Getting rid of the cat smell in my house

[musincy]

We just bought a new (to us) house, and the previous owners had a cat. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to cats and sensitive to the smell of them. The only place I notice the smell and the only place my allergies bother me is in the basement. It's worst in the unfinished part where the litter box was.

Does anyone have suggestions for how to make this go away? We're planning to shampoo the carpets and wash the walls and everything thoroughly in the finished part, but the unfinished part is mostly concrete... what can I do?




ETA: This makes my house sound really gross...

It's not, I promise!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Get a black light and turn out the lights. Use the blacklight to see where there might be "hidden" stains. Then douse them in Nature''s Miracle. I''d follow up with a good mopping.

 

[musincy]

Okay, I''ll try that. Do you really think there are stains or could it just be the cat dander I''m sensing?

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Cat pee smells like cat pee. Where you smell cat there is pee...somewhere...

 

[musincy]

Date: 5/24/2009 3:57:23 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Cat pee smells like cat pee. Where you smell cat there is pee...somewhere...

Eww... gross. This is why I don''t have pets. I''ll give it a try though, thanks for your suggestion!

 

[swingirl]

Date: 5/24/2009 4:11:34 PM
Author: musincy

Date: 5/24/2009 3:57:23 PM

Author: Hudson_Hawk

Cat pee smells like cat pee. Where you smell cat there is pee...somewhere...

Eww... gross. This is why I don''t have pets. I''ll give it a try though, thanks for your suggestion!

Pets don''t have to urinate in inappropriate places. Lots of people have well-trained pets that don''t leave smells behind. I am guessing the last owners were either not very good about cleaning the litter box or had a male cat that was spraying. If their cat sprayed the carpet enough to leave a strong urine smell you may need to replace it and the padding.

 

[musincy]

Date: 5/24/2009 4:16:47 PM
Author: swingirl

Date: 5/24/2009 4:11:34 PM
Author: musincy

Date: 5/24/2009 3:57:23 PM

Author: Hudson_Hawk

Cat pee smells like cat pee. Where you smell cat there is pee...somewhere...

Eww... gross. This is why I don''t have pets. I''ll give it a try though, thanks for your suggestion!

Pets don''t have to urinate in inappropriate places. Lots of people have well-trained pets that don''t leave smells behind. I am guessing the last owners were either not very good about cleaning the litter box or had a male cat that was spraying. If their cat sprayed the carpet enough to leave a strong urine smell you may need to replace it and the padding.

You''re right... I know plenty of cat owners that have houses that smell perfectly fine. Just grosses me out when it doesn''t
I usually do get bothered by rooms that have litter boxes, so that''s why I''m wondering if spraying wasn''t the problem, or if it''s just that the cat hung out there more? No other areas of the house bother me, and the finished part of the basement is much better than the unfinished part where the box was.

I hope we don''t have to replace the carpet...

 

[upgrade]

My husband is allergic to cats too and the house we bought had definite cat smell. We had to replace all the carpets and window coverings- basically any fabric had to go to get rid of it. If it's concrete floors though, I would second the suggestion to try Nature's Miracle. The other thing you'll need to do is replace the furnace filter and have a professional cleaning company clean all the ducts in the house. You'll be amazed at how much will come out of those ducts!

 

[sap483]

Date: 5/24/2009 3:16:26 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Get a black light and turn out the lights. Use the blacklight to see where there might be ''hidden'' stains. Then douse them in Nature''s Miracle. I''d follow up with a good mopping.

Agreed, you need to get rid of the source of the smell. Nature''s Miracle works well. I would also suggest getting an air filter that uses carbon.