Unidentified And Overwhelming Smell Of Cat Pee!!!

[KatsPurrrsians]

The last two days I've noticed an overwhelming cat urine smell, first in my bedroom, now in my den and bedroom. I initially thought maybe my kitty had an accident in my room because the door accidentally got closed and I got busy after cleaning the litter box that resides in that room and forgotten to put it back immediately. I never found any evidence of an accident though.

Now today I smell it in the living room. Again, I've walked around checking (& sniffing lol) the floor and furniture. I can't find anything.

The urine smell isn't familiar either. As multiple cat owners we tend to recognize each different cats urine odor (at least I do-maybe I'm weird...I've always had a super sniffer for a nose which can sometimes be a curse lol). I have a male tom cat who's never sprayed before but we've recently added two new cats to our family, however he's never met the new cats and they stay in a completely separate area if the house. But naturally I thought "he must be spraying because of new kitties. Thing is, this urine smell doesn't smell anything like his usual urine and he's got a huge bladder so when he pees it's usually so much that I have to immediately scoop or clean out the litter box. So I'd think it would be fairly obvious if he's spraying, right?

So first off how do I find the source of the smell (do some toms spray in odd, inaccessible places???) and secondly, how do I rid this smell from my home? I keep a bottle of Natures Miracle Urine Destroyer for cats and a bottle of Stain and Odor Remover on hand but it hasn't worked a "Miracle " (as the bottle describes) in the past. I have berber carpet so maybe that's why it's more difficult to get out than most carpets. I dont know. But I have guests arriving next weekend and I'm kind of in a panic about this.

**I've had Toms in the past that were sprayers and it was always very obvious where they were spraying.

 

[cheapo]

Do you have a 'chip reading' cat flap? If not, an outside cat may be coming in. Yes, any cat might start peeing in an unusual place after a disturbance of the regular litter tray or trays. Something has obviously upset the culprit. Hmm, behind the TV? Under the stereo? If there's a place where a cat 'could' hide from sight while toileting, check there. And, yes, your Berber carpet is made from wool, so will absorb more stuff that a synthetic one. I hope you find it and when you do, you will have to hire a carpet cleaner, either a DIY vacuum type or a skilled professional.
Hope that helps.

 

[KatsPurrrsians]

I don't think another cat could be getting inside. But I will definitely do a more thorough inspection of hidden places . I'm also keeping a watchful eye on him. His behavior has been quite lazy, not like typical male mating or territorial behavior. Which is another thing making this most perplexing.

I was worried the berber carpet might be making it worse but I didn't realize it was made of wool..ugh! I knew I should have gone with the cherry wood paneling instead lol. Thanks for the input!

 

[Azalea]

I think a lot of people recommend using black light/UV light, in the dark, to find cat pee? It's supposed to makes the phosphorus in the urine glow, and you can find UV light flashlights on Amazon I'm currently trying it out myself!
(Although I'm starting to suspect that it doesn't work very well on kitten pee. But that may be because they're still mostly drinking milk, so there may be less phosphorus to detect? Not entirely sure. I've seen it work on adult cat pee though!)

 

[Yenta]

I have used a black light to see where the cat peed. It worked really well. My daughter's cat was peeing on paper and when she was a teenager, there were tons of papers. I waited until dark, shut myself into her room and used the blacklight to find the spots and used masking tape to identify. It looked like a mess of alien life forms murder scene. I used enzymes on the carpet where I had marked and it worked really well.

 

[KatsPurrrsians]

I have used a black light to see where the cat peed. It worked really well. My daughter's cat was peeing on paper and when she was a teenager, there were tons of papers. I waited until dark, shut myself into her room and used the blacklight to find the spots and used masking tape to identify. It looked like a mess of alien life forms murder scene. I used enzymes on the carpet where I had marked and it worked really well.

Do you mean you used enzymes to clean the carpet? If so, what type of enzymes did you use? If not, what do y'all recommend for a stellar cleaning job? On older pet stains (from when we had kittens and a puppy -- YUCK!) I used my friends little bissell pet steamer along with the urine destroyer cleaning spray, which I didn't think worked very well initally after I stream cleaned it, but after it dried I can't smell a thing, even when I put my face to the carpet. However I don't have my friends bissell right now.

 

[Yenta]

I used copious quantities of Nature's miracle, which uses enzymes. You have to really soak the carpet and be patient. It takes a while for the enzymes to work. Soak it well enough to get to the pad below. I found that if there was any residue of odor, I retreated with another soaking. I did get the smell out of the room.

 

[basscat]

I think a lot of people recommend using black light/UV light, in the dark, to find cat pee? It's supposed to makes the phosphorus in the urine glow, and you can find UV light flashlights on Amazon I'm currently trying it out myself!
(Although I'm starting to suspect that it doesn't work very well on kitten pee. But that may be because they're still mostly drinking milk, so there may be less phosphorus to detect? Not entirely sure. I've seen it work on adult cat pee though!)

110v plug in type Fluorescent/Black Light works best, UV flashlight works sort of okay. Get some yellow tinted sunglasses or safety glasses. (that really helps).
Best to check at night with the lights off.