Rescue Cats Reek Of Urine, Help!

[FirstRescue]

I will be adopting two bonded kittens from a local rescue shelter in a few days. This shelter reeks so powerfully of cat urine that I came away smelling of it myself, just from petting a few cats. My husband could smell the urine on my hair when I got home from the visit. It's that bad.

So the two kittens I'm adopting will be stink-bombs when I get them home. I don't want their first experience in their new home and with me to be a bath! They've been through enough, between the city pound, one of them losing its eyesight, this rescue house, etc.

Should I get some unscented kitty wipes? Some gentle brushing? Should I just keep them confined in a bathroom until the smell wears off? Garage has no AC, so that's not an option. They're both healthy, playful calico females, 4 mos and 5 mos old, spayed, vaccinated, etc.

I'm dreading going to pick them up because I'll have to go back inside the shelter while trying not to retch. Let me know of any safe ideas for deodorizing them.

(If you're wondering, the shelter is a residential home but there is a non-profit set up for its address. I found the kittens through PetFinder, so I don't think it's a hoarding situation, and the shelter owner seems happy I will be adopting. I don't know how any person or animal could live there, though. Maybe I'm rescuing the cats from the rescue, I don't know. Or maybe all shelters are pretty smelly, and I just have a sensitive nose. The cats I saw that day didn't seem mistreated and were affectionate with the owner.)

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Yikes. To be honest; I might go ahead and give them a bath right away. Then bring them to a safe room in your house to adjust. It won't be much different than when they are brought into a rescue with fleas or other issues requiring bathing.

 

[FirstRescue]

That's true, about bathing for fleas at a shelter.

It occurred to me I could also take them to a vet or a private groomer for a bath so the kitties would associate a horrid bath with someone other than myself. Also, a vet checkup might not be a bad idea. The shelter says they are current for vaccines and healthy. One was spayed just last week and is doing fine, I'm told....but I haven't asked who their vet is, so I don't yet have their health records.

Anyway, which is the lesser of the two evils, me giving the bath or a vet/groomer?

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Anyway, which is the lesser of the two evils, me giving the bath or a vet/groomer?

It's hard to say. I guess it depends on your comfort level. Can you confidently give them a bath? Cats will pick up our stress and can react to that. If you can prepare ahead of time and just "get it done." Then I'd go that route myself because it means less time in a car. But if you really are uncomfortable with the idea and can arrange it with a groomer; then there is nothing wrong with that either.

Once you get home and clean you can set them up in a kitten-proof safe room to give them time to settle in.

And I would have them checked out at your vet. They will likely need further vaccinations if they have already been spayed/neutered.

 

[Norachan]

If one of them was only just spayed it might be better to wait a while before bathing her. You know how cuts and scratches sting when you get in the bath? If she hasn't healed up completely the soap and water won't do her any good.

I rescued a very dirty feral kitten from under a car a few years ago. I used hand towels, dipped in hot water and then wrung out until just damp, to pet her with. They get a lot of dirt and bad smells off.

Smelling that strongly or urine isn't usual. I've got over 20 cats and none of mine smell like that. Were all the cats at the rescue spayed and neutered? I have noticed that female cats will go and rub up against a place where a tom cat has sprayed. Maybe if there was a tom cat in the rescue these girls were doing the same thing?

 

[FirstRescue]

It turns out my vet recommends a two-week wait on bathing because of the spay, as Norachan said. I thought it would be less time than that. So no bath is possible for one of them right now. The blind kitty is bath-optional. Vet recommended I use a cat wipe for the time being on the recently spayed one. So I'll try that and keep them both in a well equipped bathroom until we have the smell issue under control. They'll see the vet within a few days of me bringing them home for a checkup.

I am guessing there are some un-neutered toms in the shelter, which is why the place smells so awful. They don't use cages, but rather have bedrooms shared by several freely roaming cats. I don't know for sure that the kittens stink, but I know that when I got home from my half hour visit there, my husband could smell cat urine on my clothes and hair...I don't know how the kitties would escape it if I couldn't. I had to shower and change clothes and couldn't get the nauseating smell out of my nose.

Thanks for the thoughts. I pick them up this coming weekend. Paws crossed it all works out.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Good luck!! Please let us know how things go!

 

[Norachan]

That sounds like tom cat pee rather than kitten pee to me.



Good luck, please let us see some pictures of them when you get them home.

 

[susanm9006]

When it comes time to bathe your new kitties, if you have a shower that has a door rather than a curtain, you can do it in a way that is less stressful for them. You just sit in the shower with a couple buckets of warm water and use a sponge to wet the cat and then rinse it after you shampoo. If the can isn't being held it won't freak out and will allow you to clean them.

 

[FirstRescue]

I meant to follow up with the results. I kept both kitties in a bathroom for their first few days, and while they were stinky, it wasn't overwhelming. My vet recommended I wipe them down with Glandex wipes. I ordered some and was disappointed the wipes were scented, but the cats minded less than I did. I gave them a few wipe downs over the few days they were in the bathroom, and they did get less stinky.And I didn't have to give them a bath, to the relief of all involved

 

[MoochNNoodles]

That's always a relief to me!

 

[Norachan]

That's good news. How are they settling in to their new home? Any pictures?