thank you for the advice. My wife said the same thing the second it happened and we ran to Target to grab some. I appreciate the advice!

 

[syzygycat]

Wow, thank you so much for all that information. I really do appreciate it.

Nature's Miracle is actually the first product I tried to use and it didn't work very well. With that said, I think the issue is that the areas under the carpet are soiled. Is the Urine Gone! you speak of the "As Seen On TV" product?

I'll for sure lift the carpet and take a look at all of that. I wouldn't be surprised if the combination of all the urine and products I've tried to use has just ruined the area under the carpet.

As far as why he is doing it, that's been the toughest issue with this just because there is no pattern to his behavior. He will happily use his two litterboxes with no issue for weeks and then just pee on the carpet. I've been nervous to switch litter just because I don't want to give him an excuse to not use the littler box, but maybe I'll put some new litter in one box and keep the original stuff in the other box and see how he fares with that.

Thank you again so much for the write up. It's more than I expected and I (we) really appreciate it.

Yes, UrineGone as seen on tv. The better rated products work about as well, most add a scent to mask the odor so it's tough to be sure. UG's scent will mask nothing, you'll know if it worked the next day.
The super popular brands don't penetrate. Angry Orange, Natures Miracle, Resolve don't penetrate even if you apply it 5 days in a row (I know because i did that with natures miracle)

Neutralizing the existing urine is the first step to get him to stop, but figuring out why he's doing is probably going to be necessary too.

If you do move forward with new carpeting its a good idea to repaint the walls around the pee spots with an odor blocking primer.

 

[dylan1]

So I lifted the carpet up and realized I had cement under the carpet pad and not wood. We plan on redoing the carpet in the house one day and the area where Charlie has been having issues isn't an area that people walk around on and it's in a room that isn't really used a lot. Point being, my wife couldn't care less with what I do to the room as long as there isn't any exposed carpet tacks.

I used a box cutter to cut out the carpet and carpet pad where Charlie peed (the carpet was too soiled to try and save). The only thing left was the concrete and the carpet tack strip (Charlie's two pee spots are right up against the wall). The tack strip is dyed another color due to the urine and you can imagine the cement is soiled as well. I sprayed the UrineGone heavily on it, came back later in the day and reapplied. Unfortunately, it didn't help at all as this morning I went in the room and the smell is just as bad as it was yesterday before I started.

I was trying to avoid having to pull out the carpet tack but it looks like I might have to. Does anyone have a recommendation on a product to use on the concrete floor? I looked into the Killz Original Primer but it said it wasn't meant for flooring (unless it meant hardwood flooring.)

 

[FeebysOwner]

Some of those Killz products can smell pretty noxious, so I am wondering if you might want to try something a bit more 'benign' first. Such as Fizzion or SCOE10x. In the article I have included (see link below) using one of these products would be step 2, following a treatment with a two-to-one vinegar or hydrogen peroxide water solution. The last step suggests using an ozone generator for drying - these generators can be rented.
How to Get Pet Urine Odor off Concrete: 3 Easy Steps!

 

[syzygycat]

So I lifted the carpet up and realized I had cement under the carpet pad and not wood. We plan on redoing the carpet in the house one day and the area where Charlie has been having issues isn't an area that people walk around on and it's in a room that isn't really used a lot. Point being, my wife couldn't care less with what I do to the room as long as there isn't any exposed carpet tacks.

I used a box cutter to cut out the carpet and carpet pad where Charlie peed (the carpet was too soiled to try and save). The only thing left was the concrete and the carpet tack strip (Charlie's two pee spots are right up against the wall). The tack strip is dyed another color due to the urine and you can imagine the cement is soiled as well. I sprayed the UrineGone heavily on it, came back later in the day and reapplied. Unfortunately, it didn't help at all as this morning I went in the room and the smell is just as bad as it was yesterday before I started.

I was trying to avoid having to pull out the carpet tack but it looks like I might have to. Does anyone have a recommendation on a product to use on the concrete floor? I looked into the Killz Original Primer but it said it wasn't meant for flooring (unless it meant hardwood flooring.)

Im sorry UrineGone didnt work, at least you didnt spend a few hundred dollars on industrial grade stuff to find out. - did you make the area sopping wet with urine gone and cover the urine gone with plastic? Liquid naturally wicks up as it dries, the plastic keeps it from drying so the urinegone can travel down to where the urine is. I'm surprised there was no change,

As far as stain and odor blocking go "Killz original" and "Zinsser B-I-N Interior Multi-Purpose Shellac Wall and Ceiling Prime" the two best products on the market. BIN is supposed to be a little better but costs more than double. Bin will cover up the odor in 2 coats, killz may need 3 if its really bad.

Are you going to put carpet/other flooring over the concrete again?
If so, Killz Original and Binz are perfectly fine to use.

I was apprehensive about that too, I needed a DIY-chatroom, homedepot employee, and a carpenter friend of friend to assure me its fine. Both are waterproof and stronger than the pva, atex,acrylic, water based primers on your walls/doors/ceiling. More than tough enough under a carpet.

...When they say if isn't meant for flooring, they mean; if you use it on a top/walking surface, it cant hold up for too many years of heavy foot traffic,high heels dancing, running in cleets, tap dancing, dragging heavy furniture directly on the floor.

If you want to just have a painted concrete floor no tile or carpet, killz isnt the best choice. Otherwise, it is.

Its not required, but if you add a single coat of cheap semigloss paint it will protect the primer coat even better. (I used a can of white $3 spray paint). primer is sticky and soft, semigloss paint will prevent future urine stains or flaking.


NEXT, why dont you want to remove the carpet track strips? I imagine theyve soaked up the most urine. 12 feet of the self adhesive strips are $3-$4. Easy peasy. (I would prime and paint those too, for future pee prevention.

Lastsy, I disagree with the last poster, you did enough to know the smell wont be coming out.
However he is right, all oil based primers have strong noxious odors. Get eveyone out of the room open the wndows and get a fan blowing while applying it. Killz Original is formulated so any harmful volatilizes dissipate in under 30minuets. But the oil paint smell (not dangerous) takes a while to dissipate.. I left the floor uncovered overnight. Then put the carpet down over the primed floor, left 1 window open in the room. The smell got a little less every day but took 2 and a half weeks to be completely gone.
Some people report it only takes 2 days if the room is well ventilated and the primer is not covered.




I do strongly disagree with the previous poster. With all you've done, Other methods won't make a worthwhile difference.

Save your time, money, energy.
..

 

[nunnc84]

So I lifted the carpet up and realized I had cement under the carpet pad and not wood. We plan on redoing the carpet in the house one day and the area where Charlie has been having issues isn't an area that people walk around on and it's in a room that isn't really used a lot. Point being, my wife couldn't care less with what I do to the room as long as there isn't any exposed carpet tacks.

I used a box cutter to cut out the carpet and carpet pad where Charlie peed (the carpet was too soiled to try and save). The only thing left was the concrete and the carpet tack strip (Charlie's two pee spots are right up against the wall). The tack strip is dyed another color due to the urine and you can imagine the cement is soiled as well. I sprayed the UrineGone heavily on it, came back later in the day and reapplied. Unfortunately, it didn't help at all as this morning I went in the room and the smell is just as bad as it was yesterday before I started.

I was trying to avoid having to pull out the carpet tack but it looks like I might have to. Does anyone have a recommendation on a product to use on the concrete floor? I looked into the Killz Original Primer but it said it wasn't meant for flooring (unless it meant hardwood flooring.)

not true kilts can be used on concrete