Whole House Smells Like Cat Urine? [ Reasons & Fix ]

Every cat owner is well acquainted with the smell of cat urine lingering around their house is one of the irritating odors. It is more frustrating when your kitten begins to pee outside the litter box, and you cannot remove the smell without doing several things. When the bacteria in their urine decomposes and generates an ammonia-like odor, you cannot tolerate the smell. When it decomposes more, the urine will emit mercaptans again, producing a bad smell.

Therefore, if your furbaby urinates on the cushion, furniture, carpet, or your clothes, you should notice it and take the necessary steps to neutralize the odor to stop your kitty from becoming a repeat offender. One of the effective ways to locate the urinating spot is to look at your cat attentively. It is so because they often return to the urinated area if the smell does not vanish. In addition to this, it is equally crucial to understand the root cause of this behavior. It means you need to determine why your lovable cat pees outside its usual spot or litter box. It could be out of stress and several health complications.

What should you do if the whole house smells like cat urine?

Besides the cause of this behavior from your furbaby, you need to take every possible measure to eradicate the urine smell from the whole house. But you might be wondering how you can do this, right? Well, to know some helpful tips, below we have penned down some guidelines to remove that foul odor. Besides, by going through the below section, you can also determine the reasons for your kitten peeing outside the litter box. So, start reading the segment now.

  • First of all, you need to understand that the longer the cat pee stays in that area, the longer it sits and produces a more bad smell. Besides, when the pee stain dries, you cannot locate but smell it. Therefore, it is imperative to find the spot and clean it up as quickly as possible. But several cat owners made the mistake of not cleaning it up quickly, and as a result, the bad odor lingers around their place and causes irritation.
  • Apart from the above, you also should determine why your cat urinates outside its litter box. It is crucial as your cat might have some health issues or suffer from stress or anxiety. Another possible reason for that action might be arthritis. In addition, you might not keep the litter box in the perfect location, or the size and type of that box are not comfortable for your furbaby. Hence, consider all this when determining the root of the problem. Besides, consult a vet to find out whether your cat has any medical issues or not.

Hence, you need to do these things first if the whole house smells like cat urine.

Ways to Remove Cat Urine Odor

From the above segment, you might have learned the primary things you should do if you smell cat urine odor in your abode. Now it is time to know some efficient ways to eradicate the smell quickly. But cleaning feline pee is not very intuitive. You need to execute some science-like experiment, where you need to use hot water to clean the urinated area. Besides, there are other things to perform as well. Hence, if you smell cat pee in your place, follow the below guidelines to neutralize that stinky pee and its bad smell.

Discover the area

At first, you should locate the urine smell source and then do the necessary things for its removal. You need to perform this step quickly as if the urine dries, you cannot discover the spot, and the smell becomes more irritating as the bacterium of the pee decomposes faster.

Start the cleaning process with water

After you have tracked down the cat urine spot, you need to use water and cloth or paper towel and blot the area. While doing so, make sure that the cloth or towel absorbs as much as the feline pee as possible. Besides, remember that you should not scrub the area as it will make the urine more resilient and angrier. Therefore, blot the spot gently but quickly without rubbing it.

Neutralize the smell

Once you have completed bloating the area with water, it is time to use some cleaning solution to eradicate the smell. For this, you can utilize any enzymatic cleaner, or you can also make your solution by mixing vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio. As the vinegar is acidic, it efficiently helps to neutralize the bacteria present in the cat urine. However, you should allow the mixture to sit for at least 3-5 minutes to get a better result. Besides, if you use readymade solutions, follow the label instructions.

Rinse and repeat the bloating step

After completing the above step, you need to use a wet rag or paper towel and repeat the bloating step over the urinated and stained spots. For this, you need to use cold water again.

Freshen up

Now, you have successfully removed the bad smell of your fur baby’s urine. But for additional freshness, you can use some odor eliminator spray once the area has dried up completely. You can also apply the solution around the litter box to remove any lingering odor.

Tips to cleaning your cat urine

If you want to remove the cat pee smell from the carpet, mattress, cushions, linens, clothing, or other things, follow the same approach as above. So, you might be thinking about the process. Well, do not worry, as below you will get some valuable tips to clean your cat urine from any object.

  • At first, you should find the stained area and blot the spot with a paper towel or cloth.
  • Then, you have to rinse the area with water and remove the liquid with a vacuum. A valuable tip is to use a steam cleaner because it might do the opposite by setting the stain.
  • Next, you can use a homemade cleaning solution containing water and vinegar. You can also purchase enzyme-based cleaner to clean the spot adequately and leave the area for drying.
  • After doing the above steps, you need to ensure that your cat is not returning to the area during and after the cleaning process. You can place a piece of aluminum foil or plastic bucket over the spot to cover it.
  • To get better results, you can also apply the cleaner two times and allow it to dry again.

But if you still cannot remove the odor despite your best efforts, you need to look for other areas and apply the same processes to neutralize the smell. Besides, you should have some patience also when executing all the above strategies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Let us now look at the FAQs below.

I can’t find where the cat pee smell is coming from?

Sometimes this happens after and before cleaning the spot. So, if you smell cat urine after cleaning the litter box, it is a sign that your furbaby has urinated somewhere else. To locate this, you need to sniff the area out and track down where the smell is coming from.

How do I get the cat smell out of my house?

The best way to get rid of the cat urine smells out of your house is to locate the urinated area as soon as possible. Also, keep the litter box tidy. For this, you can use baking soda and water mixture as the solution absorbs odors efficiently.

How do I make my house not smell like cat pee?

The cat owners know when their cat pees, leaving behind an unpleasant odor hard to remove. So, if you are facing the issue and want to eradicate the smell, you can follow the below considerations-

  1. You need to ensure there are no cats around your cleaning area. For this, you can use a basket and place it on the spot while it is sitting on the stain.
  2. Always ignore using a steam cleaner on the spot as it might worsen the odor.

What kills the smell of cat urine?

Vinegar effectively neutralizes the smell of cat urine when mixed with water. If you use a mixture of one part water and one part vinegar, it will help you to kill the odor. Apart from this, you can also use enzyme-based cleaners for removing it. But you should never use cleaning products that contain ammonia as these cleaners might set the stain.

Wrapping it up

To wrap up, we can expect that you have got all your answers correctly regarding eliminating the cat pee odor that lingers around your abode. All these ways and tips are exceptionally efficient. But remember that you need to be quick to spot the area and clean it. If you do this as early as possible, you can get rid of that stinky smell without much hassle. Besides, you can use the above products also to neutralize the bacteria and odor. Hence, follow the above tips and get better results.

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